[4] He leaned towards Eastern Catholicism and subsequently joined the Syriac Catholic Charafe Monastery school spending four years.

His church and house were sacked and burned in 1895 during the Hamidian massacres in Diyarbekir Vilayet, during which Father Flavianus' mother and many other members of his parish were murdered.

[5] Over the following years he served as a visiting priest in several sacked and burned villages in Tur Abdin, where he helped with rebuilding efforts.

[6] [7] On Sunday, 30 September 2012, a report was submitted to Rome by the Syriac Catholic Patriarch for Mar Michael Malke's beatification.

[8] On 8 August 2015, his beatification was approved after Pope Francis determined that Melki was killed In odium fidei ("Out of Hatred of the Catholic Faith").