This situation soon changed: the next contender of the patriarchal throne was Athanasius Dabbas who was supported by the Franciscan friars (who opposed Cyril Zaim, charged with simony) and by his maternal uncle Michael Khayat, very influential with the Sublime Porte.
In 1685 Michael Khayat succeeded to get from the Ottoman Empire a firman that appointed Athanasius Dabbas as Patriarch of the Melkite Church.
The next nine years were marked by the conflict between the two claiming Patriarchs, Cyril V Zaim and Athanasius III Dabbas.
[7] This agreement was judged in 1698 null by the Vatican, which continued to consider as Patriarch Athanasius, who in 1687 made a Roman Catholic profession of faith.
In 1716 the reigning Patriarch Cyril V Zaim also made a Roman Catholic profession of faith and was received into communion with Rome on May 9, 1718,[6] He died in Damascus on 5 January 1720,[8] and was succeeded by Athanasius III Dabbas.