As St. Mary's prepares to celebrate its 95th anniversary, we are compiling and updating the parish history. Here are some of the highlights of the parish's first 80 years!

• St. Mary's Church - A Brief History (Founding to 1975)
• History of St. Mary's Altar
• St. Mary's - A Brief Update (1975-1985)
• St. Mary's - The Past 20 Years (1985-2005)
• 2020 - Archbishop's Visit and Church Blessing

(From St. Mary's 80th Anniversary Booklet - 2005)

     Our founding fathers and pioneers arrived in America from Eastern Europe. Most of the parishioners originally settled in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and then migrated to Virginia as farmers. There were many obstacles to overcome, but through hard work, devotion to God and love of their church, they met them. These people were God-fearing and law-abiding. They brought with them many customs, cultures, and traditions.

     Religion and church were an integral part of these immigrants. When the early members of the church settled in Virginia, they were without their own church or priest. Through strong will and determination, they were able to build a church. Earlier in the history, they sought a priest to hold the Divine Liturgy as far away as Pennsylvania and Maryland. They petitioned the local Roman Catholic Church for permission to hold their own liturgy; however, this was short-lived, as the church closed the door on further services. This did not hamper their determination, and the liturgy was held in the Duritza and Cebula homes. The Reverend Korytniowsky came from Baltimore to serve the parishioners.

     Seeing the need for a new church, they took upon themselves the insurmountable task of building and maintaining St. Mary’s Catholic Church -the first Byzantine Rite church of the South. St. Mary’s also lays claim to being the smallest congregation of Byzantine Rite in all of North America.

     The first newly built church was attended, after its com­ple­tion in 1925, by Rev. Wasyl Man­iosky, who came from Bal­ti­more. Rev. Man­iosky was pas­tor at St. Mary’s from 1925 through 1930. Dur­ing this period, Father Man­iosky per­formed the first mar­riage in the church between John Vayda and Elisz­a­beth Hertnick.

     On the ninth day of April 1926, through the gen­eros­ity of Samuel T. Beavers, the land was offi­cially deeded to George Shut­lock, John Cebula, John Paulovich, Dan Duritza and Andrew Sevak, Trustees of St. Mary’s Church, by way of a dona­tion and gift. Mr. Beavers, although not Catholic, could well be con­sid­ered a good neigh­bor and friend of the church.

     Suc­ceed­ing Father Man­iosky was Rev. Michael Kolut­sky, from 1930 through 1931. From 1931 through 1946, Rev. Man­iosky returned to serve the paris­hon­ers of St. Mary’s. In 1946, Rev. Bohdan Voloshin served the parish. Dur­ing this period on June 8, 1947, a pic­nic was held at the home of John Shut­lock, and a meet­ing called by Father Voloshin resulted in a the church offi­cers agree­ing to turn over the prop­erty to the Philadel­phia Metropoly. It wasn’t until Octo­ber 20, 1950  that the prop­erty was deeded to Bishop Con­stan­tine Bohachevsky, who made many vis­its to St. Mary’s in the years fol­low­ing. Suc­ceed­ing Father Voloshin was Rev. Wasyl Sere­dovytch, 1948 and 1949, who was also one of the priests who trav­eled from Bal­ti­more, Mary­land.

     After the estab­lish­ment of the Holy Fam­ily Ukrain­ian Catholic Church in Wash­ing­ton, D.C., Rev. Vladimir Woz­niak, 1949–1950, and Rev. Gre­gory Kanda, 1950–1951, served mass. It was dur­ing this period that a con­fes­sional booth was built, the yard was seeded, the dormer was rebuilt, and the roof was renewed.

     From 1951 through 1955, Rev. Volodymyr Pylypec attended the parish­ioners. Dur­ing this period of Octo­ber 1951, the con­struc­tion had begun on the church sac­risty. Labor was donated for this by the fol­low­ing parish­ioners: John Cebula, mike Cebula, George Cebula, Michael Shut­lock, John Vayda, George Kelecheck, Pete Janda, Jr., and Pete Durniak.

     It was also dur­ing Father Pylypec’s pas­torate that the ceme­tery cross was ded­i­cated on August 9, 1953. This cross was built and carved by John Shut­lock, Sr., affec­tion­ately known as “Big John,” from a tree donated for the lum­ber by John Paulovich. Father Pylypec  also blessed the bell, steeple and the church cross. Fol­low­ing Father Pylypec were Rev. Henry Sagan, 1955, Rev. John Lit­wak, 1955–1956, and Rev. Paul Harchi­son, 1956.

      Rev. Theodore J. Danu­siar was appointed pas­tor in 1956. He had served the parish for 12 years. It wsa dur­ing his assign­ment at Man­as­sas that the Iconos­tas was built by “Big John” Shut­lock. The altar was gra­ciously donated by John Hert­nick. Father Danu­siar also orga­nized the Apos­tle­ship of Prayer of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at St. Mary’s. He was pas­tor at the time of the death of our beloved pres­i­dent, John Fitzger­ald Kennedy, and was selected for the spe­cial honor of par­tic­i­pa­tion in the solemn funeral cortege. He was one of 3 chap­lains cho­sen for the prayer at the funeral. Pope Paul granted a rare priv­i­lege for one Requiem Mass to be cel­e­brated on Sun­day because of the death of the United States pres­i­dent. The Requiem Mass was cel­e­brated at St. Mary’s Catholic Church (Byzan­tine Rite) in Man­as­sas. Father Danu­siar, too, was instru­men­tal in enlarg­ing our parish pic­nics, which were widely pub­li­cized through­out Mary­land, Vir­ginia, and the Dis­trict of Colum­bia. Suc­ceed­ing Father Danu­siar was Rev. Vladimir Krayewsky, Pas­tor, and Rev. Myron Sozan­ski, Asso­ciate Pas­tor, 1968.

     Rev. Myroslav J. Lubachivsky was assigned to St. Mary’s for 1968 through 1971. It was dur­ing this period that per­mis­sion was granted by the Met­ro­pol­i­tan to brick veneer the church. Labor to brick the church was donated by Michael Shut­lock. AT this time John Cebula, another devoted parish­ioner who is now deceased, worked in ren­o­vat­ing the inte­rior entrance of the church and the choir loft.

     The fol­low­ing were appointed to serve St. Mary’s after Father Lubachivsky: Msgr. Basil Makuch, 1971–1972, Rev. Stephen J Shawel, C.SS.R., and Rev. Andrew Krafchik, asso­ciate pas­tor in 1973. Rev. Joseph Denis­chuck was named asso­ciate pas­tor in 1974 to replace Father Kafchik. Father Denis­chuk was most help­ful in assist­ing the com­mit­tee pre­pare for St. Mary’s Fifti­eth Anniversary.

     Those who faith­fully responded by singing the praises of God were: Mrs. Mary Shut­lock, George Sabol, John Kon­das, Sr. M. Kormeluk, and the can­tor, John Kon­das, Jr.

(From St. Mary's 80th Anniversary Booklet - 2005)

     Alfred Joseph Pike was born in Preston, England, in 1865. He brought the altar to our church from England. From 1893, Mr Pyke lived at “Richland” Widewater, Virginia. He built a private chapel where Mass was celebrated by the priests of Fredericksburg. There was no previous knowledge of Mass said in Stafford County since the early days of the Brent settlement when priests from St. Mary’s County, Maryland secretly crossed the Potomac River to say Mass at various homes. Mr. Pyke died in 1938 and is buried at Aquia Church, Stafford County, Virginia.
     The John Hertnick family donated the altar to St. Mary’s Church, Manassas, Virginia.