Nemet Aloho was born in the city of Mardin and became a monk in 1535 at a young age at the Mor Hananyo Monastery where he studied Syriac literature and church sciences before becoming a priest. Whilst there he also studied history, logic, astronomy, geodesy, medicine and the art of drawing. In 1555, Nemet Aloho was ordained maphrian and was consecrated patriarch two years later, upon which he took the name Ignatius. In 1562 Nemet went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and ordained nineteen metropolitans and bishops as patriarch.