Abuna Yesehaq

Abuna Yesehaq, born Laike Maryam Mandefro in Adwa, Ethiopia, 1933; died 29 December 2005 Newark, New Jersey, was a leader of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in the Western hemisphere. Laike was born to an Orthodox Christian family, attended Christian school, and joined the priesthood. He was one of the clerics fortunate enough to be tutored personally by Emperor Haile Selassie I, the titular head of the Church. With the assistance of Emperor Haile Selassie, and the Ethiopian consulate in New York, Mandefro returned to New York City and purchased another site for the Church in 1969.

Abuna Yesehaq

Abuna Yesehaq, born Laike Maryam Mandefro in Adwa, Ethiopia, 1933; died 29 December 2005 Newark, New Jersey, was a leader of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in the Western hemisphere. Laike was born to an Orthodox Christian family, attended Christian school, and joined the priesthood. He was one of the clerics fortunate enough to be tutored personally by Emperor Haile Selassie I, the titular head of the Church. With the assistance of Emperor Haile Selassie, and the Ethiopian consulate in New York, Mandefro returned to New York City and purchased another site for the Church in 1969.