View source for Tabot

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{short description|Replica of the Tablets of Law or the Ark of the Covenant in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church}}
{{for|the festival in Indonesia|Tabuik}}{{For|the Cameroonian footballer|Enow Juvette Tabot}}{{Contains special characters|Ethiopic}}
{{Image frame | width=180 |content=[[File:01 - priests carring Tabots.jpg|180px]] | caption = An Ethiopian priest carries a ''tabot'' during a [[Timkat]] ceremony.}}

'''''Tabot''''' ({{langx|gez|ታቦት|tābōt}}, sometimes spelled '''''tabout''''') is a replica of the [[Ark of the Covenant]], and represents the presence of [[God]], in [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Ethiopian Orthodox]] and [[Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Eritrean Orthodox]] Churches.<ref name="mk-2023">{{Cite web | title=Liturgical Worship, Part Three: Unique Features of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church | url=https://eotcmk.org/e/unique-features-of-ethiopian-orthodox-tewahedo-church/ | publisher=[[Mahibere Kidusan]] | website=Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Sunday School Department | access-date=2024-02-02 | author=Habtamu Teshome | date=2023-01-16 }}</ref><ref name="folarin">{{Cite journal |last=Shyllon |first=Folarin |author-link=Folarin Shyllon |date=July 2014 |title=Repatriation of Antiquities to Sub-Saharan Africa: the Agony and the Ecstasy |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asu&AN=100116672&site=eds-live&scope=site |journal=Art, Antiquity & Law |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=121–143 |issn=1362-2331 |url-access=registration |access-date=2024-02-02 |via=EBSCOHost}}</ref>{{Rp|135}}<ref name="diocese">{{Cite web | title=Theophany <nowiki>|</nowiki> Timqet | url=https://english.eritreantewahdo.org/?sermons=theophany-timqet | access-date=2024-02-02 | website=Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church Diocese of the U.S.A. and Canada| date=19 January 2018 }}</ref>  ''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.<ref name="mk-2023" /><ref name="lisantewahdo">{{Cite web | title=The Ark of Covenant | date=2021-12-01 | url=https://www.lisantewahdo.org/index.php/english/teachings/item/1191-the-ark-of-the-covenant | website=The Official Website of Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church | access-date=2024-02-02 }}</ref>

According to [[Edward Ullendorff]], the Geʽez word ''tabot'' is derived from Aramaic {{lang|arc|תיבותא}} ''tēḇoṯā'', like [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] {{lang|he|תיבה}} ''tēḇā''.<ref>Ullendorff, ''Ethiopia and the Bible'' (Oxford: University Press for the British Academy, 1968), pp.&nbsp;82, 122</ref> 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."<ref>Ullendorff, ''Ethiopia and the Bible'', p.&nbsp;82</ref>

==Description==
The ''tsellat'' is usually a {{convert|6|in|cm|abbr=off|adj=on|order=flip}} square, and may be made from [[alabaster]], [[marble]] or wood from an [[acacia]] tree, although longer lengths of upwards of {{convert|40|cm|in|abbr=in}} are also common.<ref>[[David Roden Buxton|David Buxton]], ''The Abyssinians'' (New York: Praeger, 1970), p.&nbsp;162</ref>  This tablet is inscribed with the name of [[Jesus]], and that of the saint to whom it is dedicated.<ref name="mk-2023" />  

A bishop consecrates the ''tabot'' (not the church building itself),<ref name="folarin" />{{Rp|135}} and every church must have at least one ''tabot'' in order to conduct the liturgy.<ref name="E_Af1868-1001-21">{{Cite web | title=tabot | url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1868-1001-21 | access-date=2024-01-31 | quote=Curator's comments… The Tabots remain in the Qeddest Qeddusan and are only brought out of the churches at festival times or in times of calamity, in order to pray for divine help. When they leave the Queddest Qeddusan they are carried on the heads of priests, veiled from public view by richly decorated cloths. Ornate silk umbrellas are held over the Tabots as a sign of respect.|website=[[British Museum]]}}</ref>  The ''tabot'' is kept in the church's [[Holy of Holies]] (''Qidduse Qiddusan'' or ''Bete Mekdes''), where only the clergy may enter, and it is wrapped in ornate cloths to conceal it from public view.<ref name="E_Af1868-1001-21" />  Only bishops and priests are allowed touch or handle a ''tabot'', or see it without its coverings.<ref name="mk-2023" /><ref name="lisantewahdo" /> If a layperson touches a ''tabot'', a bishop must reconsecrate it before a church may use it again.<ref name="mk-2023" />

