Archbishop Accused of Lengthy Affair Sues Over His Stingy Severance

A top Orthodox archbishop who abruptly stepped down from his position last year after allegations of a longtime affair emerged now says the seven-figure severance package he was promised—including a checking account pre-loaded with some $1.4 million—was later snatched away by church officials who have “cruelly turned their back on him.”

In a civil court summons obtained by The Daily Beast, Joseph Al-Zehlaoui, the former Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, a jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch consisting of nearly 300 cathedrals, churches, and missions across the U.S., further claims the church purposely led people to believe he was “a ‘sexual predator,’ when of course he is not.”

Taken together, Al-Zehlaoui blames the church’s “cruel and malicious… broken promises” for causing him “extreme emotional distress,” according to the summons, which notes the 73-year-old Al-Zehlaoui has been threatened with eviction from his church-provided home.

Read more at The Daily Beast.