The Church of Our Lady and Ark of the Covenant

The Church of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant is located in Abu Gosh at the top of Kiryat Yearim. We visited this site with Joyce and Jeff the same day we went to Abu Gosh in a recent post.

We were greeted by a sweet little nun with an English accent. She told us she had been there for two years and was "still in training" as a tour guide for the property.

She was darling and told us the story how this church was discovered. The history is fascinating and goes back to the 5th century when a Byzantine church was first built.

 

From almost anywhere in the village below you can see the roof top sculpture

 of Mary carrying the infant Jesus in her arms.

She also explained that this site was significant because according to tradition this was where the Ark of the Covenant rested for approximately 20 to 80 years. The Ark was here during the reign of King Samuel, King Saul, and the first year of King David. In 1050 BC, the Ark was seized by the Philistines. The Philistines later realized they could not keep the Ark because of the many misfortunes its presence brought upon them so they placed the Ark in a cart and called on men of Kyriat Yearim to take the cart away. Abinadab then entrusted it to his son, Eleazar.

When David became king, he fetched the Ark and took it to Jerusalem. I could write several blog entries on just the history of the Church of Our Lady and stories about the Ark, but for now, I'll be brief. It's important to learn about the Ark and events recorded in scripture.

Young readers might ask, "What is the Ark of the Covenant and how did it come about?" When Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days, God communicated through His servant (Moses) and made a "conditional covenant" with the children of Israel. He promised good to the Israelites and their children for generations if they obeyed Him and His laws. However, He warned of despair and punishment if they were to disobey. As a sign of His covenant, He told Moses how to make and design the box. The Ark of the Covenant was a wooden chest clad with gold which contained the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments as well as Aaron's rod and a pot of manna.

Artists and craftsmen have tried to replicate the way it looked and there are a number of "traditional stories" which have been passed down through the generations.

The Ark was built at the command of God and Moses was shown the pattern and the details for building the Ark. This box or chest, which is described in Exodus, was called an “Ark” and was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. The Book of Exodus gives detailed instructions on how the Ark was to be constructed. It was to be 52×31×31 inches in size and gilded entirely with gold and a crown or molding of gold was put around it. Four rings of gold were attached to its four corners, through which rings were inserted to enable the box to be carried by poles. The golden lid (or "mercy seat") was covered with 2 golden cherubim.

The Ark of the Covenant contained the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments as well as Aaron's rod and a pot of manna.

Originally, the Ark was to be housed in the inner sanctum of the tabernacle in the desert and eventually in the Temple when it was built in Jerusalem. The chest, according to tradition, was kept in an inner room of the Church of Our Lady so we were anxious to learn more about this. The little nun said that in the presence of the Ark, battles were won, seas were parted and cities conquered.

Some of those events included when the Ark was taken to the Jordan River, the waters parted the same way God had parted the waters of the Red Sea, opening a pathway for Moses and his followers to pass.  

The walls of the city of Jericho were shaken to the ground with no more than a shout from the army after the Ark of the Covenant was paraded around them for seven days by Levites accompanied by seven priests sounding seven trumpets of rams' horns.

When carried, the Ark was always hidden under a large veil made of skins and blue cloth, always carefully concealed, even from the eyes of the priests and the Levites who carried it.

God was said to have spoken with Moses "from between the two cherubim" on the Ark's cover. The Ark was always covered under the veil and staves were crossed in the middle under the box to hold it off the ground and was always carefully guarded.

Photo: A fresco about 4' in height of the Ark of the Covenant and two menorahs was painted on a wall in a Jewish catacomb in Rome, Italy (third century CE). The Ark of the Covenant disappeared off of the pages of history by the time of the Babylonian Captivity (about 600 BCE). Some have speculated it is held in the "Holy of Holies" and there are many legends regarding what happened to it.

The Ark was the subject of the 1981 film "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark." The movie tells of a hero's attempt to prevent the Ark from falling into the hands of the Nazis, who would harness its power for evil. While there is no evidence of Hitler ever having had an interest in the Ark, the movie does a great job of capturing the mystique of one of the worlds' most ancient unsolved mysteries.

Now that we better understand what the Ark of the Covenant was and the significance of it, we wanted to see the church and learn more about its history. As previously mentioned, the history was fascinating and the nun proceeded to take us to the church.

In 1901, the land where the church sits was purchased by Sister Josephine Remude, one of the sisters of St. Joseph of the apparition (the same order that live here today). In preparing the land to build and during excavations, they unexpectedly discovered a number of mosaic floors and pillars. The archaeologists were called in and with further excavations, they uncovered the remains of a 5th century Byzantine Basilica and the Church of Our Lady was built upon the sight at the same level. While living at the JC, we have had a number of archaeologists come to work on digs in the area. I can just imagine their excitement when they discover something from the antiquities.

1912: The convent was built and the "Sisters of Apparition" are the caretakers of this site. There are so many holy sites throughout Jerusalem and Israel and one is never quite certain which are legitimate. Nevertheless, visiting sites like this helps us to better appreciate the history of the people who lived her and the places they considered holy.

The nun explained that these were the columns found but they were in pieces. After the excavation, they were put together and you could see the ridges in the columns.

This was the original mosaic floor found during the excavation.

The Church of Our Lady was dedicated to Mary. This title is given to Mary because she carried Jesus in the womb and this symbolizes the Ark . . . and Jesus signifies the flesh that dwelt upon men. Therefore, the church is named “Mary Ark of the New Covenant.”

These are graves of people found at the sight during excavation.

The nun took us to a room which she said was where the Ark had been kept for many years. She pulled back a rug which was covering the original mosaic floor from the Byzantine era. The rug is left to protect the original mosaic. While we were in the little church, there was a small organ which I couldn't resist playing. The nun said that when she came to the church to serve, there was no organ and she was so disappointed! She could not imagine not having music in the church so upon her request, a very small electric organ (keyboard) was purchased.

The view from the church was beautiful but the air was polluted from the smoke of a fire in the area.

1931: A statue of the virgin Mary was erected on the roof of the church. The statue of Mary is a renowned landmark of peace embracing believers and non-believers alike.

This is a 600 year old olive tree.

Visiting this site was a great way to spend a couple of hours and just one 

more adventure in Jerusalem!