While parishioners gathered outside a Greek Orthodox church on Friday, it is alleged that a man armed with scissors caused a scene.

Eyewitnesses said the man was allegedly waving scissors close to women and children near the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George in before churchgoers managed to subdue him until police arrived.

It is said the scenes left children in tears and crowds of people screaming and confused.

“Police were at the Church in Thornbury, Australia in less than five minutes. All good when said and done but left my 13-year-old in bloody tears from fear and wanted to go home. Wasn’t pleasant.”

She said he appeared to not be Greek or a church attendee.

“We were there and it was extremely scary. Especially for all our little children. Luckily no one was hurt,” another parishioner said.

One witness, Spiros Papadopoulos, confirmed the events to Neos Kosmos.

Other media outlets have reported that a 38-year-old man was arrested after being located on David St with scissors.

Neos Kosmos reached out to Victoria Police to confirm the details and found out that these are unrelated events.

“There is no connection to the church – it just happened near the church and some parishioners witnessed it as a service had finished not long before,” Victoria Police told Neos Kosmos in a statement.

They confirmed the man is expected to be charged on summons after he was spotted behaving erratically at about 8.30pm.

The man was spoken to by police and assessed and no one was threatened or injured during the incident.

This comes just weeks after Assyrian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanual was stabbed in an alleged Islamic terror attack at an Orthodox church in Wakeley, western Sydney.