The Ethiopian Orthodox Church was established by the monks Frumentius and Aedissius in the fourth century, during the reign of King Ezana of Axum, who converted to Christianity along with many of his people.
The Ethiopian Church exists today as self-governing, though it shares the same faith with Egypt’s Coptic Church. Until 1955, the Patriarch, a Coptic bishop, was sent from Alexandria.
The Council of Chalcedon separated the Coptic Church from the early Orthodox Church in AD 451 and the resound was doctrinal differences.