Tributes paid to the late Keswick orthodox priest John Musther

Archpriest Fr John Musther, who founded the Orthodox Church of St Mungo, St Bega and St Herbert in Braithwaite, died peacefully on Saturday, February 4 at the age of 82.

Despite suffering from Parkinson’s disease, which affected his balance and caused his hands to shake, he continued to serve at the Sunday liturgy until he fell ill.

His devoted wife Jenny, a former nurse, has been caring for him at their home in Greta Villas, and was with him in his final moments.

She said: "The richness that John brought to my life surpasses anything that I have done for him.

“When I met him, I was floundering a bit.

"But then I heard him speak about God – and I thought ‘I have never heard God spoken about in this way’, and that is what attracted me to him – it was his spirituality.

Fr John Musther in his attic (Image: Supplied)

“It was like the sun came out when I married John.

“He has never once raised his voice to me in 29 years of marriage – he was never angry, always gentle."

One parishioner described the popular priest as a “friend, teacher, priest, comforter... and now an anchor for us on the other side.”

Whilst bed-ridden he would sing psalms and prayers from the liturgy, sometimes in the early hours of the morning – so loudly that he once unwittingly woke the neighbours.

Fr John’s only surviving sibling, Judith, travelled from Norway to be at his side, while friends and many members of the congregation have also visited him.

When the parish was first established, Fr John had been the only Orthodox priest in Cumbria.

He did not advertise his ministry but news of it soon spread, and before very long he was catering for parish of around 30 made up of Orthodox from Greek Cypriot, Russian, Romanian and Egyptian backgrounds as well as British converts.

Fr John’s love of the Orthodox faith began in his 20s when he met a charismatic Russian monk, Fr Sophrony (now Saint Sophrony).

At the time he knew little about Orthodoxy and was reading for a law degree at University College London.

Recalling the meeting, Fr John would say: “The thing that got me is that I knew this man lived what he talked about, and he knew it from experience.” 

Fr Sophrony had lived for many years on Mount Athos in northern Greece, a centre of Orthodox monasticism, and went on to establish his own monastery at Tolleshunt Knights in Essex.

Armed with letters of introduction from his spiritual mentor, Fr John later visited the holy mountain himself where he met a cliff-top hermit who had requested one simple luxury: a pound-and-a-half of English tea.

Fr John at Teampall Eion, St John's Church, Bragar, Lewis (Image: Supplied)

Moved as he was by these experiences, he was still not ready to make the cultural leap to Orthodoxy, and instead spent 17 years in an Anglican monastery, a decision which his family at first struggled to accept.

When he finally left the monastery, he helped to run a half-way house in Brighton for people in need, including people with drug and alcohol problems who felt broken. 

Fr John and Jenny both became Orthodox in 2003, but it was not until 2007 that the couple moved to Keswick from Brighton.

Father John with his wife Jenny (Image: Supplied)

Before arriving in Cumbria, Fr John was ordained as a deacon with a mandate to see if there were any Orthodox in the area.

The couple did not have far to go, and met their first Orthodox Christians at a fish and chip shop just 80 yards from their new home.

Before long, other Orthodox families living in Cumbria, many of them Greek Cypriot expats, would join the congregation.

Fr John’s chapel, an attic in his home frescoed by prominent English Orthodox icon painter Aidan Hart, was too small to accommodate the growing number of worshippers.

Fortunately, a former Methodist church in the nearby village of Braithwaite became available and this became an Orthodox church for Sunday liturgies.

Fr John, who has a degree in theology from Oxford University, has written three major books on theology.

Details of Fr John’s funeral arrangements are to be confirmed. But this is to be held at Crossthwaite Church, said to have been established by one of the premier Celtic saints – St Kentigern (remembered affectionately as ‘Mungo’).