Following the arrival of West Syriac prelates in 1751, Thoma VI, the leader of the Puthenkūr was troubled by their increasing influence among his faction. Therefore, in order to reunite his faction with the Paḻayakūṟ and thus to prevent the West Syriac prelates, he initiated efforts to submit to the Pope and profess the Catholic creed. However, the Carmelite missionaries working among the Pazhayakūr were reluctant to reciprocate to his efforts fearing that the indigenous bishop would take away their authority and influence over the faction after the proposed reunification of the Saint Thomas Christians was fulfilled. Baselios Shakrallah Qasabgi, the head of the Syriac Orthodox delegation, consecrated Kurian Kattumangat as Bishop Abraham Koorilose in 1764. These West Syriac bishops were skeptical about the validity of Sacraments administered by Thoma VI. They often re-ordained priests who were already ordained by him. Very often they appointed their own candidates as priests without even consulting the native bishop. They were in a process of replacing the Latinised East Syriac Rite and traditions of the Putthenkūṟ with a separate West Syriac identity. They insisted on removing from the churches of Putthenkur crucifixes and statues of saints and Mary, which were kept and venerated in these churches ever since the onset of Portuguese influence among them. This led to frequent conflicts between the adherents of new rite and those following the old. This led to eventual division of churches between Paḻayakūṟ and the Putthenkūṟ fractions of the St.Thomas Christians. By 1770, the prelates forced Thoma VI to be reconsecrated as 'Dionysios I'. Thoma VI had to receive all orders of priesthood from the tonsure to the episcopal consecration. Thoma VI received support from Pazhayakūr leaders, who informed him of the ill-treatment and discrimination that they faced from the missionaries. In 1773, the leaders and representatives of the Paḻayakūṟ community assembled at the Great church in Angamāly to discuss the church union. This general meeting at Angamaly was dominated by strong emotions against the colonial religious missionaries and the Padroado and Propaganda bishops working then in Kerala. The representatives from the Edappally church narrated the way how the European missionaries put their parish priest to death.
