The Orthodox churches really just get to trace their lineage to their respective founding apostle. If we do assume that the apostles that had to travel the leas

The Orthodox churches really just get to trace their lineage to their respective founding apostle. If we do assume that the apostles that had to travel the least from Jerusalem were the ones whose churches started first, then Syria and Egypt (Coptic) were probably the first. Granted, we're making a big assumption.