Sydney church stabbing: how an alleged attack on a firebrand preacher reopened old wounds

At around 7pm on Monday night, a teenager wearing a black hoodie walked up to a bishop conducting a service in an Orthodox church in western Sydney, took out a knife and allegedly stabbed him repeatedly.

The circumstances of the incident – the particular church that was targeted, the nature of the service, the bishop in question, the spread of videos of the attack and aftermath and the existing tensions between the Assyrian Christian and Muslim communities in the area – were an almost perfectly combustible combination.

Emmanuel was known for being outspoken, posting firebrand sermons to social media in which he decried same-sex marriage, Covid vaccine mandates, transgender rights, as well as criticising Islam and directly appealing to Muslims to convert to Christianity.

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Emmanuel’s anti-Covid vaccine, anti-lockdown stance also resonated with people in Wakeley, in light of the disproportionately harsh conditions faced by western Sydney during the city’s 2021 Covid lockdown.

This is a time to unite, not divide, as a community, and as a country Prime minister Anthony Albanese Tighter restrictions on gathering and travel were in place for suburbs in the city’s west, which had helicopters flying overhead and armed forced on the streets to enforce the lockdown conditions – something that was particularly traumatic for refugee and migrant communities – while the rest of the city enjoyed laxer restrictions.