On 14 September 1980, he consecrated Ignatios Zakka I Iwas, Archbishop of Baghdad, as the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch; this was the first time in the long history of the Patriarchate of Antioch that a bishop from Malankara officiated at the consecration of a Patriarch.
On September 14, 1980, Ignatios Zakka I Iwas was ordained as the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch by this individual; it marked the first occasion in the history of the Patriarchate of Antioch that a bishop from Malankara took part in the consecration of a patriarch.