I certainly believe in the validity of the Shroud, which is strongly supported by the evidence from the Sudarium of Oviedo.
And I have a predisposition to believe that the Ethiopians do indeed possess the Ark, which IIRC went missing under Manasseh. They have been celebrating the Ark’s presence for a very long time, in the holiday known as Timkat.
“And I have a predisposition to believe that the Ethiopians do indeed possess the Ark, which IIRC went missing under Manasseh. They have been celebrating the Ark’s presence for a very long time, in the holiday known as Timkat.”
The Ethiopians in our parish have participated in the Tmkat festival and the surrounding ceremonies. They certainly don’t doubt that the Ark is in that monastery. In fact, East of the Adriatic, especially in the ME, its pretty well known, or better said believed, that the Ark is in Ethiopia. As many know, there were substantial numbers of Ethiopian, very black, Jews who were descended from the jews who brought the Ark down there. There are also, to this day, Canaanites there who still practice animal sacrifices with their own priests.
I do find the involvement of the Patriarch strange, however.