Eritrean Orthodox Church

The Eritrean Orthodox Church is one of the Oriental Orthodox churches. It was formerly a part of the Tewahedo Church of Ethiopia, its autocephaly being recognized by that church after Eritrea's political independence was established in the 1990s. The Tewahedo Church had been similarly granted autocephaly by the Coptic pope in 1950. Consequently the members of the Ethiopian and Eritrean churches are sometimes called Coptic Christians, although that is something of a misnomer, since Coptic means Egyptian. The three churches remain in full communion with each other and with the other Oriental Orthodox churches.