By Hailu T. | Reporter

The Cross of Saint Yared, the famed father of Ethiopian church music, was returned to Ethiopia after it was looted from the church of Tana Tcherkos at gun point in the early 1990s.

The cross which has belonged to the treasury of the church was identified by Jaques Mercier, art historian and researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research, in a private collection.

Recognizing the cross, Mercier informed the collector of the holiness and importance of the cross. The latter agreed to return the cross upon reimbursement of cost and provision of an indemnity from a British Charity, the Committee for the Preservation and Promotion of Ethiopian Heritage which raised the funds necessary for the return.

During a ceremony held to celebrate the return of the cross, a book entitled Ethiopian Church, Treasures and Faith. The book describes the history and devotional practices of six large monasteries and details the symbolism of the liturgical objects.

The book aims at identifying and publishing the most liturgical objects still extant in Ethiopian churches.