KBS
In the four-part documentary ‘Sacred Relics’, a KBS Founding Anniversary Grand Project, actor Kim Hee-ae, who serves as narrator, tells the story of an Ethiopian boy who dreams of becoming a priest but faces a harsh reality.
Premiering at 10 p.m. on the 3rd, the KBS Founding Anniversary Grand Project ‘Sacred Relics’ (producers Kim Dong-il, Lee Song-eun, Kim Eun-gon)’ Part 1, ‘Covenant’, shines a light on the ‘Tabot’, the Ark of the Covenant said to be engraved with the Ten Commandments that Moses received from God. In Ethiopia, much of whose land consists of high plateaus, a sacred object bearing a mysterious promise has been passed down. Although the ‘Tabot’ is a replica of the Ark of the Covenant said to contain the Ten Commandments, Orthodox believers regard the ‘Tabot’ and the Ark as the same and venerate the ‘Tabot’. Enfolding God’s mystery, the Tabot is always concealed and may be seen only by the priests who guard the church. However, when the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’s largest celebration, the ‘Timkat Festival’, is held each January to commemorate the Baptism of Jesus, the Tabot that no one can ordinarily see comes out into the world for one day each year.
In Ethiopia’s northern Tigray Region lies the Gheralta area, where rugged mountain ranges and dizzying cliffs hang like a folding screen. Born and raised in Gheralta, the thirteen-year-old boy ‘Kebrom’ is poor but quick-witted. Since 2020, a bloody civil war has raged in Tigray between Ethiopian government forces and rebels. After three years the gunfire ceased, but the war took countless lives and property. In this land long marked by drought and poverty, Kebrom said, “I believe God protected my family so that everyone survived without injury,” mentioning the sacred place here, the ‘Abuna Yemata Guh Church’. The ‘Abuna Yemata Guh Church’ is located where one must climb a 300-meter vertical cliff with bare hands to reach it, making it difficult for just anyone to go. The ‘Tabot’ is kept there, and people in the Gheralta area believe this place holds a sacred power.
Kebrom finds his greatest happiness in climbing to the church and meeting God. He also hopes that one day he will become a priest, guard the Tabot at the ‘Abuna Yemata Guh Church’, and be a source of strength for his family and village. Kebrom confesses, “I feel joy every time I read the Bible. If I become a priest someday, I want to share what I have learned with people and guide them on a good path.” Narrator and actor Kim Hee-ae foreshadowed the harsh reality awaiting him, saying, “The path to priesthood may be even more arduous than climbing a cliff.” Kebrom’s older brother, who also dreamed of the priesthood, became a ‘subdeacon’ but left for the capital, Addis Ababa, to earn money before he could finish his studies. Under a harsh reality in which poverty still weighs on their lives and the wounds of civil war have yet to heal, whether Kebrom, the boy who longs to be a priest, can safely overcome the difficult road and realize his dream will be revealed in the broadcast.
The four-part KBS Founding Anniversary Grand Project ‘Sacred Relics’ premieres at 10 p.m. on March 3 with Part 1, ‘Covenant’, the story of the Ethiopian boy Kebrom. It will then present Part 2, ‘Invitation’, at 10 p.m. on March 4; Part 3, ‘Word’, at 10 p.m. on March 5; and Part 4, ‘Heart’, at 10 p.m. on March 12, all on KBS1.
