The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church is one of the Oriental Orthodox churches. It was formerly a part of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, its autocephaly being reluctantly recognized by the Ethiopian Patriarchate after Eritrea gained its independence in 1993. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church had been granted autocephaly by the Coptic Pope in 1950, but had no say in the autocephaly of its integral Eritrean diocese due to the appeal of the Eritrean government to the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate for Eritrean Orthodox autocephaly. Tensions were - and in some cases remain - high between the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church on the one side and the Coptic Orthodox and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Churches on the other. Nonetheless, the three Churches remain in full communion with one