If the Synod agrees to adjourn the debate, it will be sent back to the current bishops to “reconsider” the changes they imposed in May, which would have allowed traditionalist parishes to opt out of the authority of a woman bishop and being given a male alternative who shared their doctrine.

The Church’s ruling General Synod was officially due to vote to give final approval to the plans today at the gathering in York, spelling an end to 12 years of legal wrangling over the issue.

But amid growing acrimony over an eleventh hour compromise offer to traditionalists imposed by the current bishops, senior Church officials announced yesterday that they would move to adjourn the debate altogether.

Had they not done so, there were fears that the reform, which has overwhelming support across the Church, would be defeated altogether.

Even the most vocal supporters of the change had been threatening to vote against it because they believe last-minute safeguards for traditionalists, would leave women as “second class bishops”.

Yesterday, Dr Rowan Williams acknowledged that there were “profound frustrations” and divisions in the Church over the issue and voiced exasperation with the tortuous legislative process.

In a sermon at York Minster he urged the Church not to become “depressed” and issued a plea for unity.

He said: “Many of us in the Church are feeling profoundly frustrated, we are feeling frustrated with each other; Many of us are profoundly frustrated at the bishops.

“I shouldn’t wonder of some of the bishops are not profoundly frustrated with each other and some other people.

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