While delivering a sermon, a Bishop in an Australian Church has been attacked by a man with a knife.

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was delivering a sermon at Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, Sydney when a man was seen casually walking up to him as seen in the livestream footage.

The man then raised his arm and repeatedly attempted to stab Bishop Mar Mari with what appears to be a small knife. The congregation screamed in the background as they came to the bishop’s rescue.

Bishop Emmanuel suffered non-life threatening injuries, as reported by the Daily Mail.

“Officers arrested a male and he is assisting police with inquiries,” a spokesperson for the NSW Police said.

Some social media users claim the attacker’s knife failed to open. The attacker, after delivering about five blows to the bishop, stops and looks at his hand that’s holding the object, before continuing to rain down additional blows.

Following the arrest, thousands of citizens surrounded the church and chanted “Bring him out! Bring him out!” in a plea with the police to show the attacker.

NDP-Liberals refuse to condemn mass church burnings

In Canada, a motion last year calling for all political parties to condemn the nationwide attack on churches in Canada was denied by NDP and Liberal MPs, with one saying doing so might “trigger” Indigenous Canadians. 

At least 83 churches have been burned to the ground or vandalized in Canada since 2021.

During an Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee meeting on Tuesday, Conservative MP Arnold Viersen proposed that all politicians “condemn the arson attacks of over 80 churches across Canada.” 

Viersen further called for the committee to “reaffirm freedom of religion and assembly and call on those responsible for these attacks to be brought to justice,” as reported by True North.

But the request was too controversial for Liberal and NDP MPs at the committee, who voted to shut down the motion rather than proceed with it. 

In proposing to shut down the debate, Liberal MP Jaime Battiste said the issue has a way of “triggering a lot of people who went through residential schools and the things they are going through.”

The attack on Canadian churches began in 2021 after media reported on mass graves at residential schools. Archeologists detected what they believed to be 200 “unmarked graves” at an old school in Kamloops, British Columbia. 

The mass unmarked graves claim remains unproven.