Mar Athanasios-I was consecrated in 1883 by Mar Koorilose IV with the assistance of Thomas Mar Athanasios, leader of the reformed section of the Malan¬kara Church (the split into ‘Orthodox’ and ‘Mar Thoma’ not yet having definitively taken place by then). In 1892 Mar Athanasios-I consecrated Geeverghese Mar Koorilose as his successor. In this ceremony too Thomas Mar Athanasios took part.

In 1893 Thomas Mar Athanasios passed away without consecrating a suc¬cessor, to the delight of his opponents and the consternation of the reformers , who elected the priest Dethos (Titus), the eldest son of Abraham Malpan, as bishop designate. They also decided to seek the help of the Metropolitan at Thozhiyur for his consecration. At the same time the opponents of the Mar Thoma Church (as the Reformers may now be designated, following the loss of the Seminary Case) were bent upon preventing the consecration in order to annihilate the Mar Thoma Church once and for all. The leaders of the Mar Thoma Church, the Rev. Punnathra Chandappilla, the Rev. Mathen Kizhake thalakal and Paramel Iyyu lttoop came to Thozhiyur to invite the Metropolitan to perform the consecration .The Metropolitan Joseph Mar Athanasios (after some initial hesitation according to some accounts) consented to help an episcopal church, as his predecessor had done for the Malankara Church earlier. So in 1894 he and his suffragan, Geeverghese Mar Koorilose, reached Kottayam and con¬secrated Father Dethos under the title Titus Mar Thoma in the Cheriapally (small church).