He was born in Mardin to Niʿmatallāh Nūrī and Katherine daughter of ʿAbdulmasīḥ Tarzi and was given the baptismal name Naṣrallāh. He studied at Sharfeh from 1873 then was appointed a teacher of Syriac there. He was ordained a priest in 1881 and named Ignatios. He served at Dayr al-Zor, then in other parishes. He was consecrated bp. of Baghdad in 1895 and named Athanasios. He traveled to India on a number of occasions and in 1913 was appointed as bp. for Cairo. Later he returned to Lebanon and became an assistant to Patr. Gabriel Tappuni . He had a stroke in 1944 and died at Sharfeh in 1947. His Syriac writings include a catechism, and a collection of poems titled in Arabic al-ʿIqd al-durrī ‘The twinkling/brilliant necklace’.