Key to the Ark in an ancient book

January 13, 1999
Editor's note: In this third part of a series, "The Searchers," Corbett again interviews the late Emperor Haile Selassie's great grandson, Prince Stephanos (Stephen Mengesha) and discusses the strange holy book, "The Kebra Negast,"that holds the key to the location of the Ark of the Covenant in the northern Ethiopian town of Aksum (Axum).

By Kaye Corbett
© 1999 WorldNetDaily.com
Prince Stephanos (Stephen Mengesha) was born on Friday, Oct. 24, 1952, in Haile Selassie I hospital in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa to Princess Aida Desta, the granddaughter of the Emperor, and Prince Mengesha Seyum.
His father was governor-general of a number of provinces, including Tigre province. Mengesha Seyum had also been minister of public works and communications.
Young Stephanos had been a curious youngster and was able to dig around the ruins of the ancient civilization of Aksum that adheres to the legend of the Ark of the Covenant being there; "resting in the basement of a church, St. Mary of Zion. It convinced him that, indeed, the ancient religious, historical and powerful relic was in that church.
However, at the age of 8, his life changed.
On Wednesday morning, Dec. 14, 1960, an attempted coup d'etat, led by the head of the Imperial Body Guard, was finally foiled, while the Emperor and Stephanos' mother were on a state visit to Brazil.
While Stephanos hid under a bed, his grandfather, Ras Seyum, was executed along with other high-ranking officials in the Palace basement.
Then while Prince Stephanos was attending university in Canada, his respected great grandfather was deposed in 1974 and murdered in 1975 on the direction of the dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam.
In 1991, Haile Mariam was overthrown by rebels from northern Ethiopia, including a coalition from the province of Tigre. They are still in control of Ethiopia.
Despite the fact that Haile Selassie's would-be successor, his son, Asfa Wossen, died in 1997, Prince Stephanos believes the Solomonic Dynasty will one day be restored because of their undying faith in the Ark of the Covenant.
In 1990, he also introduced me to the Kebra Negast (The Glory of the Kings of Ethiopia), an ancient script on the travels of Ark from Jerusalem to Aksum during Solomon's reign. It gives intimate details of the relationship between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (also known as Makeda) and of the "flying" entourage that took the Ark out of Solomon's Temple.
It's believed the first form of this book was uncovered in the sixth century AD, however, the most important translation was by a man only known as Isaac between AD 1314 and 1344.
He was, obviously, an enthusiastic Christian visionary, who firmly believed: 1. That the lawful kings of Ethiopia were descended from Solomon, King of Israel; 2. That the Tabernacle of the Law of God, i.e. the Ark of the Covenant, had been brought from Jerusalem to Aksum (Axum) by Menelik I, Solomon's first-born son, according to the Ethiopians and 3. That the God of Israel had transferred His abode on earth from Jerusalem to Aksum, the ecclesiastical and political capital of Ethiopia.
In the late 1920s and 1930s, a British professor, Sir E.A. Wallis Budge wrote the latest translation.
In an interview with Prince Stephanos in 1990, he talked about Ethiopia's obsession with the original Ark of the Covenant and related the great legend concerning King Solomon of Israel and the Queen of Sheba:
CORBETT: Briefly tell me about it?
PRINCE: Her name was Makeda and also Saba, for she was known by both names. There's some dispute whether she was the Queen of Aksum (Axum) and the land of Sheba (which also included the southern Arabian peninsula), but she definitely settled in Aksum.
CORBETT: Were there rulers prior to Makeda?
PRINCE: Oh, yes, their emperors and empresses didn't begin with Makeda. There's a story that her father, Agabos, became ruler after he killed the Cobra. The great Cobra was an object of worship and the people sacrificed their children to it.
CORBETT: What was the connection between Makeda and Solomon?
PRINCE: She visited Solomon in Jerusalem and they had a son who's name is Menelik (also Ibna Hakim, Bayna Lemkem and David II). He's the reason for the Ethiopian claim to the Solomonic Dynasty and Menelik also brought the Ark of the Covenant from Jerusalem to Aksum some 3,000 years ago. This is found in the Kebra Negast.
CORBETT: What's the Kebra Negast?
PRINCE: It's an historical account of Menelik and the sons of Jewish noblemen taking the Ark and replacing it with a replica in the Temple in Jerusalem. Twenty or 30 years later, the High Priest Zadok recognized that the Ark in the Temple is a replica and not the real thing after the Israelites went to war and they lost. Previously, they had never lost a war when they took the Ark with them. Zadok then realized who the culprit was, but he wasn't about to implicate his son, Azariah. So he says, 'let's say it is lost.' It's never found in Israeli history after that. It simply disappears. The whole thing was hush-hush. It was completely forgotten.
