 In May 1779, as soon as he had obtained his "firman" of office from the Ottoman civil authorities, Ishoyahb abandoned his Catholic profession of faith.The notables of Mosul, with the support of the Latin missionaries, deposed him and unanimously chose Shemon of Amid, the Chaldean metropolitan of Mardin (1758–88), as patriarch in his place.Shemon however declined to accept the honour, and Ishoyahb's opponents were obliged to turn instead to the young Yohannan Hormizd, who had demonstrated his zeal for the Catholic cause since Ishoyahb's "volte face" by converting the Nestorians of the large Erbil villages of Aïnqawa, Armuta and Shaqlawa to Catholicism and encouraging them to withdraw their loyalty from his cousin.