ABSTRACT
The turn of the twentieth century saw the emergence of a dense network of voluntary associations whose aim was to regenerate Cypriot society by reforming the morals of the Greek Cypriot labouring population. The development of this network and the various practices of moral reform have largely been neglected by historians of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Cyprus. In this chapter, I examine the practices of Syllogos Orthodoxia, focusing on its prolonged campaign to introduce the Sunday Observance Law. I argue that, in contrast to other contemporary projects of moral reform, which focused on the self-improvement of the working class, the law constituted a coercive measure, intended to compel individuals to religious observance. Orthodoxia and the Sunday Observance Law shed light on a fascinating aspect of class relations in Cyprus and emphasise the role of religion in the construction of Cypriot moral norms at the turn of the twentieth century.
