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Chapter 25 The sixth wilderness-3

honor and burden During the long journey after starting from Khartoum, I of course told Hagos about my pursuit and investigation.Before we set off, I knew that Hagos was a native of Axum, but it never occurred to me for a moment that he had anything to do with the church, let alone that his father was a priest. At this point, I might be more cautious in expressing my opinion - but maybe not.I liked Hargos from the beginning, so I didn't want to hide anything from him. In this way all the element of accident which I had intended to preserve was removed, and this was not due to scheming or malice on either side, but pure chance.So I decided that it was no longer necessary to conceal my reason for coming here.The best thing to do right now is to lay all my cards on the table and accept the consequences, whether they be positive or negative.

I had a long talk with Hargos' father.He seemed intrigued that a foreigner had gone to such lengths to see the Ark. "Will I see it?" I asked. "Did they use the real Ark or a replica for the Epiphany ceremony?" Hagos translated my question.After a long pause, the old man finally opened his mouth: "My identity cannot answer such a question. You must go and talk to my boss." "You know the answer, right?" "In my capacity, that can't be said. That's none of my business." "Who's in charge of it?" "You must first meet our High Priest, who is the highest of all the priests in Axum. You can do nothing without his blessing. If he grants your request, you must also go to the Ark of the Covenant The guard at the time went to talk about..."

"I've been here before," I interjected, "in 1983. I saw the guard. Do you know if he's still alive? Has someone taken over from him?" "Unfortunately, the guardian passed away, four years ago. He was very old when he died. He nominated a successor to succeed him. This person is the current guardian monk." "Does he always stay in the chapel where the Ark of the Covenant is kept?" "He must never leave the Ark of the Covenant. This is his duty. His predecessor, the one you met back then, tried to escape when he was appointed as the Guardian Monk. Do you know that?"

"I don't know," I replied, "I don't know about the situation." "Yes. He escaped from Axum and into the mountains. Other monks were ordered to arrest him. After they brought him back, he still tried to escape. He was chained in the chapel and several Months before he accepted the responsibility." "You mean, chain him up?" "Exactly. Chained in the chapel." "I'm surprised." "why?" "Because it doesn't sound like he wants to be a Guardian. I thought it would be a great honor to be appointed Guardian of the Ark."

"Honor? Yes, of course it is honor. But it is also a heavy burden. Once the person who is selected as the guard monk takes up his post, he can only live on the Ark of the Covenant. He lives to serve the Ark of the Covenant, to give it Burn incense, and always guard in front of it." "What would happen if the Ark was carried out of the house of worship, for example on Epiphany? Would the guardian monks follow it?" "He must stay with the Ark at all times. However, you should discuss this issue with others, and I cannot in my position..." I asked several other questions closely related to the ark, but the old man's answer was all the same: such matters are none of his business, he cannot answer them, and I should talk to some higher priest.Interestingly, however, he told me that not long before the TPLF occupied Axum, some government officials did come to the city to transfer the Ark of the Covenant.

I asked, "How? I mean, what did they do? Did they want to go inside that chapel?" "That wasn't the intention at first. They wanted to convince us that the Ark should go to Addis Ababa with them. They said the fighting was getting closer to Axum and the Ark would be better in Addis Ababa. Safer." "and after?" "They were very tough and aggressive and we turned them down. They called soldiers but we held them back. The whole town heard about their plan and people went out into the streets Demonstrations. Finally, they returned to Addis Ababa empty-handed. Soon after, thank God, the city of Axum was liberated."

I felt at the time that the guerrilla fighter's father probably harbored some kind of prejudice in favor of the TPLF.Still, I asked, "Has the situation of the believers here improved or worsened after the government troops withdrew?" "Things have definitely improved a lot. To be honest, the churches are doing very well. We can go to church whenever we want to pray - whenever we want, day, night, night, whenever we want. It used to be Under the government, we could neither go to church at night nor come home from church at night because of their curfew. If we went out of church at night, even to get some fresh air, they would take us to jail. But we don't have to be afraid now. We can sleep peacefully at home like normal people, go to church every day and feel safe in our hearts. We no longer have to spend the night in church because we are afraid of being arrested when we come home from church at night .During the government, we never felt safe when we were doing the sacrament. We were always in fear, not knowing what was going to happen to us or the church. Now, we can say our prayers in peace and tranquility."

