In 1870, he toured the Tur Abdin region and recorded the names of villages, monasteries, churches, clergy and the families living in the area.

He was appointed bishop of Jerusalem in 1872[1] by Patriarch Ignatius Peter IV, taking the name Gregorios, and in August 1874 accompanied him to Britain to persuade the British government to assist the church in India.

[3] They left India in May 1877 and remained in Syria before returning to London in 1879, where he secured a printing press for the Monastery of Mor Hananyo.

Upon his return, Abded was ordained Bishop of Homs and Hama and left to attend the 1888 Lambeth Conference, and secured a second printing press.

According to American missionaries operating in Syria at the time, the Ottoman government interfered and intimidated bishops based on the highest bidder.