In the 17th century, tensions began to broil between the St. Thomas Christians and the Portuguese over their hegemony of the community. The native Archdeacon and ecclesial head of the community Archdeacon Thomas, was often at odds with the Portuguese prelates. Tensions further grew with the arrival of the Syrian Bishop Mor Ahatallah in India in 1652 who claimed to have been ordained as the "Patriarch of the Whole of India and China" by the Syriac Orthodox Church. The St. Thomas Christians wholeheartedly welcomed Mor Ahatallah and Archdeacon Thomas had hoped that this new Syrian bishop could free the community from the yolk of the Portuguese hierarchy. Knowing of his influence, the Portuguese had detained Mor Ahatallah at Cochin and arranged for a ship to take him to Goa. Archdeacon Thomas is then noted to have arrived at Cochin backed by the militia of the St. Thomas Christians and demanded the Syrian bishops release. The Portuguese officials responded to Thomas and his militia by stating that the ship carrying Ahatallah had already left to Goa. After this, Mor Ahatallah was never heard from again in India which started to incite anti-Portuguese sentiment among the community. Rumors had spread that the Portuguese had drowned Mor Ahatallah in the harbor at Cochin, this rumor became the breaking point in the relationship between the St. Thomas Christians and the Portuguese.