cross cross When Hargos's father left, he agreed to arrange for me to meet the high priest, the priest of St. Mary's Church, Mount Zion.He reminded me not to contact the guardian monk of the Ark of the Covenant before meeting this senior priest: "That will have a bad influence, and you should follow the rules when doing things." While I saw the potential pitfalls of this strategy, I also knew I had little choice but to act on it.So, while I waited to meet the senior priest, I decided to visit the archaeological sites (because my visits to them were too short in 1983), as well as some sites I hadn't visited before.

I remember an ancient relief on the surface of a rock near the quarry, where the famous steles of Axum were hewn in pre-Christian times, of a lioness. I didn't see the relief in 1983 because it was outside the area controlled by the anti-government guerrillas.However, now I can visit the relief. Ed had gone with another TPLF officer to film various footage for a Channel 4 news story.I talked Hargos into taking me to the quarry in the buggy.It was a little risky to do that, because we could be attacked by air.However, we only need to drive less than five kilometers, and when we get there, we can hide the car.

We drove out of town, past the so-called "Palace of the Queen of Sheba" and soon came to a little rocky foot.We parked in the valley, covered the off-road vehicle with camouflage canvas, and started walking up the hillside gravel. As I was walking, I asked Hagos, "Do you think it is possible for me to convince those priests to let me go into that chapel to see the Ark of the Covenant?" "Ah . . . they won't let you do that," Haggas replied confidently. "Your only chance is Epiphany." "But do you think they're actually going to carry the Ark to the Epiphany ceremony? Don't you think they're going to use a replica?"

He shrugged: "I don't know. I was a kid who believed the Ark of the Covenant on Epiphany was the real one and not a replica, and so did my friends. We never questioned that fact. It wasn't even our place to ask." things. But now I can't tell..." "why?" "Because it seems illogical." Hargos was reluctant to talk about the subject any more.For the next 15 minutes or so, we all laboriously climbed up the hill in silence.Later, Hagos pointed to a huge rock on the ridge and said, "The lioness you want to see is there." I had noticed that he was walking with a slight limp, so I asked, "What's wrong with your calf? Is it a sprain?" "No. It was the bullet." "Oh I see." "That was a few years ago, during a battle with government troops. The bullet went through the shin and shattered the bone. I have been in poor health since then and have not been fit to fight." We came to the boulder, and Haggas led me around it.I saw quite clearly the huge outline of a lioness in thin relief: only part of it was in shadow.It has been severely eroded by wind, rain and sun.Still, it exudes a sense of lifelike ferocity and understated beauty. I know that Theodore Bent, a British traveler and archeology enthusiast, visited Axum in the 19th century, and he also saw this relief at that time.He later described it as "an ethereal work of art, measuring 10 feet 8 inches from nose to tail. The running stance of the lioness is brilliantly represented, and the form of her hind legs illustrates The artist completely masters the subject matter of his representation".He also said: "A few inches above the nose of the lioness, there is also a glowing disc, which probably represents the sun" (see Theodore Bent: The Holy City of the Ethiopians: At Abyssin, 1893 Journeys to Nia, Longman Books, London, 1896, p. 196). I am now carefully examining this "disc emitting light", and found that the "light" it emits is two circles of elliptical inscribed lines on the rock.If these notches were placed on the dial, then the upper set would point to 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock respectively, and the lower set would point to 4 and 8 o'clock