The Church of England's parish system is on the brink of collapse due to a shortage of vicars, one of the country's highest ranking churchmen has warned.
The Archbishop of York said many clergymen were retiring earlier than in the past as they were frustrated with increasing workloads and bureaucracy.
Dr David Hope, second in the church's hierarchy behind the Archbishop of Canterbury, said the present situation, with vicars already covering several parishes and faced with having to take on more, "really cannot go on."
Speaking on BBC radio, Dr Hope said: "The parish system itself, I think, is in very great danger of breaking down almost altogether.
"Will a vicar, who's already got three parishes, take on another and then another and then another? I think that we really cannot go on like that."
The Anglican Church has long-standing concerns about falling attendance, with a recent Church of England commissioned report warning of "tiny" congregations in a "thinly spread church" in 30 years' time.
In recent years more parishes have been forced to share vicars under pressure of falling numbers of both clergy and congregations.
From 1990 to 2000, the number of full-time clergy in parishes and dioceses dropped from just over 11,000 to 9,500 and Dr Hope said he feared this trend would continue.
"The (Church) Commissioners' funds are pension funds and we have more people being paid now in that sense as pensioners, clergy and their spouses than we have actually ordained stipendiary clergy."