In 1700 Mekhitar went to Istanbul and began to gather disciples around him. Mechitar formally joined the Latin Church, and in 1701, with sixteen companions, he formed a religious order of which he became the superior. They encountered the opposition of other Armenians and were compelled to move to the Morea (Peloponnese), at that time Venetian territory, where they built a monastery in 1706. At its inception the order was seen as an attempted reform of Eastern monachism. Jesuit priest Filippo Bonanni wrote of the arrival of two Armenian monks, Elias Martyr and Joannes Simon, sent by Mechitar to Pope Clement XI to offer the most humble subjection of himself and convent ("Ut ei se cum suis religiosis humillime subjiceret"). At that time, there was no mention of the Rule of Saint Benedict. Pope Clement XI gave his approval to the order in 1712. The monks began a foundation in Modon with Mechitar as abbot.