1 - TRADITIONS OF EASTERN CHURCH BEGINNINGS
St. Thomas is also associated by tradition with Antioch, though his missionary travels took him eastward through Central Asia and India. So also St. Bartholomew who traveled northward through eastern Turkey and Armenia. Another important Christian center was at Alexandria in Egypt where St. Mark is said to have preached among his kinsmen, the Copts, from whose name we derive the words “Egypt” and “Egyptian”. Further south in Africa, St. Matthew is believed to have founded the Church in Ethiopia.

While it may be difficult to verify all these traditions by historical criteria, they have been and remain fundamental to the self-understanding of the eastern churches throughout the ages. It is for this reason that they speak of themselves as being truly “apostolic”.

SOURCE: Efthimiou, Rev. Dr. Miltiades B.
The Christian Religion(s) of the Middle East
October, 2004. The Hellenic News of America

COMMENT: If you ask me, a church is truly "apostolic," if it holds to Christ's teachings handed down through the apostles. It doesn't matter who founded a particular church or where a church is located. It is apostolic when it holds to apostolic teaching, and like apostles, continues to be sent out to share the truth of Christ and his resurrection.