"Accession" (season four, episode seventeen; 26 February 1996): Wikipedia-link.
Commentary: The series premiere of Deep Space Nine is titled, "Emissary" (not to be confused with "The Emissary," The Next Generation season two, episode twenty), but it is not until "Accession" that Captain Sisko fully embraces his role as the Emissary of the Prophets. The secular humanist Federation is uncomfortable with the Bajorans' perception of Sisko as a religious figure & he, as a Starfleet officer, shares that discomfort. (See: June's "Section 31" review of "Starship Down": Wayback Machine.) When the Bajoran poet Akorem Laan, who disappeared two centuries earlier, emerges from the Wormhole (the Celestial Temple) claiming to be the Emissary, Sisko is only too eager to relinquish the title.
Akorem quickly begins to flex his muscle as the Emissary in ways that Sisko never did, calling for the restoration of the Bajoran caste system that disappeared during the Cardassian occupation. When Sisko points out that caste-based discrimination will void Bajor's application to join the Federation, but Akorem plows ahead with the support of Kai Winn. Why? Because Akorem believes he is following the will of the Prophets. Sisko's problem flows from not following his vocation, not following the path set out for him by the Prophets. Sisko desires to reclaim the title of Emissary, but Akorem is not willing to give it up. The two Emissaries journey to the Celestial Temple (the Wormhole) & encounter the Prophets. The Prophets reveal that they are "of Bajor" & "The Sisko" is "of Bajor." Akorem's role was not to be the Emissary, but to provoke Sisko into embracing his role as the Emissary.
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