Mari Emmanuel
Iraqi-born Australian bishop (born 1970) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mar Mari Emmanuel (born Robert Shlimon; 19 July 1970)[1] is an Iraqi-born, Assyrian Australian[2] prelate. He is the bishop of Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, New South Wales, which hosts the highest number of Assyrian Christians—many of them refugees from Iraq and Syria—in any suburban Australian neighbourhood.
Mar Mari Emmanuel | |
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Bishop of Christ the Good Shepherd Church | |
Orders | |
Ordination | 26 July 2009 by Mar Addai II |
Consecration | 11 August 2011 by Mar Yacoob Daniel and Mar Zaia Khoshaba |
Rank | Bishop |
Personal details | |
Born | Robert Shlimon[1] (1970-07-19) July 19, 1970 (age 53) |
Denomination | Christ the Good Shepherd Church (2015-present) Ancient Church of the East (1970-2015) |
Residence | Sydney, Australia |
In 2011, Emmanuel was ordained a bishop in the Ancient Church of the East, but was suspended in 2014. In 2015, he left that denomination and established an independent church in the Eastern Syriac tradition called Christ the Good Shepherd Church.
His sermons are livestreamed on Christ the Good Shepherd Church's Facebook and YouTube channels, which collectively have a following of 240,000 users. His popularity has garnered online fan pages with thousands of people following him, and he has taken part in interviews on conservative YouTube programs, where he has spoken about religion and criticised homosexuality and the Australian COVID-19 policy.[3]
On 15 April 2024, Emmanuel and two others were stabbed at his church during a livestreamed sermon. Emmanuel lost vision in his right eye as a result of the attack. Later on, the Police Commissioner of NSW Karen Webb, declared it a terrorist attack. [3]