OCU cleric says people should eat less meat on Wednesdays and Fridays

Filiuk tries not to eat too much meat on fasting days. Photo: 1+1

Oleksii Filiuk, a cleric of the OCU's Ternopil Eparchy and a popular blogger, discussed his approach to observing fasting days in an interview with 1+1.

While preparing rassolnik, a traditional pickle soup, Filiuk told the reporter that on Tuesdays “you can eat anything,” and the same goes for Thursdays. “Wednesdays and Fridays – a little less meat, because those are special days,” he said, adding that he “tries not to eat” too much meat on those days.

Filiuk then served the journalists lunch, which he said included “four kinds of meat,” among them Rivne-style matsyk, Polish sausage, and Ukrainian cervelat. “There's more meat here than potatoes,” he remarked.

He also said he and the reporter were taking part in a weight-loss challenge and that his weight had dropped from 111 to 108 kilograms in one week.

The report did not specify which day of the week the filming took place.

In the same interview, Filiuk claimed that his videos receive around 500 million views per month and that he earns his monetization revenue as a registered sole proprietor providing advertising services.

Filiuk has repeatedly encouraged his followers to eat meat and dairy products during Orthodox fasting periods. During Great Lent in 2025, he advised people not to be fanatical but to eat whatever they wanted. During the Dormition Fast in 2026, he recommended eating sausage rather than “eating each other's livers” – an expression referring to people making life miserable for one another.

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