Though Cullman County has long been known for welcoming a diverse gamut of Christian churches both Protestant and Catholic, it has never been home to any cultural variant of the Eastern Orthodox Church — one of the most ancient faiths in all of Christendom — until now.

Beginning last summer with a small congregation and the hope of transformative growth, the newly established parish of St. Elizabeth the New Martyr Russian Orthodox Church has been meeting inside a small, but well-adorned house of worship at a private rural homestead on the county’s western side. Located a short drive south of Jones Chapel, the church is led by Fr. Theodore Foley, a rector and priest who currently conducts English-language services each Saturday and Sunday, including the weekly Divine Liturgy every Sunday at 10 a.m.

Foley says the church’s current membership — about 35 weekly attendees — is mostly drawn from former Protestant worshipers who have since converted to Orthodoxy. With continued growth, the church’s eventual goal is to build a permanent parish presence based in the city of Cullman, complete with a purpose-built church building whose structural formality and aesthetic appointments reflect Russian Orthodoxy’s artistic and architectural traditions.

Whether Greek, Russian, Romanian or within any other of its several cultural strains, the underlying theology that sustains Eastern Orthodoxy is largely the same: With few exceptions, members of one variant can take part in the others’ Divine Liturgy — the weekly commemoration of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection — with full confidence that their fellow worshipers share in the same faith. In its emphasis on sacramental and liturgical worship, as well as holy orders and monastic life, Eastern Orthodoxy also shares some measure of its formal structure with Catholicism, though the two faiths parted ways almost a millennium ago as a result of the Great Schism of 1054 — one of western civilization’s defining historical events.

The church’s Cullman parish takes its name from the German-born St. Elizabeth the New Martyr (1864-1918), “[a] German saint for a German town,” as St. Elizabeth’s website explains. Fr. Theodore says that first-time visitors are most welcome, though owing to the church’s rural location, it’s best to email or call ahead in order to obtain specific directions.

Visit the St. Elizabeth’s website at www.cullmanorthodox.com for more about the Cullman parish’s beginnings, its guiding Russian Orthodox hierarchy, to view the weekly worship calendar and to learn all about what to expect if you’re new to the Eastern Orthodox Church. For precise directions to the church, contact Fr. Theodore Foley via email at info@cullmanorthodox.com, or by phone at 404-574-0612.

Benjamin Bullard may be reached by email at ben.bullard@cullmantimes.com or by phone at 256-734-2131 ext. 234.