Orthodox Christian leader likens Sydney’s Covid lockdown to ‘mass slavery’ and claims vaccines are futile in sermon

An Orthodox Christian leader has slammed Sydney’s Covid lockdown as ‘mass slavery’ and claimed vaccines are futile because living ‘normally’ will boost immunity.

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel told parishioners during service at Wakeley’s Christ The Good Shepherd Church, in the city’s west, Australians are being treated ‘like animals’ under coronavirus restrictions.   

The church leader claimed the impacts of the disease have been ‘exaggerated’ and people’s immune systems were designed by ‘god’ to combat diseases without vaccination. 

‘Are we humans? Because we are being treated like animals,’ Mr Emmanuel says, in footage of the July 21 sermon posted online. 

‘They are encouraging people to go and take vaccine and stay at home. They have had enough.’

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, of the Good Shephard Church, has slammed lockdowns and vaccines during a church service 

‘This is an absolute mass slavery at the core of it.’ 

Since their creation, vaccines have saved millions of lives by priming people’s immune systems to recognise and fight off viruses by pre-exposing the body to trace amounts of the pathogen, according to the World Health Organisation. 

This reduces the chances of individuals becoming infected and passing illnesses on to others, and the risk of suffering severe symptoms should they still catch the disease.  

But the church leader argued that vaccines are pointless because the stress sparked by lockdowns are ‘destroying’ Australians’ immune systems. 

Over the past two years, he said he has not been vaccinated and has not caught the flu or coronavirus. 

‘I believe, even though I am not in the medical field and I am not an expert, that stress is the number one killer of the immune system,’ he said. 

‘God created the immune system and it is absolutely magnificent. When we leave people to live normal lives, and they feel like human beings and are not treated like slaves, we can fight any virus.  

‘The vaccine supposedly is to work to strengthen the immune system yet on the other hand we have made people go through so much stress and anxiety that it has destroyed it. Then what is the use of this vaccine?’  

The bishop said he found it ‘hard to believe’ everything would be fine once vaccination rates increased, which has been flagged as Australia’s ticket to freedom from lockdowns.  

Mr Emmanuel asserted ‘coronavirus has been exaggerated’ compared to the public health measures and called on the state and federal government to reconsider their regulations, which he described as completely ‘out of limits’. 

He also claimed he found it hard to trust a vaccine that has been promoted by American immunologist Dr Anthony Fauci and billionaire business magnate Bill Gates. 

Mr Emmanuel told parishioners at the Wakeley church (pictured) fellow religious leaders were ‘weak’ for not speaking out against the government’s Covid measures 

‘Let people live their normal life and enough of these so-called lockdowns which are absolutely irrelevant,’ he said. 

‘They are suffering mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and financially.  Isn’t this enough to destroy any immune system?’ 

While he blasted the government’s rules as ‘nonsense’, Mr Emmanuel said it was worse that fellow church leaders were ‘weak’ and not speaking out against the measures, while encouraging believers to follow health orders.  

The bishop said that Jesus was a ‘revolutionist’ and urged parishioners to follow in his footsteps by speaking out against the government. 

‘What has become of Australia? I don’t recognise it anymore. Apparently you have no right to say nothing anymore, and yet they claim there is freedom of speech and religion,’  he said.   

‘Anyone that speaks the truth, speaks from the bible, is all of a sudden a judgemental, discriminative person. How dare you say “god said gays and lesbians will go to hell”. We [Australia] have lost touch with the true god.’

‘The government said we have to be like weak beings, “oh be careful, they are going to sue us now. Oh the police are going to fine us”. Well come lock the church. I don’t really care.’ 

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Christ The Good Shepherd Church for comment. 

It comes after one of the nation’s most decorated doctors issued a warning about the importance of vaccine uptake after thousands of anti-vax protesters stormed Sydney’s CBD over the weekend to rally against lockdowns. 

Anti-lockdown protests erupted in Sydney (pictured), Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide on Saturday

Australian immunologist Professor Peter Doherty said 97 per cent of patients in hospital with Covid-19 in the US were unvaccinated – a stark reminder to Australians to roll up their sleeves and get the jab. 

Meanwhile, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced Sydney’s lockdown will stretch until the end of August and restrictions will be tweaked after the state recorded another 177 locally acquired Covid infections on Wednesday.

More businesses will receive support, some tradespeople can re-enter customers’ homes and year 12 students in hotspot areas will be vaccinated as a priority under the new measures.

But nearly five weeks of lockdown already endured by nearly six million people in Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, the Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour hasn’t been enough to stop 1050 new infections in the past week.

‘Delta is different,’ Ms Berejiklian said on Wednesday.

‘I am as upset and frustrated as all of you that we were not able to get the case numbers we would have liked at this point in time but that is the reality.’

NRL star Frank Winterstein and his wife Taylor were among the thousands of protesters who took to the streets of Sydney to protest against the city’s lockdown

One woman cheers with joy during the protests in Sydney with thousands turning out to demand an end to lockdowns

At least 68 of the 177 people diagnosed with the virus on Tuesday were circulating in the community for all or part of their infectious period. The isolation status of another 62 remains unknown.

A woman in her 90s became the 11th death of the current outbreak. 56 people are in intensive care, including two teenagers and five in their 20s. Twenty-two patients are on ventilators.

The main drivers of transmission remained interactions in workplaces and households, often creating cycles of infection, Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said.

‘But on a positive note … we know lockdowns work and we have to hold our course,’ Dr Chant said, stressing vaccination was a path out.

Three-in-ten NSW residents have received their first dose of either Pfizer or AstraZeneca, with one-in-eight having two doses.

The state’s vaccination capacity exceeds 600,000 shots a week, according to state and federal sources.

The longer lockdown will allow more people to get vaccinated, particularly in eight local government areas where the virus is spreading quickest and walk-in AstraZeneca clinics are being rolled out.

Those areas – home to more people than Perth – now include the cities of Parramatta, Campbelltown and Georges River, meaning only authorised workers can leave. 

Sydney’s lockdown has been extended by another four weeks as the city struggles to contain the highly infectious Delta strain outbreak 

Similar to a measure from Victoria’s extended lockdown, a singles bubble will allow one designated family member or friend to visit a person living alone.

From midnight, residents will be banned from entering shops more than 10 kilometres from their home, unless it’s in their council area.

From Saturday, construction in non-occupied settings can resume outside the eight hotspots, subject to social distancing. 

The state and federal government JobSaver program was significantly boosted, opening support to struggling businesses with a normal annual turnover of $50million to $250million.

Businesses that maintain their employee headcount will now be eligible for up to $100,000 per week, up from $10,000, based on 40 per cent of their weekly NSW payroll.

The federal government increased weekly support payments for individuals, with full-time workers to receive up to $750 and some job seekers who’ve lost work eligible for $515.

Government support now exceeded $650million per week.