4/15/2024 Australia (International Christian Concern) — Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Sydney, Australia, was stabbed during a church Bible study as it was streamed live on social media the evening of Monday, April 15. Four other church members were also stabbed during the livestream. The alleged attacker, a 15-year-old boy, is in police custody. 

Video of the attack, which many news outlets are not showing due to its graphic nature, shows a man approaching Bishop Emmanuel, a prominent church leader in Australia with a large social media following, during the Assyrian Bible study and then moving to stab the bishop multiple times with a sharp object. 

Bishop Emmanuel and the four church members are in stable condition at the hospital. Some outlets reported that riots and protests erupted after the stabbings, with church members and people from the local community distressed following the targeting of this Christian leader. The attack follows another stabbing just two days earlier in which six people were killed and 11 others injured at a mall in Bondi, Sydney. Police shot and killed the attacker.

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