respectively.So I find it easy to understand why Bent said it might mean the sun: at first glance it does look like a series of spokes (or rays) radiating out from a disc-shaped center. However, it is far from the case. The "disk" mentioned by the traveler is actually an illusion.If he had worked hard at that time and carefully observed the overall shape of those elliptical incised circles, he would have found that it was not a representation of the sun at all, but a cross whose arms stretched out from the central point.In other words, it's a full Templar "cross of the cross" motif. "Hargos," I said, "is that what I see a cross?" As I asked, I ran my finger along the cross on the relief, and it became very clear at once. "It's a cross." The TPLF officer confirmed my opinion. "But it's not supposed to be here. This lioness relief is clearly pre-Christian. Why is this Christian symbol next to it?" "Who knows? Maybe someone added it later. There are also several crosses, exactly like this one, at the ruins of King Kaleb's palace." "If you don't mind," I said, "I'd love to go there and see those crosses." works of angels I had visited the Kaleb Emperor's Palace in 1983, so I knew the ruins dated to the 6th century AD, the early Christian period in Axum.I remember the palace as a fortress on top of a hill, with deep cellars and basements.But I don't recall seeing a cross there. As we drove back to the city, I was eagerly looking forward to exploring the palace again. In 1983, I was unaware of the importance of the Templars in my investigation.However, my recent research has led me to think of a possibility: during the reign of King Lalibela (AD 1185-1211), a group of Templars may have come to Ethiopia from Jerusalem with the purpose of finding The Ark of the Covenant, and then they may have been the bearers of the Ark of the Covenant.Readers may recall that I had already found evidence in 1983 that seemed to strongly support this theory, namely the eyewitness testimony of the 13th-century Armenian geographer Abu Saleh.He said that the men he saw carrying the Ark of the Covenant in Axum had "pink faces and red hair" (see Chapter 7 of this book). If these men were indeed Templars, as I strongly suspect, it is a reasonable inference that they may have left some relics of their order in Axum.Therefore, I think that the cross pattern carved on the rock next to the lioness relief, although it has no connection with the whole relief, is probably the work of the Templar artist. It is clear to me that this particular form of cross is not the same as those common crosses in Ethiopia.In fact, the only place I have seen this cross pattern in my many years of travel in Ethiopia is the zenith of the "Beta Miriam" church in the town of Lalibela.This town was once the capital of King Lalibela, the only one I believe to have brought the Templars into Ethiopia (see Chapter 5 of this book).Now, I have found yet another criss cross pattern on the outskirts of Axum.If Hagos's words are true, then I will see more crucifixes in the palace of Emperor Kaleb.It is entirely possible that the palace was still standing and inhabited in the 13th century. Our car drove across the meadows with the great steles of Axum, and along the edge of the great ancient pool called Mai Sham. I remember: According to local legend, this large pool was the place where Queen Sheba and King Solomon bathed together.However, after the advent of Christianity, the pool was used for the peculiar baptism ceremony on Epiphany.At the Epiphany ceremony in two days time, it is said that the Ark of the Covenant will be brought here, and I will witness that scene. We left Mai Sham, drove halfway up the steep and broken road to Kaleb's palace, got out of the car, camouflaged the off-road vehicle first, and started on foot. Hagos led me to the ruins of the palace, and searched for a while among the rubble, and finally shouted excitedly: "Here it is! It's here! I think this is what you want to see thing." I