The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (, "Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan") is the largest of Eastern Christianity's branch of Oriental Orthodox Christian churches. One of the few pre-colonial Christian churches in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates back millennia, and has a current membership of about 36 million people, the majority of whom live in Ethiopia. It is a founding member of the World Council of Churches. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is in communion with the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Syriac Orthodox Church, having gained autocephaly in 1959.