Congregants of the Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley in western Sydney gasped and erupted into applause on Sunday evening as Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel returned to the pulpit to preach again following the alleged terror attack on him two weeks ago.
The Bishop appeared before the crowd as a curtain pulled apart on the church stage.
He carried a cross and sported an white eyepatch and the crowd stood and clapped and cheered him.
“May this holy and blessed day, the day of Hosanna, Palm Sunday according to the church calendar, may the Lord Jesus bless every Christian who is celebrating Palm Sunday today, and those who have celebrated it earlier,” he said to his followers.
“In Christ we are one.”
It was the Bishop’s first time back at the pulpit following the alleged April 15 terror attack, in which a 16-year-old boy allegedly stabbed the bishop while he was giving a livestreamed sermon, with video of the violence quickly spreading online.
The Bishop suffered lacerations to his face and body and paramedics took him to hospital for treatment.
On Sunday, he said “love never fails”, referencing a passage from the Bible.
“This is our Christian faith, but above all this is our Christ, who is all”
“And always taught to love one another, because God is love, and the Lord Jesus, he is God, revealed in the flesh, period.
“He taught us to love everyone, without any differentiation. This will never change.”
The Bishop also delivered a message to his alleged attacker.
“I’ll say it again, this young man who did this act, almost two weeks ago, I say to you, ‘my dear, you are my son and you will always be my son’,” the Bishop said.
“I will always pray for you, I will always wish you nothing but the best.”
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