ran to him in a hurry and saw that he had wiped off the topsoil on a sandy-yellow slate.The stone was about 2 feet square and about 6 inches thick, and four oval holes had been cut in it, in exactly the same shape and arrangement as the oval inscribed lines near the relief of the lioness.However, since these holes penetrate the slab, the remaining shape of the slab is very obvious: they form a Templar cross again. Hagos mused, "I used to play here with my friends when I was a kid. There were still a lot of these slabs here. I think the other slabs have been taken from here since then." "Where are they going to be carried?" "The people of the town have been using the stones from these ruins to build their own houses, or to repair their own houses. So we are really lucky to see this slab in good condition...but there are other cross patterns , are all shaped like this one, right on the zenith of this palace." We walked down a flight of steps leading underground to the cellar I had visited in 1983.By the light of my torch, I could see several empty sarcophagi inside, which the Axumians believed had once contained vast quantities of gold jewels.Hargos struck a match and showed me a Templar cross engraved on top of one of the sarcophagi. "How did you know there was a cross there?" I asked appreciatively. "Everyone in Axum knows it. As I said, I used to play here with my friends when I was a kid." He then led me into another basement, lit a match, and showed me two other Templar crosses: one rather crude, carved on a far wall; On the upper part of the longer wall on one side. I stood there, staring up at the crosses, thinking, until the match flame went out. I know I will never be able to prove my hypothesis to the full satisfaction of archaeologists and historians; but at the moment I do feel in my heart that those Templars were here.The cross is their typical symbol, appearing on their shields and waistcoats.That some Templars came down to this basement, into these dark cellars, in order to leave this emblem on the wall, fits perfectly with all I know of them.Perhaps this is just a mystery, a sign for future generations to figure out. I asked Hargos, "Is there any legend that mentions the author of these crosses?" "Some people in the town said they were the work of angels," said the TPLF officer, "but of course that's nonsense." bearer of bad news I didn't hear from Hargos' father until nightfall that day, and it was bad news.We were in the little hotel room just after 7 p.m. when Hargos's father arrived.He told us that the high priest was not in Axum. My first reaction was that it was extremely unlikely (I didn't voice that thought) that the prelate of St. Mary's, Mount Zion, would be out of town at this time of year.Epiphany was coming soon, and there was still a lot of preparations to be done, so he absolutely needed to stay in Axum. "Unlucky," I said, "where's he gone?" "He went to Asmara ... there was a consultation there." "But Asmara is still in the hands of the government. How can he get there?" "The High Priest can go anywhere." "Will he be back before Epiphany?" "I hear he won't be back for a few days. His curate will represent him at the Epiphany." "So, what does this mean for my expedition? Like, can I go and talk to the Ark Guard? I have so many questions to ask." "You can't do anything without the High Priest's approval." Hargos's father was obviously an unwitting messenger, so I had neither right nor reason to be angry with him.Nevertheless, one thing is quite obvious: the news he just sent was actually one step in a ruse designed to prevent me from learning more about the Ark of the Covenant. As individuals, although they may be very polite and friendly to me, the ruthless fact is that without the approval of the senior priest, the monks and priests in Axum City will not assist my investigation at all.Unfortunately, the high priest was out of town.So, I have no way to get his permission.So, I can neither get any news of any