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Pirohis ‘down to a science’ at Epiphany Byzantine Catholic Church

Mary Stachyra Lopez | Catholic Herald

Thom Soyka pours pirohis into a tray as volunteers top them with butter and onions at Epiphany Byzantine Catholic Church in Annandale March 13.

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More than three decades ago, the members of the Ladies’ Guild
at Epiphany Byzantine Catholic Church in Annandale began
serving up meatless dinners on Friday nights during Lent. The
pirohis, haluski, nut rolls and other traditional Ukranian
fare grew more and more popular, until one year, there simply
weren’t enough cooks to keep up with the demand.

“We made pirohis until we made 50,000 (a season), and we
couldn’t do it anymore,” said Daria Parrell, the co-chair of
the Ladies’ Guild. About 12 years ago, the guild began to buy
the pirohis from a company in Scranton, Pa. – but it still
takes a crew of about 34 volunteers who start work on
Thursday to get everything ready.

This year, the ladies ordered 60,000 pirohis and baked 1,000
nut rolls. Members of the Men’s Club join the ladies in
Epiphany’s professional-grade kitchen to wash and chop
cabbage, sautee onions with butter, then top the noodles off
with salt and pepper to produce 18-20 pans of haluski each
week. With about 40 gallons of soup needed, it takes about
four hours for volunteers to cook two varieties and clean up
afterward. After preparing the soup on Thursday nights,
volunteers come in again on Friday around 11 a.m. to get
ready for the crowds, which inevitably fill up every table.
Children from the religious education program help things run
smoothly by clearing the tables.

“We’ve got this down to a science,” said Parrell. “We’ve been
doing it for 35 years.”

The tasty homemade chocolates and Ukranian art for sale add
to the cheerful, bazaar-like feeling in the parish hall, but
the main seller is the pirohis. The only thing penitential
about these butter-coated dumplings full of fluffy potatoes
and cheese, is limiting yourself to three – topped with a
small dollop of sour cream, of course. The line for carryout,
which has even stronger sales than eat-in, starts at 4 p.m.
Many of the same people come in week after week, year after
year, making sure to leave with enough pirohis to freeze for
future meals.

“I call the church in December to see when the dinners are,”
said Dina Tuft of Fairfax, who sat with a plate of pirohis
and two carry-out bags on her table. “My co-workers all laugh
because I leave at 4:58 to eat at 5:15.”

Tuft first read about the dinners in a newspaper article
seven or eight years ago, and has been coming to Epiphany on
Fridays ever since. Her mother was Ukranian, so she remembers
eating pirohis growing up. The ones she’s bought in the store
are nothing like the ones served up at Epiphany. There’s a
“big difference,” she said. “These are tasty.”

That’s a pretty common sentiment, Parrell said. People who
grew up eating traditional pirohis can tell the difference.

“A lot of people tell me it reminds them of when they were
young,” Parrell said.

And it’s all for a good cause. Sales support the parish
building fund, local eparchy (the Byzantine equivalent of a
diocese) and various charitable causes.

“We do well,” Parrell said.

Stachyra Lopez can be reached at
[email protected].

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