The Rt Rev Dr Dagmar Winter was installed as the new Bishop of Edinburgh at a joyous service in St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral on Saturday.
Guests from all over Scotland and from as far as Ghana and New Zealand packed the cathedral, including church leaders the Most Rev Dr Leo Cushley, Roman Catholic Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, the Rt Rev Gordon Kennedy, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and the Most Rev Rt Hon Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York.
Bishop Dagmar, who becomes the 27th Bishop of Edinburgh, described the service of installation and translation (from Bishop of Huntingdon in the Diocese of Ely) as “an amazing and uplifting, hugely encouraging experience”.
After celebrating the Eucharist, she said: “Thank you to everyone who contributed to such a wonderful launch into my new episcopal role.
“In the following weeks and months there will be many to meet and I have much to learn and absorb. I can’t wait to get started! The Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church next week comes early in my time and will be a further opportunity for important encounters.
“The joy of the Lord is our strength! In this spirit I look forward to working with all the charges in the Diocese of Edinburgh and the wider communities and their leaders beyond as we seek the kingdom Jesus proclaimed.”
The installation of Bishop Dagmar takes the College of Bishops to a full complement of seven bishops once more.
The Service of Translation and Installation was led by the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Most Rev Mark Strange, and the sermon was delivered by the Rt Rev Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich, the lead bishop on the environment for the Church of England.
“What, I wonder, is God’s favourite colour?” asked Bishop Graham. “For half of this city, it is maroon for Hearts; for the other half, Hibs green. But I believe, if God has a favourite colour, it is tartan.
“Tartan, because God brings together the threads of our experiences, joys and failures, dreams and dashed hopes, to create the colour and pattern of our lives. Tartan, because God brings together the threads and messiness of individual lives to create the colour and pattern of our communities. And God brings together often broken threads to create the colour and pattern of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
“Dagmar, as a bishop you have the privilege of seeing the next length of that tartan emerge from the loom of the Diocese of Edinburgh. Through what you bless you will see new colours and patterns emerge, and, like so many clergy and laity, you will witness the glint of the golden threads of the mini-miracles of God’s Holy Spirit at work in churches across this diocese – vows of marriage and baptism made and honoured, inspiration gleaned, prayers answered, forgiveness offered and received, healing brought, and times of loss and mourning marked.
“But you come first and foremost, as our Gospel reading reminds us, as one who serves.”
The full sermon can be read here and the service can be watched in full at this link on YouTube.
Bishop Dagmar was elected in February this year, following the retiral of Bishop John Armes last year after 13 years in the post. She was ordained priest in 1997 in the Diocese of Rochester, Church of England, serving there and in the Diocese of Newcastle, and was made a Canon of Newcastle Cathedral in 2011. She was consecrated Bishop of Huntingdon in the Diocese of Ely in 2019, and has been the Acting Bishop of Ely since 2023.
She has served as Vice-President of the Conference of European Churches which runs a number of projects, especially Pathways to Peace, a coordinated response of the European church fellowship to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. With a particular interest in New Testament scholarship, she has contributed to a number of English and German books and journals.
Main picture shows the College of Bishops following the installation of Bishop Dagmar at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh. From left: Bishop Mark Strange, Primus (Diocese of Moray, Ross & Caithness); Bishop Anne Dyer (Diocese of Aberdeen & Orkney), Bishop Ian Paton (Diocese of St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane); Bishop Bagmar Winter (Diocese of Edinburgh), Bishop Nick Bundock (Diocese of Glasgow & Galloway); Bishop David Railton (Diocese of Argyll & The Isles); and Bishop Andrew Swift (Diocese of Brechin). Picture credit: Diocese of Edinburgh.