Joseph G. Al-Zehlaoui or Joseph Zehlaoui was born on November 2, 1950, in Damascus, Syria to Georgi and Mathil 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 Salonika University 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 Salonica. 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 Arab Orthodox followers living in London, England, and in 1986 the Arab Orthodox community living in Cyprus. His election to the episcopate was on May 5, 1991, and the consecration was on June 30, 1991, in the Holy Cathedral of the Patriarchate in Damascus with the title Bishop of Katana, Syria. During his clerical ministry, he served as General Supervisor and Professor of Religious Education at the Al Assiyeh Orthodox College and supervised the Patriarchal headquarters in Damascus. Besides being the Patriarchal Assistant during the past several years, Bishop Joseph served as the secretary to the Holy Synod of Antioch, Editor-in-Chief of the Patriarchal Bulletin and participated in several theological conferences in Greece, Texas and Australia.
Service in the United States
At the request of Metropolitan Philip of New York, Al-Zehlaoui was selected by the Holy Synod of Antioch on January 24, 1995, to be an auxiliary bishop for the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Starting September 12, 2004, he was appointed as the first bishop of the Holy Diocese of Los Angeles and the West enthroned by Metropolitan Philip and the Local Holy Synod of the Archdiocese. Following the death of Metropolitan Philip Saliba, the prior Antiochian Orthodox metropolitan, the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East convened on July 3, 2014 at the Our Lady of Balamand Patriarchal Monastery in Northern Lebanon and elected him at its meeting as metropolitan of North America.
