Maximos II Hakim wasPatriarch of theMelkite Greek Catholic Church from 1760 to 1761.

Maximos Hakim was born inAleppo, circa 1689.^[1] He was a member of theBasilian Chouerite Order, of which he becamegeneral superior on November 29, 1729.^[2] In 1732, he was elected asmetropolitan of Aleppo for both the Melkite Catholic andMelkite Orthodox parties; he was consecrated in this position by Gerosimos, former bishop of Aleppo and one of the founders of the Basilian Chouerite Order.^[3] This situation could not last, given therecent division within the Church, and when in 1750 thePatriarchate of Constantinople appointed—also in Aleppo—a new Orthodox bishop, the hierarchy was definitively split, with Maximos remaining the bishop for only the Melkite Catholics. Due to this situation, he was long forced to live within the safety of his order's motherhouse inLebanon.^[4]

In 1759, patriarchCyril VI Tanas appointed his nephewAthanasius Jawhar as his successor, and died, shortly afterward, in January 1760. Although Athanasius' election was supported by the bishops of theBasilian Salvatorian Order (both Cyril VI and Athanasius were Salvatorians), the Basilian Chouerite bishops contested this, pointing out that Athanasius was not of the legal age to be appointed bishop.Rome—unaware that appointing a nephew was a common use in the Melkite Church, before the two churches wereunified—did not confirm Athanasius' election, and, on August 1, 1760,^[5] appointed Maximos Hakim as Patriarch.

TheApostolic Legate Dominique Lanza arrived in Lebanon to carry the news only in June 1761, and on July 23, 1761, he summoned a synod of the Melkite bishops to formalize the election of Maximos II Hakim, who was already ill. Maximos II Hakim died shortly later, on November 15, 1761.^[6]

• Syrian Melkite Greek Catholics
• Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchs of Antioch
• 1761 deaths
• Eastern Catholic monks
• Religious leaders from Aleppo

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Year of birth unknown