Mar Yohannan VIII Hormizd, of the Eliya line, served as the last hereditary Patriarch of the Church of the East and the first Patriarch of the United Chaldean Church. He followed in the footsteps of his uncle Eliya XI, becoming patriarch in 1778 and being recognised by the Vatican. After his death in 1838, his successor Nicholas I Zay'a was appointed by the Vatican. Thus ended the centuries-old custom of hereditary succession.