“Goes back to the early years of the Christian faith.”
As my Ethiopian fellow parishioners are fond of reminding us!
It all began when St. Mark brought the good news of Jesus to Africa starting in Egypt. At one time ALL of what is now north Africa, before the Muslim invasion was CHRISTIAN at one time. All that is left in that part of Africa are the Copts from Egypt, the Ethiopians, and the area that broke away from the Ethiopian nation, the Christian community there.
The Copts have one of the most beautiful icon paintings I have seen.