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On [[January 23]], 1936, the Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch ratified the election and declared Arch. Antony their unanimous choice for Archbishop of New York. However, indecision on consecration of Arch. Samuel as an auxiliary by Metr. Theodosius reignited the divisions in the Syrian community and the two Syrian Orthodox groups proceeded to follow independent courses of action that resulted in formally establishing two Syrian [[jurisdiction]]s.
On [[April 19]], 1936, Arch. Antony (Bashir) was [[consecration of a bishop|consecrated]] archbishop under the [[jurisdiction]] of the Patriarch of Antioch by Metr. Theodosius and Abp. [[Vitaly (Maximenko) of Jersey City|Vitaly of New Jersey]] ([[ROCOR]]) at the same time Samuel (David) was consecrated in St George’s Syrian Orthodox Church in Toledo by Abp. Adam and Bps. [[Leonty (Turkevich) of New York|Leonty]] and Arseny of the Russian [[Metropolia]].
While the consecration of Abp. Samuel by the bishops of the Metropolia may have been an attempt to re-store communion of Syrian parishes under the jurisdiction of the Metropolia, it instead formed a rival Antiochian jurisdiction that competed with the Antiochian [[archdiocese]] of Abp. Antony in New York. In 1938, Abp. Samuel was [[Excommunication|excommunicate]]d by the [[Church of Antioch]] for causing disorder, but he was received back in communion in 1941 by the Antiochian patriarchate that also declared him to be archbishop of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Toledo and Dependencies. This created a situation in which the Antiochian [[Holy Synod|synod]] played the two factions against each other.
