sentences:  The Imeretian king Bagrat VI (1463-1478) managed to secure the support of Michael IV, Patriarch of Antioch who, at the king’s request, consecrated Archbishop Joachime of Tsaish and Bedia, as Catholicos of Abkhazia.To justify the break with the Mtskheta see, Michael issued a special document, "The Law of Faith", in which he stated that western and eastern Georgia had different histories of conversion and, therefore, they should be independent from each other.Thus, the Catholicoi of Abkhazia became independent and later assumed the title of Patriarch.