For context see the Metropolitan Joseph: The Scandal section in the Archives 2020-22 linked above. The following email from Bishop John (Abdalah) to the hierarchs, clergy, and Board of Trustees (but not the laity) of the Antiochian Archdiocese was leaked to Orthodoxy in Dialogue this evening by an insider source at Englewood. Given Patriarch John’s own words that “the circumstances related to [Metropolitan Joseph’s request for resignation] makes the resignation effective immediately [emphasis ours],” it seems ludicrous to continue the charade of commemorating Al-Zehlaoui liturgically. We hope this omission in the Patriarch’s instructions was no more than an oversight on his part, and the he corrects it before this Sunday. It would seem most logical to commemorate Bishop John, in his role as chairman of the Temporary Operating Committee, until a Patriarchal Vicar is named. To hear the former Metropolitan commemorated this Sunday will be shocking and disturbing to the faithful of the Archdiocese.

Former Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

Brother Bishops, Reverend Clergy and Distinguished Members of the Board of Trustees,

We offer thanksgiving to God for your faithfulness to Christ and for your patience keeping our beloved Archdiocese in peace and good order. Read More

For context see the Metropolitan Joseph: The Scandal section in the Archives 2020-22 linked at the top of this page. With the following letter from Patriarch John, Al-Zehlaoui’s removal from office is formalized four weeks and four days after Orthodoxy in Dialogue first brought this matter to the attention of the whole body of the Church—lightning speed by Orthodox standards. We ask that Al-Zehlaoui’s embarrassingly hagiographical biography be removed from the Archdiocese’s website in all haste. We also urge the Patriarchate to bring Al-Zehlaoui promptly before an ecclesiastical court to consider his deposal from holy orders.

We have rightly encouraged Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s readers worldwide to be patient with the Patriarch.

ADDENDUM 9/23/22: It seems that the following personal letter from Patriarch John to Metropolitan Joseph was posted to the Archdiocese’s website in error. It has been replaced at the same link with the Patriarch’s letter to the Archdiocese. See “Source” below. 

Metropolitan Joseph (Al-Zehlaoui)

Former Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

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Orthodox and other pro-life Christians are often accused of being “pro-birth” while caring little for the health and welfare of the child and its mother once it has left her womb. The politicization of pro-lifism seems to be more about controlling women and violating their God-given personal autonomy than actually helping them and their preborn children with social, economic, and mental health supports during pregnancy and the life of the child from birth to the threshold of adulthood. In a tradition where the Sunday of the Last Judgment and the Sunday of the Good Samaritan stand at the centre of our ascetical consciousness on our path to God in the age to come, it should be clear to us Orthodox that the practical performativity of a pro-whole-life ethic consists obligatorily, and not optionally, of putting our money where our mouth is. Nowhere does the Gospel command us to march in virtue-signaling parades or to applaud legislative initiatives that have horrifying consequences in the real lives of real women, many of whom are already mothers caring for the children they already have. Read More

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