The Superior General of the Antonine Maronite Order (OAM), Most Reverend Abbot Joseph Bou Raad, and his Supreme Council have elected Father Michel Saghbiny as the new Rector of Antonine University (UA) for a 6-year mandate, succeeding Father Michel Jalakh.

Fr. Michel Saghbiny was born in Terbol–Bekaa. He joined the Antonine Order in 1986 and took his solemn vows in 1999. He studied theology at the Catholic University of Lyon in France and earned his PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies and Islamic-Christian Dialogue from the Pontifical Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome. He was ordained a priest in 2001. He was appointed as Bursar of the Monastery of Saint Isaiah in Rome from 2005 to 2006 and as Director of Studies for the Brotherhood of Scholars at the Monastery of Saint Isaiah in Rome from 2013 to 2017. He also served as Director of Studies and Vice President of the PISAI in Rome from 2009 to 2014. From 2017 to 2018, he was appointed as Vice President of the Congregation of Our Lady of the Seeds Monastery at UA, as well as Director of Studies at its Faculty of Theology (FOT) and Head of its Office of Student Affairs (OSA). From 2018 to 2020, he served as Bursar of the Monastery of Saint Anthony in Banias – Syria, and then became its President from 2020 to 2023. Fr. Saghbini is a university instructor teaching Arabic language, History of the Eastern Churches, and Islamic Jurisprudence. He is a member of the editorial board of the scientific journals Islamochristiana and Études Arabes (Arabic Studies).

The UA family warmly welcomes its new Rector and wishes him every success in his new role to lead the University with wisdom and work towards its progress and prosperity. It also expresses its gratitude to its former Rector for all the efforts he devoted to nurturing the University and its members during challenging times, uplifting the University’s eminence on myriad fronts.