The search for a new Anglican Bishop will soon begin with Ewen Ratteray, who has been in the post since 1996, set to retire this month.

His number two Arch Deacon Andrew Doughty, of St. Mary's in Warwick, is tipped to take the post heading Bermuda's largest religious denomination which has more than 14,000 potential worshippers according to census 2000 figures.

The church Synod of around 30 people will make the decision within the next few months with a stand-in likely to fill the role until a replacement is found.

Normally three to five candidates vie for the post and Canon Patrick White of St. Paul's, Paget and Reverend Nicholas Dill of St. John's, Pembroke have also been touted as frontrunners.

Asked if he was interested in the top job Arch Deacon Doughty said: "I want to serve God and his people. I don't know what the next step will be."

Bishop Ratteray was the first Bermudian to get the post and worshippers credit him for bringing about unity.

Recently Culture and Rehabilitation Minister Dale Butler claimed the legacy of Bishop Ratteray would be "washed away" by his failure to introduce scholarships in compensation for the church's role in slavery.

Mr. Butler was "shocked" by the retiring Bishop's remarks, in which he said the Anglican Church in Bermuda would address the issue "in our own time and in our own way".

The Minister had joined the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality (CURE) in proposing the scholarships, which CURE addressed to the church in a letter last month.

In 2007 the church affiliated with the Church of England, expressed regret for its role in the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade at a service to commemorate the 200th anniversary of its abolition.

Rev. Doughty said Bishop Ratteray had a legacy of stability and prayerfulness, adding: "There has been a higher degree of unity in the diocese than we have seen before, that's largely down to his personal holiness."