Worshippers flock to Ayios Mamas service

HUNDREDS OF displaced Morphou residents travelled to the occupied town yesterday to attend the evening prayer service ahead of the big celebration today of the patron saint Ayios Mamas.

The vespers were lead by Bishop of Morphou Neophytos, while the Maronite Archbishop Joseph Soueif, parliamentarians, Morphou mayor Charalambos Pittas, members of the local council and hundreds of former residents were in attendance.

The devout congregation and Morphou clergy chanted the liturgy during the event last night. More services will be held today in the morning and afternoon.

According to one CyBC reporter present, the faithful arrived in six buses and dozens of cars. Security measures were set up around the perimeter of the Church by Turkish Cypriot police.

The celebration of the patron saint has not always gone so smoothly in the past, with disputes between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaderships over how members of the flock can get to Morphou.

This year, Kato Pyrgos residents decided not to apply to cross via Limnitis for their annual pilgrimage to Ayios Mamas, given that the road connecting the community to Limnitis was at its final stages and they did not wish to invite risk to its completion.

Earlier last month, on August 8, up to 2,000 Turkish Cypriots crossed over to Kokkina, a Turkish military enclave, northwest of the island, to mark the Turkish aerial bombing of Tylliria in 1963.

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