He was born to Saʿīd Armalah in Mardin and was given the baptismal name Eliās. He studied at Sharfeh from 1895, was ordained a deacon in 1898, and given the name Isḥāq. In 1903 he was ordained a priest by Patr. Ignatius Ephrem Raḥmani and became his secretary. He taught at Mardin in 1912, and returned to Beirut in 1919. In 1929 he became the secretary of Patr. Gabriel Tappuni who elevated him to chorepiscopos in 1930. He visited Rome twice, once with Raḥmani and the second time with Tappuni. From 1932 until 1954 he dedicated his time to writing and research. He authored fifty books, forty of which he managed to publish (see list in al-Jamil) as well as many articles, especially in al-Machriq. He also copied about 35 mss., mostly kept in Sharfeh. His best-known works include a Syriac anthology for students entitled Regat šabre in two volumes (Sharfeh, vol.  1, 1907; vol.  2, 1908); an account of the Sayfo massacres, which he published anonymously under the title al-Quṣārā fī nakabāt al-naṣārā (1919); and a catalogue of the mss. of Sharfeh (1937).