In mid -August 2024, information diverged on the Internet that in the Romanian city of Orada a gym was organized in the Orthodox Church. We decided to check the reliability of such messages.

On conducting sports classes in the current temple in Romania Reported Some Russian -speaking informational Portalsas well as popular Telegram channels, for example ""Uncle Glory"(215,000 views at the time of writing this analysis),"Putin in Telegram"(206 000),"Voblya • Kursk"(203,000),"What happened?"(113,000) and"Ostashko! Important"(111 000). The news was actively discussed by users of social networks ("VKontakte" Facebook*, X). Most of the posts were accompanied by a 55-second video, in which adolescents engaged in martial arts, directly in the church, demonstrate the techniques that they own, surrounded by applauding spectators. This video has become popular on video platforms (YouTube, Tiktok).

Source: social networks

The earliest mention of the incident in the Russian -speaking segment of the Internet, which managed to detect “verified”, is a publication in blog Andrei Kuraev ** in Livejournal of August 10, 2024. It contains a link to a Romanian -speaking one previously published on the same day fast On Facebook with a video, which later spread out with social networks, and an indignant comment on blasphemy. Unlike numerous later publications, the temple that is being discussed is called in this post. This is Orthodox Velena Church in OradShe is the Church of the Archangels of Mikhail and Gabriel.

This temple has a page on Facebook. There in early August children and adolescents invited To join the summer school, in which from August 5 to 10, it was planned to hold "various developmental and entertainment events." If we assume that the video was shot shortly before its widespread on the network, then most likely the incident occurred just during these classes.

On August 10, a new fastIn which representatives of the church reacted to a public outcry that arose around the video. They note that due to the large number of visitors (up to 140 people at the same time), part of the classes, such as reading the Bible and various thematic discussions, passed directly within the walls of the temple. Among the summer schools held in the framework of the summer school there was an indicative occupation of a sports club, but it was held in the courtyard of the church - in confirmation in the comments under the post, the corresponding video. But at some point, the teenagers went to church to hide from the heat (in Orad in those days was About +30 ° C), and at the request of one of the peers, several tricks were immediately shown.

Source: Facebook Biserica sfinții arhangheli mihail și gavriil, velența i oradea

Representatives of the temple apologized to the parishioners and everyone whose feelings were affected by what had happened, and noted that the incident was the only one and occurred by the oversight of the clergy. At that moment, they were busy with other events and therefore could not stop the inappropriate actions of young participants in the school in time.

Thus, several adolescents really showed the methods of martial arts in the walls of the temple in Romania, but there is no speech that it was converted to the gym. The incident occurred during a summer school, which the church organized for teenagers. All planned sporting events took place outside the temple. Representatives of the parish apologized for not following young visitors.

*Russian authorities They think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns social networks Facebook and Instagram, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.

**The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation considers Andrei Kuraev a “foreign agent”.

Photo on the cover: Biserica sfinții arhangheli mihail și gavriil, velența i oradea / Facebook