A kesis or priest, waves a censer burning incense as he walks through rows of congregants at Re'ese Adbarat Debre Selam Kidist Mariam Church, an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo church, in Washington, D.C.

For nine years, Father Fisehatision of the St. Mary Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church of Utah said he would cry every Sunday because of the conditions in which he and his fellow churchgoers had to ...