A Sydney bishop attacked by a young man armed with a knife during a sermon said he is recovering and forgives his attacker, in a video released Thursday. “I forgive the one who committed this act and I say to him: ‘You are my son,'” said Mar Mari Emmanuel, bishop of an Assyrian church, a branch of Eastern Christians. “I love you and I will always pray for you. And whoever sent you to do this, I forgive him too,” he continued.
“I’m fine, I’m recovering very quickly”
The bishop was stabbed in the head and chest Monday evening during a sermon in a suburban Sydney church by a 16-year-old boy. The religious and several other people were hospitalized without their lives being in danger, and the young attacker was arrested. “I’m fine, I’m recovering very quickly,” said the bishop of the Wakeley church in a video on YouTube, where we hear a recording of his voice accompanied by a photo of him in priestly vestments. “There is no need to worry,” he added.
The neighborhood is known for welcoming members of the small Assyrian Christian community who fled persecution and war in Iraq and Syria. The cleric, whose sermons broadcast on the internet were widely followed, gained his notoriety by criticizing in particular vaccines against Covid-19 and confinements during the pandemic, and defended the primacy of his faith over other religions, including Islam.
Riots outside the church
The teenager was transferred to a Sydney hospital after the attack, where he is expected to stay for several days, authorities said. The bishop called for calm after riots outside the church on Monday evening. Hundreds of worshipers and community members rushed to the church after the attack. Some threw stones and other projectiles, injuring around thirty people, including police officers.
Jamal Rifi, a Sydney doctor in contact with the teenager’s family, told AFP that they were “in a state of shock” and “in disbelief at the horrible act committed by their son”. The boy’s mother told Jamal Rifi that her son had mental health problems.