Joseph (Al-Zehlaoui)

Joseph Al-Zehlaoui (born on November 2, 1948) is a defrocked former bishop of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and was the Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America from July 3, 2014, until his retirement on September 17, 2022, and subsequent defrocking.

In October 2023, Al-Zehlaoui sued the archdiocese for millions of dollars, alleging promises by Archdiocesan officials which were not allegedly fulfilled. On March 14, 2024, in response to the lawsuit and for refusal to vacate the Los Angeles chancery belonging to the archdiocese, he was defrocked by the Holy Synod of Antioch.

Early years

Joseph G. Al-Zehlaoui or Joseph Zehlaoui (in Arabic جوزيف زحلاوي) was born on November 2, 1948, in Damascus, Syria to Georgi and Mathil (Baghdan) Al-Zehlaoui. After receiving his elementary education at the St. John of Damascus and Al-Assiyeh schools in Damascus, and his secondary education at Balamand Monastery in Koura, Northern Lebanon, he studied philosophy at Lebanese University in Beirut and theology, languages and music at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. He is fluent in Arabic, English, and Greek.

He was ordained to the diaconate while a student in Salonica, in December 1976. Subsequently, he was ordained to the priesthood by Patriarch Ignatius IV, at St. Mary Cathedral in Damascus in December, 1980. As a deacon, he served parishes in Thessaloniki. As a priest, he was dean of St. Mary Cathedral of Damascus, and overseer of the Holy Cross Church and other parishes in the suburbs of Damascus. In 1983, he pastored the Antiochian Orthodox followers living in London, England, and, in 1986, the Antiochian Orthodox community living in Cyprus.

He was elected to the episcopate on May 5, 1991, and consecrated on June 30, 1991, in the Holy Cathedral of the Patriarchate in Damascus with the title Bishop of Katana, Syria. However, in late 2023, Al-Zehlaoudi filed a summons against the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, alleging that the leak and publication of incriminating emails was slanderous and that several verbal promises about retirement funding had been neglected and broken by the archdiocese. Following the filing of this lawsuit, Al-Zehlaoui was defrocked, returning him to the laity (as opposed to being a retired bishop), due to "improper actions as clergyman (retired Metropolitan) with respect to church property and monetary matters, and initiating a legal proceeding against the Church in a civil court".