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Hindi, his vicar-general Joseph Attar and the clergy of Amid, and on 3 February 1793 Yohannan Hormizd's appointment was rescinded.
Azen Gushnasp
Azen Gushnasp was a native of Khuzestan, and is also called "Khuzi" by al-Mas'udi and Gardezi. He belonged to the "arteshtaran" class. It seems that when the Sasanian military commander Bahram Chobin won a great victory over the Turks, Azen Gushnasp reportedly became jealous and accused the general of having kept the best part of the booty for himself and only sending a small part to Hormizd IV. According to other sources, however, it was the captive Turkic prince Birmudha or the courtiers that raised Hormizd's suspicion. Regardless, Bahram Chobin was later dismissed by Hormizd, which resulted in the latter starting a major rebellion. Azen Gushnasp was sent to suppress the rebellion, but was murdered in Hamadan by one of his own men, Zadespras.