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The Church of England priest who carried out a church “wedding” for two Anglican clergy has been admonished by his bishop for running his parish as if it were a “personal fiefdom”.

The Bishop of London, the Right Rev Richard Chartres, says that “at first sight” the Rev Martin Dudley, Rector of St Bartholomew the Great in London, appears to have broken Church guidelines against blessings for civil partnerships.

Bishop Chartres says he finds it “astonishing” that Father Dudley, who is heterosexual, did not consult him.

The service of blessing for the Rev Peter Cowell, a Church of England hospital chaplain and the Rev David Lord, a priest from New Zealand, has plunged the Anglican Communion into fresh turmoil over homosexuality.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Dr Rowan Williams and Dr John Sentamu, earlier said they viewed the service with “very great concern” and insisted that the guidelines which forbid such ceremonies remain in place.

Father Dudley is consulting solicitors over the letter, in which Bishop Chartres notes that the order of service included the phrase: “With this ring I thee bind, with my body I thee worship.”

This phrase mirrors the traditional Anglican wedding service and also implies a breach of Church of England rules that gay clergy should remain celibate.

The Bishop wrote: “The real issue is whether you wilfully defied the discipline of the Church and broke your oath of canonical obedience to your Bishop.”

He continued: “St Bartholomew’s is not a personal fiefdom. You serve there as an ordained minister of the Church of England, under the authority of the Canons and as someone who enjoys my licence.”

The Bishop intervened as nearly 300 bishops from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the US and the UK began meeting in Jordan this week for the Global Anglican Future Conference, or Gafcon, an alternative “orthodox” gathering for conservative evangelicals opposed to the Church’s liberal direction.

Many of those attending the conference are boycotting the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lambeth Conference in Canterbury in July.

Meanwhile, the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement said the service carried out by Father Dudley last month was not a first and the organisation had sent out nearly 2,000 packs in recent years to couples seeking an Anglican blessing for their union or for priests celebrating them.

“From our experience there was nothing unusual about this service at all. It used a form of words similar to hundreds of liturgies we have seen over the years, though we thought the amendments very elegant and will be including them in the help packs we send out,” said the movement’s Richard Kirker.

He accused the Bishop of London of “otiose posturing”.