Source: Newsday
On September 14, 2002 Newsday reported on "Benedict Tallant... a pastor of St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church [in Alabama], the oldest patriarchal Russian congregation in the South. St. Nicholas - which has about 70 members and averages 30 people for its Sunday service - is under the auspices of Alexy II, head of the church in Russia. St. Nicholas was organized in 1894 for Slavic immigrants who came to Alabama to work in the coal mines. The mines played out years ago, but a half-dozen children of the immigrants remain. Because of unfamiliarity with the church's heritage and practices - there are just a handful of Russian heritage churches in Alabama - St. Nicholas has experienced some problems, Tallant said. Teenagers who didn't recognize the Orthodox cross have called members devil worshipers, he said, and one young man referred to St. Nicholas as the 'Communist church.' 'I said, 'Son, you're showing your ignorance of both religion and politics. This church was persecuted by the Communists,' ' said Tallant, who attended Baptist and Methodist churches before converting to Russian Orthodox."