Britain's richest men and women must curb their greed and begin sharing their wealth to save their souls, one of the Church of England’s senior bishops has warned.

Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, singled out high-earning City traders such as hedge fund managers as the kind of people who must swap their desire to “make a quick buck” for a commitment to “share [their] wealth generously”.

He said the crisis gripping the world’s money markets was “almost certainly” due to amoral forces pursuing their own wealth-creating agenda and warned that without action the less wealthy might suffer disproportionately from the fallout.

“What is required is a change of heart, of disposition, of attitude,” he writes in his Easter message, published in The Sunday Times today.

“From possessiveness we need to move to gratitude for what we have, from ‘cutting corners’ to make a quick buck to that integrity for which business in this country was celebrated, and from mere accumulation of wealth to a generosity of spirit.

“When that happens, hedge fund managers and directors of companies can, indeed, go into the kingdom of heaven ahead of the chief priests and elders.”

Giving to charitable concerns is a prime way to make amends, Nazir-Ali said, and he praised Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the American billionaires, for their philanthropy.

In Britain he named the developer John Laing, which recently restructured to make itself both socially and environmentally more accountable, as an example of a company showing “corporate responsibility”.

However, he expressed fears that the gulf between the rich and poor, which he describes as already “one of the great disparities of our age”, could be widened further by the recent plunge in stock market prices and the collapse of two banks.

“Even in a market of amoral forces, we should never forget that we are moral agents and responsible for our actions,” he writes. “The current turmoil in the markets is almost certainly the result of such forces but those with power need to ensure that the poor are not disproportionately affected.”

His warning comes as new figures show that homeowners in Britain are faced with paying out an extra £1.3 billion because mortgage companies have raised their profit margins fourfold over the past year, to cover themselves for losses incurred elsewhere.

Nazir-Ali also criticises the separation, for the first time, of Easter from the early spring school holidays in some parts of the country, suggesting that some people will see this as “a sign of the further distancing of Christian faith from the day-to-day life of this nation”.

While acknowledging that the churches have “shamefully betrayed” the nation’s trust in the past, he insists: “This should not, however, blind us to the overarching and underlying importance of Christianity for this culture.

“Without Christianity, its reform and renewal, there would have been no nation, institutions, laws or values worth the name.”

Nazir-Ali’s sentiments on the super-rich giving to charity were endorsed by some of Britain’s high-profile benefactors.

Sir Tom Hunter, the richest man in Scotland, who has pledged to give £1 billion to charity, said: “With great wealth comes huge responsibility.

“Ultimately it’s an individual choice to give back and for me it’s what motivates me to continue creating wealth. And, honestly, while it’s a serious business, philanthropy is also great fun.”

Hunter said that he was not motivated by spiritual concerns: “Does the queue to the pearly gates influence my giving? Not one iota.”

Rod Aldridge, the former chairman of Capita, the out-sourcing company, has an estimated fortune of more than £100m. Since leaving Capita in 2006 he has donated several million pounds to benefit projects directed at young people’s education and the rehabilitation of offenders.

“I am not a spiritual person but I think there has to be an awakening of people who are in very privileged and prime positions. There are things you can do and it is getting people to wake up to that,” he said.