• Cyprus
    1995 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • First Visit of the Society’s President

      An event that brought great joy to the Cypriot brothers was the visit, in December 1951, of Brother Knorr accompanied by Milton Henschel. The Royal Cinema was the site for a three-day assembly. It was a modern building, and Brother Knorr commented: ‘We would like to have a place like this for our circuit assemblies in New York.’ A three-day assembly had been planned, but because the Royal Cinema was in a residential part of the old city, the Pallas Cinema in the center of Nicosia was booked for the public talk to be given by Brother Knorr on Sunday morning. Arrangements were made to give full publicity to this talk. Four large banners prepared in Greek and English were mounted on the side of the Royal Cinema. Two hundred posters were distributed throughout the capital. Advertisements were flashed on the screens in the largest cinemas. English, Greek, and Turkish newspapers carried announcements of the public talk “Will Religion Meet the World Crisis?” Not surprisingly, personnel at the leading Communist newspaper said that they could not advertise the talk ‘because it was against party line,’ and members of the staff at the leading nationalist newspaper said that they ‘must first have the approval of the archbishop.’

      With all the publicity, we wondered how our religious opposers would react. We soon found out. One night the banners on the Royal Cinema were ripped down. We informed the police. The archbishop had a leaflet printed in which he urged: “ATTENTION! KEEP AWAY FROM THE MILLENNIALISTS.” Part of the leaflet said: ‘Do you see? They have invited a stranger also to uphold them. . . . They are wolves in sheep’s clothing who come to devour the sensible sheep of Christ. . . . Do not approach them, don’t give them any attention. Ignore them, maybe they will come to their senses and be corrected. From THE HOLY ARCHBISHOPRIC.’

      Would it be possible for Brother Knorr to give his public talk at the Pallas Cinema without disturbance? Let an eyewitness describe the scene. Don Rendell recalls: ‘It was just after 10:00 a.m. when I approached the cinema. There were police outside the entrance, and I could see a crowd of young men milling around with the intention of getting into the cinema to cause trouble. As there were brothers who knew many of the troublemakers, they were assisting the police who were keeping the mobsters away from the entrance. I had to push my way through them to get in. At 10:30 a.m., Brother Knorr began his talk with 420 present. But the religious hooligans outside started to bang on the doors. This was quickly stopped by the police. But the question now was, How will we be able to get out of the cinema after the program? The brothers decided that, with the help of the police, they would keep the mobsters at the front of the cinema. Then at the end of the talk, we were asked to leave the building by a rear exit, and this we did quietly, thus avoiding any confrontation.’

      Church Bells Signal Another Attack

      In 1952, Famagusta was a lovely town with orange and lemon groves and a long sandy beach. This town on the east coast of the island is just a few miles from the ruins of the ancient city of Salamis, where the apostle Paul and his companions preached. But Famagusta today, since the Turkish invasion in 1974, is for the most part a ghost town, with very few inhabitants. However, in 1952, Jehovah’s Witnesses had planned an assembly to be held in one of the town’s cinemas. Well aware that the Greek Orthodox Church had declared all-out war against Jehovah’s Witnesses and because of what had occurred at previous assemblies, we requested that the police be on hand. Sunday morning was beautiful, and the brothers were looking forward to the public talk scheduled for midmorning. However, ten minutes before the talk was due to begin and with 350 already seated in the cinema, there were indications that trouble was brewing. Antonios Karandinos, a missionary in the town, was one of the attendants at the front entrance of the cinema. This is how he described what happened:

      “Just 10 minutes before the public talk was due to begin, the bell of a nearby Orthodox church began to peal. This, as we understood later, was the signal for priests and scores of secondary-school youths to begin a march on the cinema. What a sight came into view! There were priests heading a mob of youths bent on getting into the cinema. We braced ourselves for trouble. The door to the cinema was closed, and when they tried to force their way in, I was manhandled by a priest and my clothes were torn. The situation became more menacing, so police reinforcements were requested and were soon on the scene. Thwarted in their endeavor to break up the meeting, the mob shouted and raved against us outside the cinema.”

      Their efforts frustrated, the priests led the mob back to the church. Jehovah had given us the victory.