👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾The #Ark in the #New #Covenant
(part 1)
Grace and peace be multiplied to you, beloved of the Lord, seekers of the apostolic truth and keepers of the covenant of Christ. Today we lift the veil from a mystery ancient and yet ever-new, a treasure long hidden in the house of God, now revealed through the teaching of the Orthodox Church the mystery of the Ark in the New Covenant.
Let us now walk reverently into this holy knowledge, not as mere readers of letters, but as beholders of the Spirit, and with fear and trembling approach what the Church has always preserved, though the world has often forgotten.
I. The Ark: Not an Option but a Mark of the Church
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, that holy bride adorned in apostolic tradition, teaches this unshakable truth:
A church without the Ark of God is no church at all.
This is not symbolic language. It is canonical and spiritual reality. For the Ark signifies the indwelling presence of God Himself. If the Lord is not present, it is not a temple it is a market, a mere gathering of bodies without the Spirit. Unless a building is consecrated as a church, blessed by the Holy Myron and the prayers of the Archbishop, it is not called a church. It is not made holy by mortar, but by mystery.
This reflects the ancient law: “Where two or three gather in My name, there am I in their midst” (Matt. 18:20). But what is the Lord’s Name if not written upon the Ark, as upon the hearts of His saints?
II. St. Paul and the Ark: Temple of the Living God
The one who proclaims the necessity of the Ark stands with Saint Paul, that mighty pillar of both Covenants. For Paul declares: “The house of the living God is the temple of the living God.” And what greater adornment has that house than the Ark, which bears the tablets, the Word, the mystery of the covenant?
Paul did not divorce spirit from structure, nor did he abolish the visible for the sake of the invisible. Instead, he recognized that the saints the martyrs, confessors, and those who have finished the race are honored as living temples, and in their name an Ark is consecrated, marked, and honored.
God called them His friends in the flesh; Paul called them the temples of God. But far be it from us to say that because saints are temples, the Ark is now obsolete! Shall we now say the same of Christ whom the Jews crucified because they thought He was unnecessary?
III. The Ark as Tablet and Altar
In the Old Covenant, the Ark held the tablets of stone, carved by God’s own finger. In the New Covenant, these two Ark and tablet are one. The Ark is now:
The Holy Table
The Altar on which the body and blood of Christ are mystically offered.
Each Ark is movable, carved not to remain stagnant, but to be brought forth like the tabernacle in the wilderness. Upon it are inscribed:
The Name of the Lord, Alpha and Beta.
The image of the Holy Trinity above.
The Crucifixion of the Lord on the right.
The Virgin Theotokos on the left.
The righteous saint or martyr to whom the church is dedicated, whose name is written.
This is no idle artistry. This is theology in wood and stone, a visible creed, a tabernacle for the mystery of faith.
Continues 👇🏾