Archbishop of Canterbury Will Take Early Retirement : Religion: Runcie plans to step down Jan. 31. The politically sensitive search for a successor begins.

RoberK. Runcie, the controversial Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of the world’s 70 million Anglicans, announced Sunday that he will take early retirement next Jan. 31 after nearly 11 years as primate of all England.

The announcement begins what is expected to be a long and politically sensitive search for a successor under the supervision of Runcie’s longtime nemesis, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Runcie, 68, has frequently angered the Conservative prime minister with his outspoken liberal views. Last year, he set off a major controversy when he decried the emergence here of a self-centered, intolerant “Pharisee society.” While he did not say so specifically, his remarks were widely seen as criticism of the revolution in British social and economic policy under Thatcher’s leadership.

Thatcher, in her third consecutive term of office, became prime minister in the spring of 1979, 10 months before Runcie was officially installed at London’s Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s official residence.

Runcie said that he submitted his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II in her role as head of the Church of England, one of 28 autonomous Anglican provinces in the United Kingdom and abroad that make up the Anglican Communion. That body also includes 2.5 million U.S. Episcopalians.

While it is nominally the queen who appoints the Archbishop of Canterbury, she does so on the binding advice of the then-serving prime minister. The prime minister also names the chairman of a 16-member Crown Appointments Commission that narrows the list of potential candidates to two finalists.

In his official statement Sunday, Runcie said: “I judge the beginning of 1991 to be the right time for me to hand over to the next Archbishop of Canterbury. The public announcement today will give sufficient time for the name of my successor to be known well before the end of this year.”

The Church of England requires its bishops to retire at age 70, which means that Runcie could have served until Oct. 2, 1991.

“It is not as though he is resigning years early,” Eve Keatley, Runcie’s press secretary, commented. “He is going eight months earlier than he has to. He has decided to go next January because so many things will be happening in the next decade, starting in 1991, that it is better that someone should be able to see them through from the start.”

Among the early favorites to succeed Runcie is the primate of the affiliated Church of Ireland, Archbishop of Armagh Robin Eames, 53, who is reputedly a Thatcher confidante.

Eames is chairman of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Commission on Communion and Women to the Episcopate, which is dealing with the explosive issue of the ordination of women. About 1,200 women priests have been ordained by U.S. Episcopalians and Anglicans in Canada and New Zealand. But the Church of England still forbids the practice.

Runcie supporters praised him Sunday for his skill in keeping the Anglican Communion together despite such contentious issues as women priests.

“I think he has done a very good job under great difficulties,” commented Eric Heffer, a member of Parliament and a leading Anglican in the opposition Labor Party. “I also think that during his term of office, some of the documents produced have been fundamentally on the right side of the basic Christian argument of support for the poor and the oppressed throughout the world.”

Others, however, offered thinly veiled criticism of the archbishop for allegedly neglecting his pastoral duties and meddling too much in politics.

“While I know the archbishop has done his utmost, there is no doubt that the church has weakened considerably both in influence and membership during the past few years,” commented Harry Greenway, convener of Conservative (Party) Christians in Parliament. “A successor is needed who will eschew politics and preach the gospel fearlessly and brilliantly.”

In addition to his Pharisee comment, Runcie angered many Conservatives by preaching forgiveness after Britain’s victory over Argentina in the 1982 Falklands War and offering moral support to striking miners in 1984.