Joseph (Al-Zehlaoui) of Los Angeles

Bishop JOSEPH of Los Angeles and the West

His Grace the Right Reverend Bishop JOSEPH of Los Angeles and the West is a diocesan bishop of the Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

Life

Early Years

Joseph G. Al-Zehlaoui was born on November 2, 1950 in Damascus, Syria to Georgi and Mathil (Baghdan) Al Zehlaoui. He received 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 then 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.

Early Pastoral Roles

Bishop JOSEPH was ordained to the Holy Diaconate while a student in Salonica, in December, 1976. Subsequently, he was ordained to the Holy Priesthood by His Beatitude, Patriarch IGNATIUS IV, at St. Mary Cathedral in Damascus in December, 1980. His election to the holy 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