CORBETT: What happened in Ethiopia when the Ark arrived there?
PRINCE: On the Abyssinian side, it became very evident from the time of Menelik that there was great rejoicing when the Ark was brought. Again it's a challenge to any scholar to say what if it isn't a fake one; that Menelik did actually bring it to Ethiopia. Ethiopian chronicles relate a lot of miracles that were performed because of the presence of the Ark.
CORBETT: What respect is it given in Ethiopia?
PRINCE: Well, emperor after emperor has come to acknowledge the presence of the Ark and handing over their crowns (at Aksum) because they figure that's the only place where they come face to face with their Creator. The only one higher up than the Emperor of Ethiopia was the Creator and they figured the presence of the Ark was a justifiable cause to "give up" their crown. Its magnitude starts getting built into the national history -- into church history and into the heritage of the country.
Haile Selassie I, Stephanos' great grandfather, could be considered the Last Emperor of the Ark, for he built a magnificent edifice in Aksum. It opened in 1965.
CORBETT: You talked about the rulers always sending their crowns to Aksum. Do you know about Haile Selassie's continuing the tradition?
PRINCE: Yes. That's quite significant. To me it indicates he believed in it and the fact Haile Selassie also built a new church to accommodate the three million members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church was an indication he wanted to bring unity in the church in believing in Mary of Zion.
CORBETT: Why was Queen Elizabeth there for the opening ceremony?
PRINCE: It was quite a ceremony when the church was built because the traditional church leaders and monks of Mary of Zion were totally opposed to the idea and also with the breaking of tradition in allowing female members into the church. But he was able to persuade or order things to be done and one of the things I remember very clearly about the church in 1965 was that Queen Elizabeth was invited. She officiated along with the Emperor in the opening of the church and (the parading) of a replica of the Ark. Most of the monasteries of Ethiopia came for this very colorful ceremony. They will relate 100 years from now how the Queen of England came all the way to Aksum. It's coincidence, I'm sure, that she didn't come just for the ceremony, but this occurred during her state visit. It's quite a memory.
CORBETT: As a member of the royal family, what is the Ark's importance to you and also to the Ethiopian people?
PRINCE: Well, the existence of the Ark of the Covenant and its legend is a cornerstone of the claim of the present royal family of being descendants of the Solomonic line, therefore, it's not just a fictitious situation. The Solomonic line didn't end at Menelik II. It started with Menelik I and it ended with Haile Selassie. He was the last of the Solomonic Dynasty. In between there have been interruptions and a few other interruptions and a few other dynasties have come and gone and one of them, a significant one, is the Zagwe dynasty, which claimed to have its heritage from Solomon. They claim that the Queen of Sheba's chambermaid bore a son from Solomon and they are descendants of that. We definitely have a lineage of both royal houses. In between there were emperors who came to power of their own right without being members of the Solomonic Dynasty and, in recent times, the Emperor Theodore and Emperor Yohannes IV, claimed to be members of the Solomonic Dynasty.
CORBETT: What do you think the Ark's purpose is today and in the future?
PRINCE: Personally speaking for the royal family, the same way the Jews expect the rebuilding of the Temple, the restoration of the monarchy and the restoration of Ethiopian glory is dependent on the Ark of the Covenant and its existence. Whether it's truly found or not isn't the question, for it's a fact that people still believe in it and it's a symbol of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and as such we have faith (in the people) that Ethiopia will return to that and restore the monarchy.
CORBETT: What influence does the Ethiopian Orthodox Church have on the people?
PRINCE: As I mentioned the Ark is the anchor of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Again another significant factor is that prior to the 1950s, the Patriarch of Alexandria (Egypt), the See of St. Mark, used to name the bishops to Ethiopia. We didn't have our own rights and that was quite a drawback for Ethiopian emperors. Egyptian leaders used to control Ethiopian affairs. Now Ethiopia has her own Patriarch who is elected by the Ethiopian Orthodox synod and the bishops are all Ethiopians, so they're actually, what would you call it, the actual affairs of the church are in the hands of Ethiopians, without foreign interference, so we could probably claim once again that we're masters of our destiny.
NEXT: The Ark and the Falashas plus other dedicated searchers, including archaeologist Ron Wyatt and Corbett and Harron's 1990 expedition and their findings.