[1][2] Yeldo was born in 1593 in the village of Bakhdida, near the city of Mosul, and became a monk at the Monastery of Saint Behnam at a young age.

He was consecrated Maphrian of the East in 1678 by Mor Ignatius Abdul Messiah I, the then Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch.

[3] The group travelled by sea from Basra to Thalassery via Surat, arriving in 1685, but due to the threat of the Portuguese colonialists and pirates, Yeldo and his entourage decided to continue their journey to Malakhachira (literally, "Place of the Angel", i.e. present Kothamangalam)[4][5] by land and in disguise.

Whilst travelling, the group encountered a tiger, but was repelled when Mor Yeldo made the sign of the cross in its direction, forcing it to flee.

The cattle consequently did not leave the circle, and the man told the saint of his sister's labour pains, to which Mor Yeldo asked for water.

As the cattle had remained within the circle, the man agreed to show Mor Yeldo to the local church.