Very Reverend Dr. Youhanon Habil was born in Hassake in the north of Syria on the 7th of June 1978. After concluding his elementary education in Syria, he joined the Syrian Orthodox Seminary in Damascus. He was tonsured as a monk on the 17th of May 1998 and consecrated priest on the 6th of August 2000.
Dr. Habil has since studied in Paris where he earned his combined doctorate at the Institut Catholique de Paris (ICP) and Sorbonne University. He also holds a doctorate in dogmatics from the University of Athens.
The appointment of Fr. Raban Dr Youhanon Habil as Rector of the Syriac Orthodox Seminary was made by His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch.