The Bishop of London Richard Chartres has announced that he is to retire next year, after a long and distinguished career at the heart of the Church of England and the British establishment.
Chartres, who has overseen a remarkable renaissance of the London diocese with flourishing churches across all three main traditions of evangelial, liberal and Anglo-Catholic, has written to clergy and parishes announcing that his last public engagement will be Candlemas at St Paul's Cathedral on 2 February 2017, a few months before his 70th birthday.
Chartres, who is Dean of the Chapel Royal and has become a close friend of all the senior members of the Royal family, has primarily been a figure of unity in a Church divided over the last two decades by women's ordination and the issue of sexuality.
Although a supporter of women's ministry, his dignified restraint from ordaining women priests himself, possibly in aid of preserving that unity, might have cost him translation to the top job at Canterbury during either of the last two vacancies when many senior church people had hoped to witness his elevation.
He was also a dedicated and expert amabassador for the Eastern Orthodox churches in this country and in Eastern Europe. His familiarity with the eastern rite and love of the ornate flourishing of the best in liturgy and ritual could easily at times have led him to being mistaken for one of their number.
His exceptional presence and wonderful preaching, rich in tone and content, won disciples for Christ and his Church throughout the diocese and beyond.
While it was apparent to observers that he did not care much for the machinations of General Synod, his gift for delegating meant that even lovers of arcane ecclesiastical bureaucracy flourished under his watch. And although not an evangelical, it is partly thanks to his thoughtful pastoral oversight that Holy Trinity Brompton in Knightsbridge and its evangelistic child, the Alpha Course, have become the worldwide mission phenomena that they have.
Appointed in 1995, he had previously left his academic career as a divinity professor to serve as Bishop of Stepney for three years.
Chartres said: "It has been a privilege and a delight to serve in the Diocese of London as priest and bishop for well over thirty years. I have seen confidence return and church life revive."
The recent progress report on Capital Vision 2020 is an "eloquent testimony" to a renewed confidence in the gospel, more strenuous compassion and more extensive service of our neighbours in the most diverse city on earth, he added. The diocese is also financially healthy for the 10th year running.
He leaves more than 200 candidates for the priesthood training in the London centre of St Mellitus College alone.
He said he had tried to follow the example of St Augustine who said: "For you I am a bishop but with you I am a Christian". He added: "In this spirit I hope you will forgive my many shortcomings in office."
