Youakim Moubarac

Youakim Moubarac left important works, large parts of which remain unpublished. In 2005 and 2006, two books were published with some of his previously unpublished works:

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.

In 1992, he settled back in Paris where he resumed his academic work.

In 1991, the decision of Pope John Paul II to convene a Synod in Rome for all Catholic Lebanese Churches cancelled his project.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.