A thriving church in Braithwaite is set to be one of the legacies of orthodox priest Father John Musther who died on Saturday, February 4, aged 82.
John was born in Halifax during the Second World War. His mother was a nursing sister and his father the town clerk. As quite a young child he helped look after his younger sister, Susan, who had Down’s Syndrome.
John also cared for Susan after his mother’s death in 1993, until her death in 2001. John’s other sister, Judith, an architect, lives in Norway with her family. John and Judith visited each other regularly.
John attended Manchester Grammar School and then graduated with a law degree at London University. While there, he became a Christian, and obtained a scholarship to study theology at Oxford University.
He met his spiritual father, Sophrony (now a saint) whose words about following Christ changed his life.
After graduating from Oxford he went to Mirfield Theological College, West Yorkshire, where he was ordained as an Anglican priest.
John asked his Bishop to send him to the most challenging parish he could find. This was typical of John’s great love for those in need, and his boundless energy and enthusiasm in everything he did. While working in Crewe, he became increasingly fascinated in the links between the time of Christ and the church today.
In his spare time he travelled all over Europe, visiting monasteries and churches and reading widely about the early Christian saints, particularly the Desert Fathers and their links with early Irish and Scottish saints.
John then spent 17 years as a monk helping to found an Anglican monastery in Sussex. There he worked with his hands; milking cows, felling trees and cooking. His favourite work was in the library where he devoured more knowledge about early Christianity.
He was excited to discover the living tradition of the one way of holiness that could be traced through every century, remaining consistent in essence in many different countries.
It became his life’s passion to promote this way of holiness, through a life of prayer, and this set him on his journey to Orthodoxy.
John left the monastery and set up an open house, on a notorious housing estate in Brighton, which he ran round-the-clock from 1994 to 2007. He met and married Jenny, a hospice matron, during this time.
At the open house he helped the many people who came to him with broken lives. Many had addictions or mental health problems, or were homeless. He had a clothing store, a furniture store, a well stocked fridge, and most of all, a heart full of love and compassion.
John and Jenny officially became Orthodox in 2003, and soon afterwards he was ordained as a deacon. In 2007 they retired to Keswick, a place they had loved for years when on holiday.
John fulfilled his dream of having a tiny frescoed Orthodox chapel in the attic of their cottage, where the couple prayed night and morning for many years.
He was ordained Orthodox priest at St Bega’s Church, Bassenthwaite, in 2008. To his amazement, a thriving parish emerged, now meeting in the former Methodist church in Braithwaite. It has become known for its warm welcome and fervent worship, attracting many young families and singles from all over Cumbria, from vastly different lifestyles and of diverse nationalities. His legacy there looks set to flourish.
John was also a regular contributor to The Keswick Reminder’s Christian Viewpoint column.
Being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2012 did not stop John travelling all over Scotland and the north, in order to write his third book, Sacred North. Recent months saw a real deterioration in his health. Jenny cared for him at home, with excellent help from local clinical staff, until his peaceful death.
John and Jenny enjoyed 29 extremely happy years of marriage together. He always said that the unconditional love of Christ should be the centre and motivation for everything we do in life.