significance from anyone, nor do I want to do anything that I have traveled so far away. It was the typical Abyssinian way of doing things, and I was going to get nowhere with it, and none of them actually refused anything from me.The clergy did not have to refuse me outrageously; on the contrary, they simply shrugged their shoulders and told me with regret that this or that could not have been done without the permission of the high priest, and that they themselves had no right to speak of it. This or that question. I asked: "Is there any way to get the opinion of the senior priest--his opinion about my inspection work here?" "When he was in Asmara?" Hagos' father laughed. "Impossible." "All right, then. Can I speak to his curate? Can't he grant my request?" "I don't think so. He'll have to get the High Priest's approval before he can give it to you." "So, if he wants to give me approval, he must first get it?" "Not bad." "But wouldn't I at least try? Wouldn't it be all right to see the curate and explain to him why I came? He might be willing to help me." "Perhaps," said Hargos's father, "at any rate, I'm going to speak to the curate to-night, and I'll give you his answer to-morrow." Sanctuary of the Ark The next day was Thursday, January 17, 1991.All of us were up before dawn.Ed wanted to photograph the entire sunrise; Hargoss said the ideal location would be on top of a small rocky hill behind town. So we got our driver, Tesfaye, out of bed at 4:30am.As soon as we arrived in Axum, he went to find a local prostitute and stayed with her all the time.We were on our way before 5 o'clock.We stuck Ed's shortwave radio with the telescopic antenna out of the car window.The reception is poor, with static and muffled sound.Still, we managed to sort out enough broadcasts to know that the Gulf War finally broke out, and the United States sent out hundreds of bomber sorties to bomb Baghdad that night, causing great damage.Apparently not a single Iraqi Air Force aircraft took off to meet them. "It looks like it's all over," Ed said in a rather satisfied tone. "I don't think so," Hargoss said. "We'll have to wait and see." We were silent for a while, listening to the continuous reports of the war, and Tesfaye turned the car up the steep trail leading to the top of the hill and drove towards the top.It was still almost completely dark, and Tesfaye seemed to be dreaming about the sexual pleasure he had just enjoyed recently—anyway, he managed to control the half-turned car, and managed to keep it from a small accident. Turn down the cliff. Ed, Hargos, and I used this as an excuse to get out of the car.Once Tesfaye concealed the off-road vehicle with camouflage canvas, we hiked the rest of the way to the summit. Rubbish from a previous battle was strewn all over the place.Hagos explained: "When we took Axum from the Ethiopian government forces, it was the last stronghold they lost. They fought very tenaciously, belonging to the 17th Division. It took us 8 hours to defeat them. " All around us are destroyed military trucks, burned armored personnel carriers and tanks that have been blown open.The sun began to rise in the sky, and only then did I see a large amount of munitions lying at my feet.Most of the fragments were bullet casings and shell casings.There were also a couple of SLmm mortar rounds, rusted all over them, but they didn't explode, and no one thought to get rid of them. We finally reached the top of the mountain.The temporary barracks on the top of the mountain was crooked, blackened by gunfire, and dilapidated.I stood on the top of the mountain with a crimson morning sky above my head.I looked at the city of Axum down the mountain in a depressed mood. Behind us are the ruins of a building.Parts of its corrugated aluminum roof remained, eerily creaking and moaning in the dawn breeze.There was a soldier's steel helmet on the ground in front of me, and a stray bullet opened a hole in the front.A little further away was a bomb crater with a