For context see the Metropolitan Joseph: The Scandal section in our Archives 2020-22 linked at the top of this page. Note that Roman Catholic media have begun to pick up the story from Orthodoxy in Dialogue.

ADDENDUM 9/19/22: A reader informs us that she has asked the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office to look at the following report.

Metropolitan Joseph (Al-Zehlaoui)

A source who describes himself as “a simple parishioner (i.e. pew warmer ) of the Antiochian Archdiocese sympathetic to institutional transparency and accountability” has sent Orthodoxy in Dialogue the links to the following documents. He writes:

It is not a stretch to suspect that it is likely there are more properties around North America.

Attached are the copies of the recorded documents related to this property. Notice the $600,000 loan attached to the property, it appears to be either an investment scheme, a way to funnel money to Joseph, or heaven knows what (laundering??). Read More

For context see the Metropolitan Joseph: The Scandal section in our Archives 2020-22 linked at the top of this page. Orthodoxy in Dialogue will respond to the following display of unrepentant narcissism within the next day or two. We note that today marks three weeks and five days since we first reported on Al-Zehlaoui’s adulterous liaisons.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2022
Metropolitan Joseph’s Statement on His Request to Retire​

His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph writes:

September 17, 2022

To the Hierarchs, Clergy, and Faithful of the Archdiocese:

By the grace of God, by His providence, and by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I have decided to retire from my administrative position as Metropolitan of New York and All North America for the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese. After prayerful consideration, a life of sacrifice and decades of service to the church, my painful but deliberate decision is intended to give you peace as it has now done for me. Read More

For context see the Metropolitan Joseph: The Scandal section in our Archives 2020-22 linked at the top of this page.

Metropolitan Joseph (Al-Zehlaoui)

An Orthodox academic theologian and personal friend of two of Al-Zehlaoui’s previous sexual conquests has reached out to Orthodoxy in Dialogue this morning, the day of the Board of Trustees meeting in Englewood, with the following narrative of the Metropolitan’s long adulterous and abusive history.

1). As an archimandrite, some time between 1980 and 1991, Al-Zehlaoui had an affair with a young, unmarried Lebanese woman who lived with her elderly mother. (The Patriarch and Board of Trustees might want to ask him about “Y.”) Our source writes, “He used her and abused her. He made her believe that he loved her, while he was just using her for his sexual desires. Y never got married. She suffers to this day from depression and mental health issues.” Read More

For context see the Metropolitan Joseph: The Scandal section in our Archives 2020-22 linked at the top of this page.

Metropolitan Joseph (Al-Zehlaoui)

The following points of information and analysis, coming from among Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s most reliable sources, may serve to revive our readers’ flagging confidence in Patriarch John’s promises of appropriate action, transparency, and direct communication with the people in the matter of the Metropolitan Joseph Scandal.

1). It is widely assumed that Patriarch John has pressured Al-Zehlaoui to resign in order to avoid suspension, investigation, and possible deposal from holy orders. It now seems that his resignation is meant to allow his speedy replacement with a new Metropolitan, to be followed by suspension, investigation, and possible deposal. To suspend him for the duration of a potentially lengthy investigation without compelling him to resign would make it impossible to appoint a new Metropolitan swiftly. Read More