THE parish church for Eleftheria Stadium, Nicosia, is holding an all-night vigil to protest against the "evils" of the Miss Universe pageant being held in the stadium in the early hours of Saturday.
"It is a Church tactic to fight evil with prayer to protect its people from the bad influence of anti-Biblical messages," a Church spokesman told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
The Holy Synod had last year filed an official complaint to the government about the impropriety of the beauty pageant. Now the church of Ayios Panteleimonos in Makedonitissa, situated on hill overlooking the stadium, is staging a 10-hour vigil on the night of the contest to make its opinions felt. The vigil will include services and a full liturgy.
"A vigil is the way the Church makes a statement about something it believes is wrong," said one insider. "For as long as it goes on we will be praying," a spokesman for parish priest Tellos said.
Other critics have attacked the event as a ‘meat-market’, a claim rebuffed by Commerce, Industry and Tourism Minister Nicos Rolandis. He has pointed out that scantily-clad women are the norm anyway on the island’s white beaches — some of them staying at hotels owned by the Church.
The Orthodox Church has condemned the pageant as superficial escapism that detracts attention from the suffering caused by the Cyprus problem. In addition, Holy Synod secretary Father Marios said yesterday that the pageant was an affront to women in the year when the Church is celebrating 2000 years of Christianity.
But officials who campaigned hard for the right to host Miss Universe on the island see nothing wrong with women in swimsuits being paraded. Cypriots backing the pageant say the live telecast to the United States — and more than 120 countries thereafter — is a showcase for the island’s attractions. "This is something we have been striving to do for years," said Rolandis.
Intellectuals criticise the Miss Universe pageant as an event which hardly enhances the cultural standing of Cyprus. And some legislators have questioned whether the cost to the taxpayer — a cool £4.5 million –is worth it.
"Who said anything about culture? This is not a cultural event," said Rolandis, married to a former Cypriot beauty queen himself. "This is entertainment, pure and simple."
The vigil will be held in a prefabricated church as the church proper is still being built, but the parish nevertheless expects a full turn-out. The vigil will begin at 7.30pm on Friday and last until 5am on Saturday.
The Miss Universe final – to be televised live across the globe – will take place on Saturday morning between 4am and 6am while the dress rehearsal will be from 9pm to 11pm on Friday night.
