Geevarghese Mar Koorilose died without appointing a successor. So Mathews Mar Athanasius, metropolitan of the Malankara Church consecrated the Joseph Kathanar and gave him the episcopal title Joseph Mar Koorilose. At that time Yuyakim Mar Koorilos, a bishop sent by the Patriarch of Antioch, was also in Kerala. 

In 1857, he filed a civil case stating that he was the Malankara Metropolitan and he had the rights to the Thozhiyoor Church and its properties. In 1862, the Madras High Court issued the final verdict stating that the Church was an Independent Syrian Church in Malabar and that Yuyakim Mar Koorilos had no claim on the Church or its properties. Because of this case Thozhiyoor Church was given the name Malabar Independent Syrian Church.