rotting army boot inside. Now the sky is getting brighter, and I can see the green space in the center of Axum in the distance below the mountain. Most of the huge steles stand on that lawn.A little further on was an empty square, and beyond that were the walls and steeple of St. Mary's Church, Mount Zion, in a segregated built-up area.Next to this great mansion stood a small chapel of gray granite, surrounded by a barbed wire fence, with no windows, a closed door, and a dome of green rusted copper. This is the sanctuary of the ark, which is both near and far;It contains the answers to all my questions, and the evidence or counter-evidence of all my research and investigation work.Therefore, when I looked at the chapel in the distance down the mountain, I naturally felt longing and respect for it, hope and excitement, and the urgency to go into it, but also apprehension, because I don’t know Whether you can get your wish. scarecrow We went back to the small hotel and went to have breakfast.We sat there until about 10 a.m., surrounded by a particularly sombre, sad-faced group of Tigrays who had come to listen to news broadcasts on Ed's shortwave radio.The radio was buzzing and crackling all the time.Hargos translates for these people. I looked around at the faces of the people: young and old, handsome and plain, it struck me that these people could take such a keen interest in a war taking place in a distant land.It might divert their attention from the violent conflict all around them, which had killed or maimed many, many people in this small town.Perhaps this interest in them comes out of compassion, in the thought that other people are being brutally bombarded. I savored the meaning of the scene in front of me, and then thought: During the period when the Ethiopian government ruled Axum, these people were all terrified and lived in terror, so they had no freedom to make the above associations at all.In my opinion, although the people here are extremely poor, although the schools here are closed, although people can't go out in public because of fear of air raids, although farmers can hardly till their fields, although people are threatened by famine, the situation here It is still better than before, and it has been greatly improved. Around 11:00 am, Ed had already made up the schedule for the day's shooting.Hagos and I went to the city and walked in the direction of the "Stone Court".On the way, we saw a hand-painted poster of TPLF, which depicted President Mengistu as a devil with a bloody mouth, a bloody swastika on his hat, and a team of soldiers opening his mouth. come out.In the sky above his head hovered seven Miger aircraft, and he was surrounded by tanks and artillery.There is also a slogan written in tigravin on the screen: "We will never kneel before the dictator Mengistu." We walked the bomb-cratered streets of Axum, passing dilapidated stalls and empty shops, weaving among shabby houses, and meeting a stream of pedestrians—monks, nuns, priests, urchins, Dear elders and farmers, they come from the countryside and villages.A woman holds a large clay jug of water; groups of teenage boys, like boys everywhere, try to look good.It occurred to me that, a few years ago, I might have been quite happily on the sidelines, while the government would have sent these people away, to one of those relocation camps. I said, "Hagos, after you defeated the government forces, the situation in Axum is really different. Although I can't say exactly why, I still feel that the atmosphere here has completely changed." "It's because no one is afraid anymore," the TPLF officer replied after a while. "Are you not even afraid of bombing and air raids?" "Of course we're afraid of those things. But they're more annoying than frightening, and we've found a way to deal with them. When the government was here, we couldn't escape concentration camps, torture and random arrests." Human atrocities. Those are the horrors that have weighed on us for so long. But