Islamic State (ISIS) militants chose to kill his brother specifically on his birthday to intimidate Christians. They even made sure that doctors would not be able to save his brother's life since they planned the killing on Thursday evening when no doctors would be staying at hospitals late before a weekend.
But despite this and other atrocities committed by ISIS on Christians, Father Yousif, the deputy bishop of St. Matthew's monastery (Mar Mattai) in Iraq, has no anger in his heart. In fact, he has forgiven his brother's killers.
Speaking to World Watch Monitor, the monk recalled what his brother Ragheed told him before he was killed: "We have a lot of sins. These sins cannot be washed but by [Jesus's] blood!"
Fr. Yousif said to him his brother was "a hero killed for the name of Jesus."
He said despite the savagery shown by ISIS extremists, he is not giving up hope that "they might know God someday."
He cited the case of the Apostle Paul who used to persecute Christians "but later he knew Him and believed."
The Iraqi monk appeared unfazed by the ongoing persecution of Christians in his native land. "Persecution is a pride for us," World Watch Monitor quoted him as saying.
Fr. Yousif's monastery is one of the oldest in existence in the world having been built in 363AD. It lies halfway between Kurdish-held territories and ISIS-controlled lands, 40 km east of Mosul.
The monk and his family used to live in Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, which was occupied by ISIS forces in 2014.
After the killing of his brother and the death threat to another brother, Fr. Yousif and his family decided to leave the ISIS-occupied city and flee to nearby Iraqi Kurdistan in the country's north-east.
The monk is encouraging the few remaining Christians in Iraqi Kurdistan to leave to a safer place outside Iraq. "The future here is bad. Every time, a terror group appears under a different name and sets out to persecute Christians."
However, Fr. Yousif vowed that he will never leave Iraq. "I'm a monk, like a soldier I don't think about [myself]," he said.
