As patriarch, Christopher undertook educational and charitable efforts to help his Christian subjects, including negotiations with Sayf al-Dawla for tax reduction.
When a rebellion broke out in Antioch in 965, led by Rashiq al-Nasimi, Christopher took the side of the emir and withdrew to the monastery of Simeon Stylites in order to avoid interaction with the rebels.
After the rebellion was finally suppressed, this made the patriarch a favorite at the court of Sayf al-Dawla, but created enemies within Antioch.
Although he was warned of this danger by a Muslim friend named Ibn Abī ʻAmr, Christopher chose to remain in Antioch.
Accusing the patriarch of conspiring against Antioch with Sayf al-Dawla's allies and with the Byzantines, the plotters convinced a group of visiting soldiers from Khorasan to kill him on the night of May 23, 967.