Stiperstones Trust History

The Orthodox Monastery of St Antony and St Cuthbert is situated in what was Lower Gittenshay Cottage, an
outlier of an abandoned village known as the Paddock, on the eastern flank of the Stiperstones, in the
South-west Shropshire hills.

In 1992, Brother Aidan, a solitary monk, supported by what later became the Stiperstones Trust, a registered
charity, purchased the house and land and gradually restored the buildings, at the heart of which was a miner’s
cottage and outbuildings. One of these became an orthodox church, fully frescoed with iconostasis and three
original icons. At 1,273 ft above sea level , this church is one of the highest if not the highest in the land.

In January 2001, Fr Silouan received canonical release from the Patriarchal Stavropegic Monastery of St John
the Baptist in Essex, where he had been a monk for ten years, to continue his monastic vocation at Gatton.
Initially, three monks and a sister came to test their vocation, but then went elsewhere, leaving Fr Silouan to
explore the solitary vocation since 2003. On 2nd February 2002, Fr Silouan was ordained to the priesthood by
his Grace Bishop Silouan, since when liturgies have taken place on a regular basis.

At present there are three hermit cells on the site, two in woodland, and one next to the columbarium, the place
of the white doves. It is hoped that we shall one day be able to afford two more cells in the orchard, which will
make small retreats possible.

See: Developments

The pre-history of the Monastery is a thousand years of Athonite monasticism, heir in turn, to the early
monastic movement in Syria and in Egypt. This history has always included hermits as well as great
monasteries, and St Antony was the icon of this, and father of monks as well. St Cuthbert, Bishop of LIndisfarne
and hermit of Farne Island, represents the same tradition in Saxon England, heir to St Columba and the
Monastery of Iona.