The [[Eucharist]] is administered from the ''tabot''.<ref name="mk-2023" /> During church festivals, such as the patronal feast day or during [[Timkat]] (known as [[Epiphany (feast)|Epiphany]] in English), the priests carry the ''tabot'' around the church [[courtyard]] in an elaborate procession reminiscent of [[2 Samuel]], chapter 6, in which King [[David]] leads the people dancing before the Ark.<ref name="E_Af1868-1001-21" /><ref>For example, Ullendorff, ''Ethiopia and the Bible'', p.&nbsp;83; Buxton, ''The Abyssinians'', p.&nbsp;32.</ref><ref>Donald N. Levine, ''Wax and Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopian Culture'', (Chicago: University Press, 1972), p.&nbsp;63.</ref> [[David Roden Buxton|David Buxton]] describes one such procession, on the festival of [[Gebre Menfes Kidus]]:
{{quote|To the uninstructed onlooker the climax of the service came at the end, when the ''tabot'' or ark was brought out, wrapped in coloured cloths, carried on the head of a priest. As it appeared in the doorway the women raised the ''[[ululation|ilil]]'', a prolonged and piercing cry of joy. When the tabot goes out of the Bete Mekdes ቤተ መቅደስ, everyone goes down to the floor and says a prayer. At first the ''tabot'' remained motionless, accompanied by several processional crosses and their attendant brightly colored canopies, while a group of cantors (''[[dabtara]]'') performed the liturgical dance so beloved of the Abyssinians. The dancing over, a procession formed up, headed by the ''tabot'', and slowly circled the church three times in a counter-clockwise direction. Finally the ''tabot'' was carried back into the sanctuary; all was over and the assembly broke up. Now in modern times Tabot comes out each time there is a celebration, for example on [[Baptism of Jesus|Jesus' Baptism]] all churches from the area come together with their tabot and celebrate.<ref>Buxton, ''The Abyssinians'', p.&nbsp;65</ref>}}

==Looting and repatriation of tabots==
{{Image frame | width=199 |content=[[File:Äthiopien Tabot Linden-Museum 90290.jpg|199px]]|caption=An uncovered tabot at the [[Linden Museum]] in Stuttgart (2008).}}
Although [[Ethiopia]] was never colonised by the British, many ''tabots'' were looted by British soldiers during the [[1868 Expedition to Abyssinia]], also known as the [[Battle of Magdala]], and is a cause of anger among Ethiopians.<ref>{{Cite news | title=Westminster Abbey stops Ethiopian priests visiting holy tablet | first=Dalya | last=Alberge | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/01/westminster-abbey-ethiopian-holy-tablet | newspaper=[[The Observer]] | date=1 June 2019}}</ref> One of these tabots was purchased in the aftermath of the battle by British Museum employee Richard Holmes on behalf of the museum while the museum received further tabots from the Indian office.<ref name=Cormack>{{cite journal |last=Cormack |first=Zoe |title=The British Museum and the Abyssinian Campaign, 1867–8 |journal=History |volume=110 |issue=391 |date=2025 |issn=0018-2648 |doi=10.1111/1468-229X.13439 |pages=326–345 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-229X.13439 |access-date=25 September 2025|doi-access=free }}</ref>  The tabots in the holdings of the British museum have had their viewing, since 2004, limited to Ethiopian Orthodox clergy<ref name=Cormack327>{{cite journal |last=Cormack |first=Zoe |title=The British Museum and the Abyssinian Campaign, 1867–8 |journal=History |volume=110 |issue=391 |date=2025 |issn=0018-2648 |doi=10.1111/1468-229X.13439 |pages=327–328 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-229X.13439 |access-date=25 September 2025|doi-access=free }}</ref> 

The return in February 2002 of one looted tabot, discovered in the storage of [[St John's, Edinburgh|St John's Episcopal Church]] in [[Edinburgh]], was a cause of public rejoicing in [[Addis Ababa]].<ref>{{Cite news| archive-date=2011-08-10 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810035902/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20020127/ai_n9626611/ | url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20020127/ai_n9626611 | via=Find Articles | title=Ethiopian joy as church returns Ark of Covenant; Handover may… | first=Jenifer | last=Johnston | newspaper=[[Sunday Herald]] | date=27 January 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=22 April 2002|first=Odhiambo|last=Okite|title=Ethiopia: Returning a Tabot|url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/april22/17.22.html|website=Christianity Today}}</ref> Another was returned in 2003 after Ian McLennan recognised the ancient ''tabot'' at an auction in London. He bought it and donated it to the government of Ethiopia.<ref>{{Cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3034860.stm | first=Damian | last=Zane | title=Raided Lost Ark returns home | website=[[BBC News]] | date=1 July 2003}}</ref>

In February 2024, the Dean of Westminster Abbey agreed in principle to return the ''tabot'' which is sealed inside an altar in [[Westminster Abbey]] to Ethiopia. This is dependent on the consent of the Royal Household as the Monarch has jurisdiction over the Abbey.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Simpson |first=Craig |date=2024-02-13 |title=Westminster Abbey to return sacred tablet to Ethiopia after consulting with King |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/13/westminster-abbey-tablet-to-ethiopia-consulting-with-king/ |access-date=2024-02-14 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Thabilitho]]
*[[Altar Stone]]
*[[Antimension]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

;Additional sources 
* {{cite news | url = https://www.returningheritage.com/the-british-museum-where-else-are-we-not-getting-the-full-and-complete-story | title = The British Museum: Where else are we not getting the full and complete story? | website = Returning Heritage | date = 4 September 2023}}

==Further reading==
*  [[C.F. Beckingham]] and [[G.W.B. Huntingford]], "Appendix III, The ''Tabot''" in their translation of Francisco Alvarez, ''The Prester John of the Indies'' (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1961), pp.&nbsp;543–8.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Tabot}}
* [http://www.pilotguides.com/destination_guide/africa/ethiopia/axum.php Pilot Guides' Axum and the Ark]

{{Ten Commandments}}

[[Category:Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]]
[[Category:Christian religious objects]]
[[Category:Eucharistic objects]]
[[Category:Oriental Orthodoxy]]
[[Category:Christian processions]]