Dearly Beloved and Friends of St Mary of Zion The Parish Council and laity of St Mary of Zion, Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) London, humbly request your support to convert our newly purchased property on 229 Lower Clapton Road, London E5 into a place of worship and community centre. We are making this appeal in light of objections to our proposals from local campaign groups within Hackney. Our proposals have been modelled after St Mary of Zion church in Axum, Ethiopia which was founded by His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Sellassie I in 1955 to mark his silver jubilee. Construction of this particular building was completed in 1964 and was visited by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II a few days later in her state visit to Ethiopia. The newer building of St Mary of Zion in Ethiopia was sited next to the older church which was constructed around the 4th Century period and later re-constructed in 1635 by Emperor Fasilidas. Our application proposals are historic in that this will be the first building in the UK to be modelled after this historic site in Axum, Ethiopia. We believe this will be of great credit not just to the London Borough of Hackney but as a landmark building in UK. The church in Ethiopia, is more famously known for housing the ancient relic 'the Ark of the Covenant' handed to Moses as per the Old Testament biblical records. Historians such as Proffessor Richard Panchurst have in great lengths detailed the heritage of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church which has a Christian Judaic history dating back some 3,500 years. We appeal to you to be part of this history and humbly ask that you sign our petition in support of our proposals. Should you wish to see a copy of our application, please follow the link to the London Borough of Hackney's website. Thanking you in advance for your support The Parish Council