Although Ethiopia is not generally considered a Middle Eastern country, the church has many historical links with the Middle East; until 1959, Ethiopia was a daughter church of the Coptic church of Egypt, and its heads were appointed by the Church of Alexandria. Coptic Pope Cyril VI in 1959 recognized Ethiopia as an autocephalous church that elects its own patriarch. During the years of Marxist rule in Ethiopia the church suffered considerably. Mathias spent over 30 years in exile.
Mathias had been serving as well as Archbishop of Jerusalem, where Ethiopia maintains an ancient monastery known as the Deir al-Sultan on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. A dispute with the Copts over ownership of the key has meant that the monks there who live in considerable poverty, cannot directly access the church below. The dispute remains a divisive issue between the Churches of Egypt and Ethiopia. [UPDATE: See the exchange in the Comments for more on the Ethiopian church.]
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Origin of the Ethiopian Church may have been separate from that of the Coptic Church. According to Chapter 8 of the Acts of the Apostles, the apostle Philip had a momentous conversation with an Ethiopian eunuch who was a person of great authority under the Queen of the Ethiopians. I am scarcely an expert on the Ethiopian Church, but this event from the first century of Christianity was recorded later without any mention of the Coptic Church. Of course, that does not rule out the possibility that the Ethiopian Church later fell under the Coptic Patriarch for a long period of time.
David: The early history is confusing, in part due to the claim of descent from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and the presence of Jewish elements in Ethiopian practice (the ark and other ritual practices not found among the Copts). There was also early Syriac missionary work there, but the church seems to have been non-Chalcedonia (what their oppohnents vallef "Monophysite") before it cvame under Alexandria. Since the name of the queen in Acts, Candace, appears to be kandake, a royal title of the Meroitic kingdom in Nubia, "Ethiopia" in Acts may refer to Nubia, which was Christian into medieval times.
Correction: He was appointed by the ruling party. Election was held to make it appear legit. He was flown in from Jerusalem for this very purpose; two high-ranking officials within the ruling party [Sebhat Nega and Abbay Tsehaye] spilled the beans nearly a fortnight ago as the battle was waging for the position! He lived abroad for over three decades and wins by a landslide of 500 votes of a total 806? That should give you the clue something is awry. He is, as was his predecessor, a member of the ruling ethnic minority. That again should have given you yet another clue. The report above said votes were cast by members of the church living in Ethiopia and "elsewhere." The "elsewhere" does not exist but was put there to persuade those uninitiated in Ethiopian affairs the choice was fair and square. Alem
Correction: The new patriarch was appointed by the ruling party. Election was held to make it appear legit. He was flown in from Jerusalem for this very purpose; two high-ranking officials within the ruling party [Sebhat Nega and Abbay Tsehaye] spilled the beans nearly a fortnight ago as the battle was waging for the position! He lived abroad for over three decades and wins by a landslide of 500 votes of a total 806? That should give you the clue something is awry. He is, as was his predecessor, a member of the ruling ethnic minority. That again should have given you yet another clue. The report above said votes were cast by members of the church living in Ethiopia and "elsewhere." The "elsewhere" does not exist but was put there to persuade those uninitiated in Ethiopian affairs the choice was fair and square. Alem
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