when we rebelled, do you know what happened?" "No, not sure." "We found that the horrors were all spread by scarecrows, and freedom was always in our hands." We came to the "Stone Tablet Garden".I walk among these great monoliths.I feel a marvel of their workmanship, and amazed at the astonishing skill of the forgotten culture that designed them.I remember that the guardian monk told me in 1983 that these steles were erected with the aid of the Ark of the Covenant, "the Ark of the Covenant and the fire of heaven". At that time, I didn't know how to understand the old monk's words.Now, based on everything I've learned, I know it's probably true what he said.In the history of the Ark of the Covenant, it has created many miracles: erecting a stele weighing hundreds of tons will certainly not exceed its capabilities. miracles come true At 4 o'clock that afternoon, Hagos' father came to the small hotel and told us that the curate had promised to see us.He said that he could not accompany us according to the rules of etiquette, but he gave us detailed instructions on how to go to see the curate. So Hagos and I went to the Church of St. Mary of Mount Zion.We came to a crowded cluster of cottages behind the church complex, and passed through a low porch into a passage.We knocked on the door and entered a courtyard.An old man in a black robe sat on a stool in the yard. When he saw us walking towards him, he gave some instructions in a soft voice.Haggas turned to me and said, "You have to stand here and I will speak to him on your behalf." Then, Hagos had a serious conversation with the old man.I watched them talk from afar and felt...feeling powerless, paralyzed, non-existent and cancelled.I once wanted to rush over and beg the old man to agree to my request, but I knew that no matter how sincere my begging was, it would fall into ears that could only understand the local traditional language. Hargoss is finally back.He said: "I have told the assistant priest everything. He said he cannot talk to you. He said that for something as important as the ark of the covenant, only the senior priest and the guardian monks are qualified to speak." "I suppose the high priest hasn't come back yet?" "By the way, not yet. But I have good news. The curate agrees for you to speak to the Guardian Monk." We walked a few dusty, labyrinthine paths and in a few minutes arrived at the Church of St. Mary of Mount Zion.We walked past the building at the front of the church to the metal fence surrounding the church chapel.I stood for a while, looking into the fence.I calculated that it would take me less than ten seconds to cross the fence and run to the closed gate of the chapel. I half-jokingly told Hargos the idea.He listened, with a look of deep fear on his face. "Don't think so!" he reminded me.He pointed to St. Mary's Church on Mount Zion behind us, where a dozen tall young deacons were wandering. "As a foreigner, you deserve to be respected, but if you act like this, you will definitely be killed." "Where do you think the guardian monk is?" I asked. "Inside. He'll meet us when he's ready." We waited patiently until the sun was about to set.Later, when it was getting darker and darker, the guardian monk finally showed up.He was tall and well built, probably 20 years younger than his predecessor.Like his predecessor, he had cataracts in his eyes; like his predecessor, his robes smelled of incense. He didn't mean to invite us in, but walked towards us, reached out his hands from the other side of the fence, and shook our hands. I ask his name. He replied in a dignified voice, "Jeborah Micheli." I said to Hargoss: "Tell him, my name is Graham Hancock, and I have been studying the history and legend of the Ark of the Covenant for many years. Please tell him that I am from England, and Britain is more than 7,000 kilometers away. Besides, I would like to be allowed to see the Ark of the Covenant." Hagos translated my words.The guardian monk said, "I know, I already know