In mid-August 2024, information circulated on the Internet that a gym had been opened in an Orthodox church in the Romanian city of Oradea. We decided to check the authenticity of such messages.

On holding sports activities in Romania in an existing temple reported some Russian-language information portals, as well as popular Telegram channels, for example “Uncle Slava"(215,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Putin on 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 of teenage martial arts practitioners demonstrating their techniques in a church, surrounded by cheering spectators. This video has become popular on video platforms (YouTube, TikTok).

Source: social networks

The earliest mention of the incident in the Russian-language segment of the Internet that Verified was able to detect was a publication in blog Andrey Kuraev** in LiveJournal dated August 10, 2024. It contains a link to a Romanian-language version published earlier in the day. fast on Facebook with a video that later went viral on social networks and an outraged comment about blasphemy. Unlike numerous later publications, this post names the temple in question. This is Orthodox Church of Velenta in Oradea, aka the Church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel.

This temple has a page on Facebook. There in early August children and teenagers invited to join the Summer School, within the framework of which, from August 5 to 10, it was planned to hold “various developmental and entertainment events.” If we assume that the video was filmed shortly before it was widely disseminated on the Internet, then most likely the incident occurred during these classes.

On August 10, a new one appeared on the same page fast, in which church representatives responded to the public outcry that arose around the video. They note that due to the large number of visitors (up to 140 people at a time), some of the classes, such as Bible reading and various thematic discussions, took place directly within the walls of the temple. Among the events held as part of the Summer School there was a demonstration session of a sports club, but it was held in the church yard - as confirmation, the corresponding comment was posted in the comments under the post video. But at some point the teenagers went into the church to hide from the heat (in Oradea in those days was about +30° C), and at the request of one of the peers they immediately showed several techniques.

Source: Facebook Biserica Sfinții Arhangheli Mihail și Gavriil, Velența I Oradea

Representatives of the temple apologized to the parishioners and everyone whose feelings were hurt by the incident, and noted that the incident was the only one and occurred due to the negligence of the clergy. At that moment, they were busy with other activities and therefore were unable to stop the inappropriate actions of the young school participants in time.

Thus, several teenagers actually demonstrated martial arts techniques within the walls of a temple in Romania, but there is no talk that it was converted into a gym. The incident occurred during a Summer School that the church organized for teenagers. All planned sporting events took place outside the temple. Parish officials apologized for not keeping an eye on the young visitors.

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

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

Cover photo: Biserica Sfinții Arhangheli Mihail și Gavriil, Velența I Oradea /Facebook