SACRED NORTH: travelling in the footsteps of the earliest Christian missionaries to Cumbria, Northumberland, Scotland and beyond
by Fr John Musther (1940-2023) and photographs by Phil Cope
Whether you share Fr John’s passion, and regard the saints as ‘friends’; have a thirst for history, ancient places and the lifestyle of our ancestors; and/or are intrigued by the majesty of the environment at its wildest and most beautiful, you will doubtless enjoy Sacred North and its selection of the nearly 250 sites visited and photographed over seven research trips conducted between March 2016 and May 2017, and, hopefully, catch a little of the ‘fire’ that burned within these modern-day pilgrims.
Ft John writes:
“The inspiration for Sacred North was fuelled by my passion for the early Christian saints. Despite a lifetime of research, we still encountered constant surprises on each of our three long journeys following in the footsteps of these holy men and women, revealing a rich heritage of ancient crosses, remote caves and hidden hermitages, healing wells, ancient chapels, and islands ‘at the end of the world’. Whether it was one more field of cattle to traverse, another hill to plod up, more rocks to scramble over, one more stream to negotiate, or another bog to squelch through, the discoveries were always exhilarating.
It is difficult to pick out the highlights but the sight of the remote islands of St Kilda coming into view after almost four hours of choppy Atlantic seas, and the discovery there of three hidden crosses testifying to a longstanding presence of Christianity (though only found in recent times) was certainly one of the most thrilling moments. Likewise, the majestic, remote seastack of the Birrier of Yell on Shetland – challenging our perceptions of life and death and every form of normality – appearing as we rounded the headland; the Pictish monasteries of middle Scotland at Meigle, Aberlemno, Rosemarkie and Portnahomack; the great religious houses of North-umbria, Lindisfarne, Jarrow, Monkswearmouth, Whitby, Hexham, Beverley and Durham; and, by contrast, the small ancient British monastery at Ninekirks, in Cumbria, where great itinerant saints like St Ninian and St Mungo would have trodden, but today sits out of sight of the busy A66, less than a mile away; all of these and many many more made for journeys of constant and inspiring surprises.
We travelled by foot, by boat and by campervan, but we had to take to the air (just for two minutes) to find the remote cell of St Triduana on the tiny Orkney Island of Papa Westray. The shortest scheduled passenger flight in the world is somewhat ‘heart in mouth’ in driving rain, but the sun shone to bless us at the site, something we often experienced, and took as a divine affirmation of our lengthy and always-rewarding undertaking.”
Fr John Musther was the parish priest of the Orthodox parish in Keswick, Cumbria, UK. He studied for a Bachelor in Laws at University College, London University, and for a BA in Theology at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He received a Master’s Degree in Applied Orthodoxy in Theology at the Antiochian House of Studies, Pennsylvania, USA.
Fr John met Archimandrite Sophrony in 1962. It was an encounter which changed the focus of his life. Fr Sophrony gave him to read his own book, Undistorted Image, on the life and teaching of the Staretz Silouan. Fr John was also fortunate to reverence his relics in the monastery of St Panteleimon on Mount Athos. Fr John travelled and read widely in order to identify the great bearers and teachers of the living tradition of holiness which lies at the heart of every aspect of Orthodoxy. After many years, he – at the request of friends – wrote, The Living Tradition of the Saints in the East and the West: what the Saints have to teach us today (2008).
When Bishop Basil Osborne discovered that Fr John was moving from Brighton to Cumbria, he ordained him deacon with a view to discovering the potential there for an Orthodox Community. He was subsequently ordained priest into the Exarchate of Orthodox Parishes in Western Europe, and into the Deanery of Great Britain and Ireland, under the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
Fr John’s second book was, Springs of Living Water, the Holy Wells of North Cumbria, published in 2015. Sacred North is his third.
In 2022, Fr John was made an Archpriest by His Grace Bishop Raphael of Ilion.
