GRAPHIC: “TikTok Bishop” Stabbed During Sermon, Sydney, Australia
APRIL 15, 2024
UPDATED: 3 MINS AGO
Update (0643 EST): The NSW Police Force has confirmed a male suspect has been arrested and that multiple victims have sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Update (0632 EST): Reports are now emerging that the suspect, previously reported to have been transported to a local police station, is actually still inside the Christ the Good Shepard Church. Service attendees are reportedly holding him and not allowing him to leave as police are working to bring him out. This is developing, check back for updates.
At approximately 0540 EST, initial reports indicated that a Chrisitan leader had been stabbed at the Christ The Good Shepherd Church in the in the Wakeley area of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
After reviewing the below footage, it is clear that the victim is Bishop H.G. Mar Mari Emmanuel.
The video appears to show Bishop H.G. Mar Mari Emmanuel (born Robert Shlimon) delivering a sermon over live-stream when the suspect approaches the lectern and begins stabbing him with a pen. Service-goers immediately spring into action and detain the suspect who was taken to Fairfield Police station. The Bishop was taken to Liverpool Hospital and his injuries are not currently clear.
In July 2014, Mari Emmanuel was suspended from the Syriac Christianity archdiocese of Australia and New Zealand on the grounds of disobeying canons promulgated by the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325. His former parish there was Saint Zaia Cathedral – Middleton Grange, New South Wales. By January 2015, he established an independent church where this stabbing took place today. As of March 2023, Mar Mari Emmanuel was not listed among the clergy of the Assyrian Church’s Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand, and Lebanon.
Mari Emmanuel’s church has gained popularity via his TikTok presence and he has been dubbed the “TikTok Bishop” through several popular videos such as “Satan Has Engulfed the Churches”, where the Bishop expresses his opinions on Pope Francis “going woke.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mari Emmanuel was criticized for speaking out against Australian lockdowns, calling the disease no different from the flu.
