diff --git a/pkgs/servers/matrix-synapse/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/matrix-synapse/default.nix
index b9f4cb38742..07087315dc2 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/matrix-synapse/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/matrix-synapse/default.nix
@@ -23,11 +23,11 @@ let
 
 in buildPythonApplication rec {
   pname = "matrix-synapse";
-  version = "1.5.1";
+  version = "1.6.1";
 
   src = fetchPypi {
     inherit pname version;
-    sha256 = "14c9wjp3w9m8hnm91r2a33lvd3avq5xx759dy23wmmh0z8xf0k4a";
+    sha256 = "184d7qd76bb2714pfkx9p4zzn4akb6xkx2iw86cpn7aqmccxysld";
   };
 
   patches = [
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index b63c5806692..8143360e49b 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -4452,7 +4452,7 @@ in
 
   makebootfat = callPackage ../tools/misc/makebootfat { };
 
-  matrix-synapse = callPackage ../servers/matrix-synapse { };
+  matrix-synapse = callPackage ../servers/matrix-synapse { python3 = python38; };
 
   matrix-appservice-slack = callPackage ../servers/matrix-synapse/matrix-appservice-slack {};