Relic Found in Church Cupboard December 6, 2001 11:17 am EST

LONDON (Reuters) - A sacred Ethiopian artifact has come to light in the dusty cupboard of a Scottish church more than 130 years after it was plundered by British soldiers, its finder said Wednesday.

The Rev. John McLuckie from the Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist in Edinburgh stumbled upon the intricately carved wooden block in a battered leather box while looking for a communion set early this year.

"I was just going through the cupboard looking for something else and, suddenly, there it was," McLuckie told Reuters.

The tablet, officially called a tabot, bears a picture of the Ark of the Covenant, which the Israelites used to house the Ten Commandments as they made their way to the Promised Land.

Traditionally wrapped in cloths, they form the centerpiece of the country's Orthodox religion, and McLuckie said he only recognized it for what it was because he used to work in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

He said the tabot had originally been seized when an expeditionary force of British soldiers arrived in Ethiopia in 1868 to avenge the imprisonment of a number of British citizens by Emperor Tewodros.

The troops stormed Tewodros' fortress and then loaded up 15 elephants and 200 mules with looted goods, according to a report written by an American journalist at the time, McLuckie said.

The tabot itself was bought by an officer from Edinburgh, who set it on a plinth and presented it to his home church.

Much of the rest of the hoard, including more than 1,000 sacred manuscripts, gold crowns and processional crosses, ended up in London's British and Victoria & Albert museums.

Britain returned part of the treasure when King George V presented Empress Zawditu with a crown when Ethiopian Regent Haile Selassie visited London in 1924.

Now the tabot looks as though it is on its way home too.

"We've been negotiating with the Ethiopian Embassy and the patriarch in Addis Ababa and we're hoping to hand it over in late January," McLuckie said.

-- Anonymous, December 08, 2001