The Catholic Patriarchs based in Amid, now Diyarbakır in southeastern Turkey, began with Joseph I who in 1667 became Catholic, obtained from the Turkish civil authorities in 1677 recognition of his independence from the non-Catholic patriarchal see of Alqosh.
In 1771, the Alqosh Patriarch Eliyya XII Denkha (1722–1778) entered communion with the Catholic Church.
However, on his death in 1778, his successor Eliyya XIII Ishoʿyahb, after obtaining recognition by Rome, quickly repudiated the union and returned to the traditional doctrine.
When Eliyya IX Ishoʿyahb died in 1804, no successor was elected and Yohannan Hormizd remained the only representative of the line.
Rome recognized him in 1783 as metropolitan bishop of Mosul and administrator of the Alqosh/Mosul patriarchate.