“The dead wanted a finger?” Blogger slams OCU cleric over superstition
A Lviv volunteer who lost part of a finger while cleaning neglected graves has demanded that OCU cleric Oleksii Filiuk publicly explain his remarks about “the dead.”
Lviv blogger Liusyna Povroznyk, who volunteers to clean neglected graves, has posted a video message addressing OCU cleric Oleksii Filiuk after he suggested a supernatural explanation for her injury while promoting gardening tools.
“I’d just ordered [battery-powered pruning shears], and the girls told me, ‘Father Oleksii, watch your fingers, because some blogger got her finger cut off.’ In Kyiv, the one who was cleaning graves. The dead wanted a finger. She left her finger at the cemetery,” Filiuk says in the video.
The video’s caption reads: “She left her finger at the cemetery because the dead wanted one.”
Povroznyk previously explained that she accidentally severed part of a finger while using battery-powered pruning shears to cut ivy from old graves. Doctors reattached the severed portion, and she is now undergoing rehabilitation.
She stressed that the injury was an accident, not a supernatural occurrence or punishment.
“The cemetery didn't take anything from me, and the dead didn't demand anything from me. Tell me, does the Church teach people to believe in supernatural forces? Does Christianity teach that graves or dead people can take away a part of someone's body? Isn't a priest supposed to distinguish faith from superstition and fear?” she asked Filiuk.
Povroznyk also recalled that she had previously invited the OCU cleric to join her in cleaning at least one neglected grave but never received a definite response.
“When I suggested doing something genuinely good, somehow there was no answer. But when I got injured, suddenly there were plenty of words to talk about it?” she said.
She warned that remarks like his could discourage people from visiting cemeteries to care for their loved ones’ graves.
“People listen to you. They trust you. And when a priest says the dead wanted a finger, someone might take that literally,” the blogger emphasized.
Povroznyk demanded that Filiuk publicly clarify his remarks and said she would not allow her injury to be used to frighten people. Filiuk had not responded to her appeal at the time of publication.
Liusyna Povroznyk is a Lviv-based blogger and founder of the “Liusyna’s Ears of Grain” initiative. She voluntarily cleans neglected graves at various cemeteries, shares their stories on social media, and leaves a bouquet of wheat stalks on each grave after finishing her work.
As the UOJ previously reported, Filiuk said it was acceptable to report a “troublesome” father-in-law to a Territorial Recruitment Center (TRC) and argued that there was nothing wrong with the work of military recruitment officers.
