Jerusalem, Israel - Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox patriarchy announced Thursday that an ecclesiastical court had "defrocked" former patriarch Irineos I and demoted him to being a simple monk.
A statement announced "with sorrow," that a 12-member Bishopric Court, set up by the Holy Synod, had condemned Irineos in absentia, saying he had been called to appear three times and declined to do so.
The action resulted in "defrocking him from his Patriarchic and Bishopric rank and lowering him to the rank of monks."