In contemplating the subject of fanciful information and perhaps in hoping to close on the subject – was it footprints from mysterious energy perhaps surrounding a perhaps saint and did that energy surround Christ, too, thus affecting the carbon 14 content of relics? – I came across this story in the Huffington Post Travel Section:
Reports are cropping up that the fabled Ark of the Covenant, said to contain the remnants of the Ten Commandments, has been discovered along with the Tomb of Alexander the Great on the Greek island of Thasos.
The Focus Information Agency, a Bulgarian outfit not exactly renowned for accuracy, is reporting that Grekomania.ru, a Russian web portal that purports to be an "official information partner of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Greece," has claimed that a group led by Nikolaos Kumardzis, an archeologist apparently unaffiliated with any other dig, has identified one of the world’s great treasures. At least one Armenian newspaper is running a similar story.
What more confirmation could anyone possibly want?
. . . Because the Ark of the Covenant story is likely to bounce around the internet, exciting then disappointing people, we thought it would be nice to offer up a selection of places where relics were actually discovered.
The picture is of a toy Ark of the Covenant that comes complete with an archeologist doll from Hasbro toys.
Note below that the description of the Shroud of Turin from HuffPost, which shows that they are not really that much more reliable and accurate than the Russian internet portal or the Armenian newspaper.
- Spear of Destiny (Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem)
- True Cross (a piece discovered in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre)
- Crown of Thorns (the one in a church on Jerusalem’s Mount Zion)
- Holy Grail in Zaragoza, Spain (at least, it’s an artifact of something, maybe)
- Shroud of Turin (the cloth, supposedly used to wipe Christ’s face prior to the crucifixion)
- The Gifts of the Magi (at St. Paul’s Monastery at Mount Athos)
- John the Baptist’s Head (at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria)
- Muhammad’s Beard (Istanbul’s Topkapi Palace)
- The Holy Mantle of Muhammad (also at the Topkapi Palace)
- Buddha’s Tooth (at a temple in the Sri Lankan city of Kandy)
At least to the paper’s credit they say of the Shroud that “[t]he cloth has come under a great deal of scrutiny partially because it provenance is unknown” even if they don’t know what it is.
Why did they omit the relics of St. Columba who, after all, discovered the Loch Ness Monster?
It would be interesting to see a complete list of relics, wouldn’t it? I think the Scots have St. Andrews’ fingers somewhere. And, there’s the “Stone of Destiny”, believed to be the stone that Jacob slept on when he had the vision of a ladder to heaven. The Stone is or was in Westminster Abbey, but I believe it was returned to the Scots and will be borrowed for future coronations. There’s a lot of doubts about the Stone but it’s still an important part of English culture.
All these relics have a fascinating history, some of it entirely fabricated – but others might be based on truth. And people don’t really care anymore if the relic is real or not, the legend itself has become part of their culture and identity, so why mess with it.
The Seventh Day Adventists have a story that one of their own found the Ark of the Covenant. The stories and legends surrounding the Ark are incredible: I think every continent claims to have it hidden somewhere. I’ve come across some legends that are quite extensive and elaborate, and yet they turn out to be fake. British Israel had a very elaborate (fake) story about Tea Tephi, and some people are still completely convinced the Ark is in Ireland.
But the most amazing story of all is by a Seventh Day Adventist explorer, a very devout man, who claims to have found it and brought back a fuzzy picture of it. The story is compelling, I haven’t decided yet what to make of it, but I’ve corresponded some with the guy who ran the Explorer’s museum and Pinkowski is so convinced of what his friend found, that I’ve bounced it around my head quite a bit lately.
The Explorer, Ron Wyatt, is not without credibility: he did find the authentic for-real Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia and there’s a documentary or movie about it that will be out soon. Ron Wyatt, died in 1999. But he claimed to have found Sodom and Gomorroh (fascinating story) and the place where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea: a movie documentary has been made about this as well, and is supposed to be released soon.
I’m not saying I believe it, about the Ark: this is the most astonishing story of all. I do find it to be very interesting, especially since people who knew Mr. Wyatt are staunch defenders of his character. There are a number of websites that mention Ron Wyatt:
http://www.wyattarchaeology.com/
http://pinkoski.com/
http://www.wyattmuseum.com/
http://jonah135588.wordpress.com/2008/10/22/deathbed-confession-of-ron-wyatt-discoverer-of-the-ark-of-the-covenant/
BTW, I think that toy from Raiders of the Lost Ark is disgusting. It shows they know nothing of the enormous significance of the Ark of the Covenant.
I want to add… Ron Wyatt said he found the Ark of the Covenant INSIDE Golgotha Hill, directly underneath the crucfixion site (they also found archaeological evidence of the site for the three crosses, and the earthquake) AND, in the same vicinity as a tomb with a groove for the enormous rock. Ron Wyatt found the huge rock nearby, too. So all of this is directly connected with the Shroud of Turin, and equally as mysterious. If Ron Wyatt’s discoveries are authentic, the Shroud is part of the story.
Fun stories, but absolutely ridiculous. It blows me away that people actually believe this stuff.