Tabot

For the festival in Indonesia, see Tabuik.
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An Ethiopian priest carries a tabot during a Timkat ceremony.

Tabot (Ge'ez ታቦት tābōt, sometimes spelled tabout) is a replica of the Ark of the Covenant, and represents the presence of God, in Ethiopian Orthodox and Eritrean Orthodox Churches.[1][2]: 135 [3] Tabot may variously refer to an inscribed altar tablet (tsellat or tsilit; Ge'ez: ጽላት tsallāt, modern ṣellāt), the chest in which this tablet is stored (menbere-tabot, or throne of the tabot), or to the tablet and chest together.[1][4]

According to Edward Ullendorff, the Ge'ez (an Ethiopian Semitic language) word tabot is derived from the Aramaic word tebuta (tebota), like the Hebrew word tebah.[5] Ullendorff stated that "The concept and function of the tabot represent one of the most remarkable areas of agreement with Old Testament forms of worship."[6]

  1. ^ a b Habtamu Teshome (16 January 2023). "Liturgical Worship, Part Three: Unique Features of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church". Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Sunday School Department. Mahibere Kidusan. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  2. ^ Shyllon, Folarin (July 2014). "Repatriation of Antiquities to Sub-Saharan Africa: the Agony and the Ecstasy". Art, Antiquity & Law. 19 (2): 121–143. ISSN 1362-2331. Retrieved 2 February 2024 – via EBSCOHost.
  3. ^ "Theophany | Timqet". Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church Diocese of the U.S.A. and Canada. 19 January 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  4. ^ "The Ark of Covenant". The Official Website of Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church. 1 December 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  5. ^ Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible (Oxford: University Press for the British Academy, 1968), pp. 82, 122
  6. ^ Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, p. 82