This helped maintain a connection between these Coptic expatriates in Jerusalem and the Coptic Church in Egypt.[4] Following the departure of the Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Jerusalem Ignatius Sahdo, a long period of vacancy began, in which there was no Syriac claimant to the throne of Jerusalem, and thus, no local Oriental Orthodox Bishop to shepherd the congregation.[5] This vacancy in Syriac succession would last for a majority of the 13th century, from approximately ~1210 to ~1290.