Editing Tabot (section)

{{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}}
{{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>