Yohannan VIII Hormizd
For the next eight years Yohannan Hormizd seemed to justify the hopes placed in him. He lived on amicable terms with the Catholic missionaries and devoted his energies to the conversion to Catholicism of the villages under his authority. In May 1790, on the advice of the missionaries, he consecrated his nephew Shemon metropolitan, and in August of the same year sent him to the Zibar district, where he converted the Nestorian villages of Arena and Barzane. The following year he sent Shemon to Mengesh in the Sapna district, where he was equally successful. The high point of this honeymoon period came in February 1791, when the Vatican appointed him patriarchal administrator of the Amid patriarchate, recalling Lazar Hindi to Rome to leave him a free hand. This appointment led to strenuous protests from Lazar Hindi, his vicar-general Joseph Attar and the clergy of Amid, and on 3 February 1793 Yohannan Hormizd's appointment was rescinded.
Yohannan VIII Hormizd
Yohannan Hormizd was eventually ransomed by his supporters and returned to Mosul, where he had several of his opponents imprisoned. After a series of mutual recriminations, the Rabban Hormizd monks and the Catholic missionaries wrote jointly to the Propaganda calling for Yohannan's deposition, alleging that he was opposed to their order, that he incited the Kurds of Isma'il Pasha against them, and that he was endeavouring to lead the Chaldean proselytes back to Nestorianism. The Vatican was alarmed at these charges and on 15 February 1812 suspended Yohannan from his functions as archbishop of Mosul and patriarchal administrator and appointed Shemon Sayyegh apostolic vicar for Mosul and the priest Giwargis of Alqosh apostolic vicar for the patriarchate of Babylon. Both men were placed under the direct authority of Augustine Hindi, who was named "apostolic delegate for the affairs of the patriarchate of Babylon". While this decision temporarily placed the two Catholic patriarchates under a single trustworthy authority, it was from the Vatican's point of view little more than a makeshift, as Hindi could never command the same prestige in the Mosul district as a member of the old patriarchal family.