For the first time in its 1,300 year history, the Church of England is putting up an advertisement for the £52,950 position of the Archbishop of York in church newspapers, following the retirement of Dr David Hope was announced.

The successful candidate will be the Church of England's second most senior clergyman, with pastoral oversight of bishops in half the country.

The vacancy notice will appear today for one of the most distinguished positions in the country. The notice will invite worshippers to suggest candidates for the position, and is part of the Church of England’s drive to be more open and democratic in the ways it selects its bishops.

The selection process of the Church was reformed earlier this year, following criticisms that its tradition ways were too secretive and was highly susceptible to be influenced by an “old boy’s network”.

The notices will encourage people within congregations to give their views and opinions on who should fill the vacant position, and will also announce the dates when the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) will meet to consider the most popular names put forward.

Throughout the history of the Church of England, the CNC (formerly the Crown Appointments Commission, CAC) has to swear a vow of secrecy about when and where they would be meeting, and were rumoured to also have been specifically told not to let their spouses know what they were up to.

Early next year, the commission will send two names to the Prime Minister, who will then select the final choice to be forwarded on to the Queen.

In the notice, people are invited to comment “on the needs of the diocese or to propose any candidate” by writing to the Archbishop’s secretary fro appointments or the Prime Minister Tony Blair’s appointment secretary.

This is supposedly the official commencement of what is anticipated to be a fierce lobby campaign among the Church’s various divisions.

Evangelical candidates for the post include the Bishop of Rochester, Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, and the Bishop of Liverpool, Rev James Jones. Among other possible candidates is the Bishop of Durham, Rev Tom Wright. However, an obstacle for him appears to be the fact that he has only been appointed to his current position relatively recently.

Senior liberals are keen to see the Bishop of Chelmsford, Rev John Gladwin take up the position, however, although he also was only recently appointed, he is not far away from retirement age.

Dr Hope, the resigning Archbishop of York, who will move back to become a parish priest in West Yorkshire, carried out his final address to his diocesan synod on Saturday, and used it to appeal for peace and unity within the Church. Hope warned that the currently highly publicised battles over homosexual clergy and appointment of women bishops may lead to “trench warfare”, which should be avoided at all costs.