Joseph Dergham El Khazen

Joseph V Dergham El Khazen (or Yusuf Dargham al-Khazin, Arabic: يوسف الخامس درغام الخازن‎, Latin: Ioseph Dargam Alchasen), was the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch from 1733 to his death in 1742.

Life

Joseph Dergham El Khazen was a member of the Khazen family and he was born in the village of Ghosta, in the Keserwan District, Lebanon. He married, and after the death of his wife he became priest. He was consecrated titular bishop of Ghosta in 1728 by the hands of patriarch Jacob Awad.^[1] At the death of Jacob Awad, the electoral synod couldn't decide between two pretenders, so finally on February 25, 1733 he was elected for acclamation because of his influential family. The confirmation of his election by Pope Clement XII arrived on December 18, 1733.^[2]

The reign of Joseph Dergham El Khazen is remembered for the 1736 Maronite Synod of Mount-Lebanon, which laid the foundations for the modern Maronite Church. During the works, Joseph Dergham clashed often with Giuseppe Simone Assemani, who presided it, due to the fact that the synod was going to limit the faculties of the Patriarch^[3] giving more power to the other bishops. Actually a couple of years after the Synod, Joseph Dergham sent a petition to the Pope to support his views and to make void the decrees of the synod: after an investigation this petition was discarded and the synod confirmed. Joseph Dergham El Khazen died on May 13, 1742.

Additional References

• Patriarch Joseph V Dergham El-Khazen (Catholic-Hierarchy)

Citations