This provoked a split in the community, and after Akijan's death in 1677, two opposing patriarchs were elected, representing the two parties (one pro-Catholic, the other anti-Catholic).

The Syriac Catholic Church claims its origin through Saint Peter prior to his departure to Rome, and extends its roots back to the origins of Christianity in the Orient; in the Acts of the Apostles we are told that it is in Antioch where the followers of Jesus for the first time were called "Christians" (Acts 11:26).

In the time of the first ecumenical councils, the Patriarch of Antioch held the ecclesiastical authority over the Diocese of the Orient, which was to be extended from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf.

Some of these bishops favored union with Rome, but there was no push to unify until a decree of union between the Syriac Orthodox and Rome was signed at the Council of Florence September 30, 1444 – but the effects of this decree were rapidly annulled by opponents of it in the Syriac Church's hierarchy.

Due to this, there were long periods when no Syriac Catholic bishops were functioning, so a patriarch could not be elected, and the community was forced to go entirely underground.

However, in 1782, the Syriac Orthodox Holy Synod elected Metropolitan Michael Jarweh of Aleppo as patriarch.

After this declaration, Jarweh took refuge in Lebanon and built the still-extant monastery of Our Lady at Sharfeh, and by that act became the patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church.

After becoming officially recognized by the Ottoman government in 1845, the Syriac Catholic Church expanded rapidly.

After that, the Syriac Catholic patriarchal see was moved to Beirut away from Mardin, to which many Ottoman Christians had fled the genocide.

[12] Likewise Patriarch Ignatius Behnam II Beni is known for imploring Eastern theology to defend the primacy of Rome.

[14] The West Syriac Rite is rooted in the old tradition of both the churches of Jerusalem and Antioch and has ties with the ancient Jewish Berakah.

They are also used during the consecration where two men would shake them over the altar during moments in the epliclesis and words of institution when the priest says "he took and broke" and "this is my body/blood".

Many of the ancient hymns of the church are still maintained in this native tongue although several have been translated into Arabic, English, French and other languages.

Syriac is still spoken in some few communities in eastern Syria and northern Iraq, but for most Arabic is the vernacular language.

On 31 October 2010, 58 Iraqi Syriac Catholics were killed by Muslim extremists while attending Sunday Divine Liturgy; 78 others were wounded.