A service has taken place in Cork to mark the retirement of Paul Colton as the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.
Bishop Colton was the longest serving Church of Ireland bishop of the diocese since 1617 and of the serving bishops in the Church of Ireland and was the last to be consecrated in the 20th century.
His farewell service took place this afternoon at St Fin Barre's Cathedral, before a congregation of more than 500 guests.
It was the last time Bishop Colton presided at a diocesan service as bishop of the diocese.
The service was to be a diocesan celebration of Easter, called 'The Glory of Easter'.
The congregation included representatives from all parishes, chaplaincies, schools, charities and organisations in the diocese, with diocesan clergy and commissioned lay church workers, led by the Dean of Cork, Very Reverend Nigel Dunne, and the Cathedral Chapter.
They were be joined by Paul and Susan Colton’s family and friends, as well as many guests from the church at home and from overseas.
The city and county of Cork were represented by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Councillor Fergal Dennehy, accompanied by the Lady Mayoress, Karen Brennan, and by the Mayor of Cork County, Councillor Mary Linehan Foley.
Mrs Dorothy Verplancke, one of the lay honorary secretaries of the Diocesan Synod and Diocesan Council said: "This is a significant moment in the life of the Church of Ireland in Cork as Bishop Colton has been the longest serving Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross since 1617 and, of the serving bishops in the Church of Ireland, was the last to be consecrated in the 20th Century."
Cathedral bellringers, led by Tower Captain, Guy St Leger, rang a full quarter peal on six of the cathedral’s 13 bells before the farewell service began.
A quarter peal typically consists of between 1,250 and 1,440 changes and lasts about 45 to 50 minutes.
At the start of the service the heaviest of the cathedral bells (1,372kg) was rung 27 times (once for each full year of the Bishop’s episcopate) by bellringer Marcus Calvert, who has been friends with the Bishop since they were scouts together in 2nd Cork (St Fin Barre’s Cathedral scouts) in the early 1970s.
Bishop Colton said: "While I will continue to serve as a bishop in ways that I have not yet prayerfully discerned, the decision to retire from this particular office as Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross has been a big step to take.
"I gave it a lot of prayerful thought and ultimately settled on a date in the Easter season - a time of confidence, hope, and joy at the heart of our faith.
"This way I thought that I could go into my retirement with a spring in my step and the people of the diocese can move on confidently to what God hopes for them in the years to come inspired by the Easter good news."
The preacher at the service was the Bishop and Mrs Susan Colton’s friend of many years, the Very Reverend Dr Mark Oakley, Dean of Southwark, a writer, preacher and speaker with a strong commitment to human rights.
At the end of the Easter celebration there were speeches to mark the Bishop Colton’s retirement.
Then, the Bishop returned his crozier to the diocese for safe-keeping for a new bishop, who will be elected in the coming months.
Guests at the service included 11 bishops, including Bishop Fintan Gavin (Cork and Ross), Bishop John Buckley (Bishop Emeritus, Cork and Ross) and Bishop William Crean (Cloyne).
Bishop Colton’s fellow Diocesan bishops from the Southern Province also attended: Bishop Patricia Storey (Meath and Kildare); Bishop Michael Burrows (Tuam, Limerick and Killaloe) and Bishop Adrian Wilkinson (Cashel, Ferns and Ossory).
The congregation also included Bishop Michael Ipgrave (Lichfield, England), Bishop Johan Dalman (Strängnäs, Sweden) and Bishop Bo-Göran Åstrand (Porvoo, Finland), all places that the Cork, Cloyne and Ross Diocese and Bishop Colton have associations with, along with the former Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Richard Clarke.
The Right Rev Dr Sahr Yambasu, former president of the Methodist Church in Ireland and originally from Sierra Leone to which Cork, Cloyne and Ross is currently linked in a diocesan project - Liloma - through Christian Aid and the Bishops’ Appeal, was also due to attend.