SACRED NORTH: travelling in the footsteps of the earliest Christian missionaries to Cumbria, Northumberland, Scotland and beyond
by Fr John Musther (1940-2023) and photographs by Phil Cope
Whether you share Fr John’s passion, and regard the saints as ‘friends’; have a thirst for history, ancient places and the lifestyle of our ancestors; and/or are intrigued by the majesty of the environment at its wildest and most beautiful, you will doubtless enjoy Sacred North and its selection of the nearly 250 sites visited and photographed over seven research trips conducted between March 2016 and May 2017, and, hopefully, catch a little of the ‘fire’ that burned within these modern-day pilgrims.
Ft John writes:
“The inspiration for Sacred North was fuelled by my passion for the early Christian saints. Despite a lifetime of research, we still encountered constant surprises on each of our three long journeys following in the footsteps of these holy men and women, revealing a rich heritage of ancient crosses, remote caves and hidden hermitages, healing wells, ancient chapels, and islands ‘at the end of the world’. Whether it was one more field of cattle to traverse, another hill to plod up, more rocks to scramble over, one more stream to negotiate, or another bog to squelch through, the discoveries were always exhilarating.
It is difficult to pick out the highlights but the sight of the remote islands of St Kilda coming into view after almost four hours of choppy Atlantic seas, and the discovery there of three hidden crosses testifying to a longstanding presence of Christianity (though only found in recent times) was certainly one of the most thrilling moments. Likewise, the majestic, remote seastack of the Birrier of Yell on Shetland – challenging our perceptions of life and death and every form of normality – appearing as we rounded the headland; the Pictish monasteries of middle Scotland at Meigle, Aberlemno, Rosemarkie and Portnahomack; the great religious houses of North-umbria, Lindisfarne, Jarrow, Monkswearmouth, Whitby, Hexham, Beverley and Durham; and, by contrast, the small ancient British monastery at Ninekirks, in Cumbria, where great itinerant saints like St Ninian and St Mungo would have trodden, but today sits out of sight of the busy A66, less than a mile away; all of these and many many more made for journeys of constant and inspiring surprises.
We travelled by foot, by boat and by campervan, but we had to take to the air (just for two minutes) to find the remote cell of St Triduana on the tiny Orkney Island of Papa Westray. The shortest scheduled passenger flight in the world is somewhat ‘heart in mouth’ in driving rain, but the sun shone to bless us at the site, something we often experienced, and took as a divine affirmation of our lengthy and always-rewarding undertaking.”
Fr John Musther was the parish priest of the Orthodox parish in Keswick, Cumbria, UK. He studied for a Bachelor in Laws at University College, London University, and for a BA in Theology at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He received a Master’s Degree in Applied Orthodoxy in Theology at the Antiochian House of Studies, Pennsylvania, USA.
Fr John met Archimandrite Sophrony in 1962. It was an encounter which changed the focus of his life. Fr Sophrony gave him to read his own book, Undistorted Image, on the life and teaching of the Staretz Silouan. Fr John was also fortunate to reverence his relics in the monastery of St Panteleimon on Mount Athos. Fr John travelled and read widely in order to identify the great bearers and teachers of the living tradition of holiness which lies at the heart of every aspect of Orthodoxy. After many years, he – at the request of friends – wrote, The Living Tradition of the Saints in the East and the West: what the Saints have to teach us today (2008).
When Bishop Basil Osborne discovered that Fr John was moving from Brighton to Cumbria, he ordained him deacon with a view to discovering the potential there for an Orthodox Community. He was subsequently ordained priest into the Exarchate of Orthodox Parishes in Western Europe, and into the Deanery of Great Britain and Ireland, under the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
Fr John’s second book was, Springs of Living Water, the Holy Wells of North Cumbria, published in 2015. Sacred North is his third.
In 2022, Fr John was made an Archpriest by His Grace Bishop Raphael of Ilion.
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