# Youakim Moubarac

Youakim Moubarac (July 20, 1924 – May 24, 1995) was a Lebanese French scholar. He was an Islamologist, an Arabist and a disciple of the Orientalist Louis Massignon and of philosopher Louis Gardet. A Maronite priest, Moubarac dedicated his life and major works to interfaith dialogue between Christianity and Islam, to Arab and Lebanese causes, to the unity of the Church and to the Maronite Church Antiochian heritage.

## Biography

Youakim Moubarac was born in Kfarsghab, Zgharta, Lebanon in a Maronite family of long sacerdotal tradition. His Father, Antoun, and Grandfather, Youssef, were Maronite priests serving their community in one of the holiest locations of the Eastern Christianity in the Middle East, the Qadisha Valley. His maternal grandfather Nemtallah Samia was also a priest.

### Early life

After ecclesiastic studies in the Maronite Seminary of Ghazir and the Université Saint-Joseph, Beirut, Lebanon, young Youakim was sent in October 1945 to France by his superiors. Once his studies ended in the Seminary of Saint Sulpice, Paris, he was ordained priest on June 29, 1947, in Lebanon. In 1948, he was authorized by the Maronite Patriarch to continue his studies at the Institut Catholique de Paris. In that same year, he is appointed at the service of the Church of Saint Séverin in the Quartier Latin, Paris where he stayed for 18 years.

### Expanded description

In 1951, he presented his first Ph.D. thesis Abraham dans le Coran and joined as a researcher the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, the largest public research organization in France.
From 1950 till 1962, Fr. Moubarac assumed the secretariat of Louis Massignon. In 1959, he started his academic career, teaching Classical Arabic at the Institut Catholique de Paris. Till his death, he taught in several universities such as the Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium, the University of Paris IV: Paris-Sorbonne and others.
He participated between 1962 and 1965 in the Second Vatican Council within the Maronite delegation. After 1965, he dedicated himself to his work of promotion of the Interfaith dialogue, of defense of the Palestinian and especially Lebanese causes from 1975.
From 1985, Father Youakim worked on the rediscovering of the spiritual Syriac roots of the Maronite Church. Between 1987 and 1992, he settled in Lebanon and was in charge of preparing for a Maronite Synod.
During this period, and despite an intensive work on the Synod preparation and many spiritual and political missions, Moubarac started two important projects:
* In 1989, he started the restoration of the Monastery of Our Lady of Qannoubine, a historical Maronite Monastery in the Qadisha valley which was for centuries the See of the Maronite Patriarch (ca. 15th to 18th Century).
* In 1992, he founded with some friends, The Lebanese Cooperative for Development, a microcredit initiative, whose objectives were to encourage the displaced families during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) to settle back in their region of origin and to prevent emigration outside Lebanon.
In 1991, the decision of Pope John Paul II to convene a Synod in Rome for all Catholic Lebanese Churches cancelled his project.
In 1992, he settled back in Paris where he resumed his academic work.

### Death and afterward

Father Youakim died on May 24, 1995, in Montpellier, France. His burial took place at the graveyard of the Abbaye Notre-Dame-de-Jouarre, France. Fourteen years later, on August 25, 2009, his remains were transferred, according to his wish, to rest beside his relatives in Mar Youssef Church in Morh Kfarsghab. A solemn mass of requiem, in his home town of Kfarsghab was presided by the Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, honored by the presence of the Minister of Information, M. Tarek Mitri representing the President of the Lebanese Republic, General Michel Suleiman, the family and friends.