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

✠

Read More

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

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