👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾Why Do We Call the #Altar, Where the Holy Flesh and Precious #Blood Are Offered, the #Ark?
(Part 3)
Brethren beloved in the Lord, grace and peace be multiplied unto you in the name of the Only Begotten, our Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified, is risen, and shall come again in glory. Today, we consider a most sacred mystery, one which joins the threads of the old with the new, the shadow with the fulfillment, and the type with the true essence: Why do we call the holy altar, where the divine flesh and precious blood are consecrated, the Ark?
This is no idle naming. It is not poetry nor mere tradition. It is the inheritance of divine wisdom, rooted in history, sealed by prophecy, and confirmed by apostolic faith.
I. The Journey from Old to New: Ethiopia’s Holy Continuity
Among the nations of the earth, one land shines forth uniquely in its witness: Ethiopia. Like the Gentiles, she did not cling to the shadows of the Old Testament; nor, like the Jews, did she wait in vain for a messiah to come. Ethiopia alone crossed the Jordan of faith not by abandoning the Old, but by allowing it to be fulfilled in the New.
Before she confessed the name of Christ, Ethiopia already embraced the temple ordinances. The Queen of Sheba journeyed to behold the wisdom of Solomon (1 Kings 10; 2 Chronicles 9), and her seed carried the fear of the Lord in their bones. They offered sacrifices, made pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and upheld the law. But in the fullness of time, she accepted the true Ark Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. And thus, she calls the altar where He is offered not only altar but Ark.
Yet, brethren, do not confuse the Ark of the Covenant of Moses with this sacred Table. They are not alike in form, nor in size, nor in function. Rather, as the moon fades before the rising sun, so the old Ark yields its glory to the altar of the Lamb.
II. Contrast Between the Two Arks: The Shadow and the Fulfillment
Let us look with spiritual eyes and discern:
The Old Testament Ark was a golden box, overlaid with gold within and without, carried by four priests, holding the tablets of the Law, and placed behind the veil.
The New Testament Ark our altar is simple in form, often wood or marble, borne by a single deacon with trembling hands, for on it lies the true Word made flesh, not on stone, but living and broken for our salvation.
The old Ark was a seat of divine speech God spoke to prophets from between the cherubim.
The altar, the new Ark, speaks not in thunder and cloud, but by the quiet descent of the Holy Spirit who transforms bread into Body, and wine into Blood.
On the old Ark was written the Law that condemned sin.
On the altar is written the name of mercy Himself: Jesus Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, who bore our sins.
III. A Universal Mystery Among the Churches
Beloved, the name “Ark” is not confined to Ethiopia. Wherever the faith is preserved, wherever the Eucharist is celebrated as true flesh and true blood not as symbol, but as reality there you will find this mystery guarded:
In Egypt, the Copts call it Luh.
Among the Eastern Orthodox, it is the Antimension a holy cloth upon which no Divine Liturgy may be celebrated unless it bears the relics of the saints.
In Rome, they name it Mensa, the Holy Table.
In Armenia, Syria, India, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, and beyond, this sacred Table is known and revered.
More than 70% of the world’s Christians believe in this mystery, though they may name it differently.
And yet, among all, the Ethiopian Ark is unique for it is mobile. Just as the Ark of old journeyed with Israel through the wilderness, so too is the Ethiopian Ark carried in processions, honored in movement, manifesting the truth that the Word of God is living, not locked away.
Continues 👇🏾