A married Russian couple is facing possible expulsion from Turkey after being detained for reading verses from the Bible inside Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia. Viktoria Sergeyevna Filonova, 35, and Igor Andreyevich Filonov were escorted from the historic site on Monday and are being investigated under Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code for allegedly stirring up hatred or hostility, according to The Moscow Times.
Russia’s Consulate General in Istanbul has been in contact with the couple’s attorney as the investigation continues. It remains unclear whether the couple was reading the Bible quietly or aloud. Filonova told police she did not realize Bible reading was prohibited “in the museum section.”
Hagia Sophia was originally built as a Christian cathedral during the Byzantine Empire before being converted into a mosque following the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453. It became a museum in 1934 under Turkey’s secularization efforts before President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan restored it as a functioning mosque in 2020. The Bible reading reportedly took place in the building’s upper gallery, which remains open to visitors as a museum space.
