Assyrian Bishop tells how he lost his eye in stabbing attack

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel — who was stabbed in an alleged terror attack as he preached — has told parishioners that he lost his eye in the attack.

An Assyrian Christian Bishop has told parishioners he has completely lost use of his eye after he was stabbed by an alleged teen terrorist almost two weeks ago.

Wearing an eye patch, Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was met by a standing ovation at the Christ The Good Shepherd Church on Sunday evening as he arrived to deliver a sermon for Palm Sunday.

In a sermon delivered in Arabic, the Bishop told his congregation that he had lost his eye in the attack, and that he offered it as “a token of love” for every Muslim.

“I ask the Lord Jesus Christ to accept this eye as a token of love and as a token of sacrifice,” he said in Arabic.

Using the Iraqi colloquial dialect, the Bishop said his eye was sacrificed for all Muslims.

“If you do not see, I will be the eye for you.”

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel speaks at the Wakeley church on April 28, 2024. Picture: Supplied

Despite losing his eye, Bishop Emmanuel was back delivering the Palm Sunday evening sermon only two weeks after his attack and is expected to give the Easter sermon this weekend.

The second priest hospitalised in the same attack was also back at work on Sunday. Father Isaac Royel was at the church with parishioners for the early morning mass.

In another sermon delivered in English, which was also live streamed, Bishop Emmanuel thanked worshippers, mayors and religious leaders who sent him messages of support saying he was “absolutely humbled”.

He also prayed for his alleged attacker telling him “I love you and I will always pray for you”.

Later in the sermon he addressed the Australian government and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the importance of free speech.

“To our beloved Australian government … I believe in one thing and that is the integrity and the identity of the human being,” he said.

“Every human being has the right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion … I should not worry for my life to be exposed to threat or to be taken away.”

“For us to say because of this freedom of speech, it is causing dramas and dilemmas therefore everything should be censored, where is democracy, where is humanity, where is integrity.”

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Originally published as Assyrian Bishop tells how he lost his eye in stabbing attack