A priest carrying a sacred painting enters the Chapel of the Tablet, left, which is bathed by the rays of the late afternoon sun.

To the right is the old Church of St. Mary of Zion, built by Emperor Fasilidas in 1635. Emperor Fasiladas is said to have built the church on the ruins of an earlier Church of St. Mary of Zion that was destroyed in the mid-16th century by Islamist forces under the command of Ahmed Gragn "the Left Handed."

According to the tenets of several religions, including the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Ark of the Covenant is believed to be a box constructed to hold the tablets of the Ten Commandments that God handed down to Moses atop Mt. Sinai.

There isn't room enough here to talk about the myriad legends and the official positions of different religions concerning the whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant between the day Moses and his tribe departed Mt. Sinai and today. For an overview of this complex and contentious subject, take a look at Wikipedia's entry on the Ark of the Covenant at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_of_the_Covenant

I'll just summarize what I understand the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church believes about the Ark of the Covenant. Menelik, the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, brought the Ark of the Covenant to Axum in Ethiopia during biblical times. There the Ark remained until the early 16th century, when it was hidden - perhaps on an island in Lake Tana - to protect it from Islamic invaders. When peace returned, the Ark was installed in the old Church of St. Mary of Zion, which was then new. In about 1965, the Ark was removed to the Chapel of the Tablet. Today, only one person, a priest, is permitted to view the Ark. He is appointed keeper of the Ark of the Covenant for life.

Why was the Ark moved from the old Church of St. Mary of Zion to the Chapel of the Tablet? One story I have heard is the Ark of the Covenant emits a powerful force, perhaps light waves; Emperor Haile Selassie I ordered the Chapel of the Tablet built because the forces emanating from the Ark were damaging the old Church of St. Mary of Zion.