(ETH) – A tragic report from the Christian Post is revealing that over 750 people were murdered in a reported attack on an Orthodox church, in Ethiopia which is said to contain the Ark of the Covenant mentioned in the Old Testament Book of Exodus in the Bible.
The incident took place in northern Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region, which is said to be home to thousands of churches and monasteries. The grim report revealed that hundreds hiding in Maryam Tsiyon Church in Aksum amid an armed conflict were brought out and shot to death in efforts to gain access to the Ark of Covenant according to locals.
“The number of people killed is reported as 750,” it said. The church, the most ancient and sacred of Ethiopian Christianity and also known as the Church of St. Mary of Zion, belongs to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. “I’ve not heard more than rumours about the looting of the Arc from Maryam Tsion,
but if it’s true that up to 750 died defending it, it is conceivable that the attackers didn’t stop there,” said Michael Gervers, a professor of history at the University of Toronto. “The government and the Eritreans want to wipe out the Tigrayan culture. They think they’re better than the rest of the people in the country.
The looting is about destroying and removing the cultural presence of Tigray,” Gervers explained. According to Former BBC World Service Africa editor and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies,
Martin Plaut, those who escaped the Aksum massacre had reported that the attack began after Ethiopian federal troops and Amhara militia approached the church, the U.K.’s Church Times reported. “People were worried about the safety of the Ark, and when they heard troops were approaching feared they had come to steal it. All those inside the cathedral were forced out into the square,” Plaut was quoted as saying.