these things." "Will you let me go into church?" I asked. Hagos translated my question.The guardian monk didn't speak for a while, and then gave the answer I expected: "No. I can't do this." I argued feebly, "However, the purpose of my coming here is to see the Ark of the Covenant." "Then you've come in vain, I'm afraid. Because you won't see the Ark. If you've studied our traditions, as you say yourself, you should know that." "I understand. But I still want to see the Ark." "A lot of people want that too. But no one but me can see the holy ark. Not even the high priest. Not even the elders of the church. It's forbidden." "This is so disappointing to me." "There are worse things in life than disappointment." I asked, "At least you can tell me what the ark looks like? I think if you tell me what the ark looks like, I will also leave satisfied." "I believe it is well described in the Bible. You can read the Bible." "But I want you to describe in your own words what the Ark of the Covenant looks like. I mean, the Ark that is kept in this chapel. Is it a box of gold and wood? Flying lid. Is there two A statue with wings?" "I don't talk about such things..." "How did the people carry the ark?" I continued, "with poles, or in other ways? Is the ark light or heavy?" "As I have said, I don't talk about such things, so I won't." "Can the Ark perform miracles?" I persisted. "The Bible says that the Ark performed many miracles. So, did it perform miracles in Axum?" "It works miracles. It's... a miracle in itself. It's a miracle coming true. That's all I can say." The guardian monk stretched out his hand from the fence again, and held my hand tightly for a while, as if saying goodbye. "I have one more question," I was still not reconciled, "there is only one question..." He nodded slightly. "明天晚上,"我接着说,"主显节就开始了。到时候真约柜会被抬出来,让游行的人抬到麦·沙姆大水池去吗?会不会用一个复制品呢?" 哈戈斯把这个问题翻译成了提格雷语。 护卫僧听完,脸上一点表情也没有。最后,他回答说:"我已经说得够多了。你若像你说的那样研究过,那么,我想你能知道你这个问题的答案。" 说完,他转过身子,悄然地回到了阴影里,走了。 标志背后的秘密 1991年1月18日,星期五傍晚,主显节开始了。 人们抬到"麦·沙姆"大水池的那个物品是一只长方形大箱子,上面盖着厚蓝布,布上绣着一只鸽子。我想起沃尔夫拉姆的《帕西法尔》里的圣杯上也有个鸽子的标志,但我知道,我看见的既不是圣杯也不是约柜,这没有半点疑问。可以说,它本身就是个标志和象征,是个标记和符号。 正如那位法拉沙本堂神甫拉斐尔·哈达尼几个月前告诉我的那样,放在礼拜堂里的那件圣物还在那里,就在内殿里面,被严格守护着。因此,被抬出来用于群众游行的,只是它的复制品而已。然而,这个复制品却和我所熟悉的那些"塔波特"平板大为不同。去年我在贡德尔城主显节的游行里见过那些塔波特。而眼前的这个复制品却和《圣经》对约柜的描述完全一致。 那么,我又为什么确认它是复制品呢?The answer is simple.在主显节的两天时间里,约柜护卫僧杰伯拉·米凯里一刻也没有离开过圣堂礼拜堂。 18日傍晚,游行者们抬着那只盖着蓝布的箱子朝"麦·沙姆"大水池走去时,我看见他还坐在铁栅栏后面,身子靠在礼拜堂的灰色花岗石上,似乎陷入了沉思。那些神甫离开的时候,他甚至连头都没有抬。他们抬走的那件东西显然对他并不十分重要。 神甫们走后,他就回到礼拜堂里面去了。不一会儿我便听到了他那低沉的、没有节奏的唱祷声。如果我能被允许再走近一些,我肯定会闻见乳香那种美妙的芬芳。 这是因为,在幽暗的礼拜堂里,杰伯拉·米凯里如果不是在上帝的约柜前向主进香,还能做什么呢?他被从自己的所有侪辈中选定,去完成一项为人们所珍视的嘱托;他牺牲了自己的自由,护卫着那件神圣不可冒犯的圣物。如果那件圣物不是在礼拜堂里和他在一起,还会是什么呢? 因此,我相信自己至少已经窥见了这个象征背后的秘密。这个象征是一个光荣的奥秘,它由如此众多的奇特标志宣示出来——虽然宣示出来,却并没有泄露出来。这是因为埃塞俄比亚人懂得:你若想藏起一棵树,就必须把它放进树林里。人们在两万多个教堂里供奉的约柜复制品,如果不是真正的标志的树林,又是什么呢? 那片树林中央,安放着真正的约柜,那只在西奈山麓制造的包金约柜。它曾经被抬过荒野,曾经被抬着渡过约旦河,曾经在以色列人夺取恩许之地的战斗中为他们带来胜利,曾经被大卫王带到耶路撒冷,公元前955年前后,它曾经被所罗门王放置在第一圣殿的内殿里。 大约300年之后,它从那里被忠实的祭司们安全地送到了远方埃及的埃勒法坦岛,以免在玛拿西国王手中遭到玷污。埃勒法坦岛上建起了一座新的神庙来安放它。那座神庙存在了两个世纪。 然而,那座神庙被毁掉以后,它又重新开始了一系列的流浪。它被带到了南方的埃塞俄比亚,进入了那片蝗虫翅膀阴影下的国土,那片诸河纵横交错的国土。它被从一个岛送往另一个岛,被送到了碧绿苍翠的塔纳·奇克斯岛上。在那里,它被放置在一个简单的帐篷里,接受那些质朴的人们的崇拜。此后的800年间,它成了一群与众不同的犹太人崇拜的核心,那群人就是今天所有埃塞俄比亚犹太人的祖先。 后来,基督教徒进入了埃塞俄比亚。他们传播这种新的宗教。在使国王皈依之后,他们又占领了阿克苏姆。他们把约柜送到了阿克苏姆,放进他们在那里建造的那座宏伟教堂——那座教堂是献给圣母玛利亚的。 又过了许多许多年,经过几个世纪的漫长时光,对约柜如何来到埃塞俄比亚的记忆便渐渐模糊了。传说开始流行,说现在出现了一件神秘而无法解释的怪事:遥远的提格雷省高原上的一座小城,被选作了这件《旧约》时代最珍贵、最崇高的圣物的最后安放地(据说这是上帝亲自选定的)。这些传说最终被用文字记载了下来,被写成了《国王的光荣》。这部文献里有许多舛讹、时间错误和前后矛盾,使后世的学者们一直未能看清其中古老而隐秘的历史真相,因为它被隐藏在重重神话和魔法下面。 然而,圣殿骑士们却勘破了真相。他们理解了约柜那种震撼大地的威力,他们到埃塞俄比亚去寻找约柜。不仅如此,他们的那番探寻还被沃尔夫拉姆·冯·埃森巴赫写成了《帕西法尔》这部传奇故事,其中的圣杯被当作了约柜的神秘代码。 沃尔夫拉姆在这部传奇里写道:异教徒弗列杰塔尼斯洞悉了星座隐含的奥秘,便敬畏地宣布说,世界上的确存在着"一个名叫圣杯的东西"。他还宣布:一群基督教后裔在守护着这只完美的圣杯,这只无形的圣杯;那些后裔过着纯洁的生活。他最后还说出了一个预言:"那些被召唤到圣杯前的人们将永远是值得尊敬的。" 因此,那些被召唤到约柜前的人们也永远是值得尊敬的——因为约柜和圣杯本来就是同一个圣物。然而,至于我自己,我却永远不配获得这样的尊敬。我甚至在踏上这片荒野的时候就知道了这一点,我在朝那座礼拜堂走去的时候就知道了这一点。 我现在依然知道这一点,可是……可是……"我的心是快乐的,我的灵魂是欣悦的,我的肉体也将在希望中安歇。" (End of the book)
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