[3] On March 14, 2024, in response to the lawsuit and for refusal to vacate the Los Angeles chancery belonging to the archdiocese, he was defrocked by the Holy Synod of Antioch.

He was elected to the episcopate on May 5, 1991, and consecrated 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.

At the request of Metropolitan Philip (Saliba) 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.

In 2022, details began to emerge alleging Al-Zehlaoui of engaging in a long term affair with a married woman, with documents leaked on controversial Orthodox blog Orthodoxy in Dialogue.