Across

1 School gym contest organised for Whitsun (9)

6 Leader of Israelites, ending in Exodus after some wandering (5)

9 An elder and priest with residence yet unsettled between bishop and rector (9)

10 Salvation Army spirit in old Salisbury (5)

11 Vow made initially by spouse when exchanging a ring (5)

12 A bit of silver in impressive jewel associated with bishop (9)

13 Religious ceremonies — one of them cut short by Saul surprisingly (7)

15 Cadet has to declaim from memory, mostly about sport (7)

17 Bird by the water in a coastal city (7)

19 A hospital operator can make nurse go crazy (9)

20 Old bishop sitting, showing unwavering belief (9)

22 Ephesians having peculiar shortened vestment (5)

25 Pigs endlessly surrounding a rustic lover (5)

26 A virtue, nevertheless, in ragged attire (9)

27 Horse in street by westward-flowing river (5)

28 What could be silent expressions of hesitation, we hear (9)

Down

1 Poet’s people sometimes deemed infallible (5)

2 Relation that is entering new church (5)

3 Periods of fasting — you could chew bit of mouldy bread, yes? (9)

4 Stable workers make less rot possibly (7)

5 Peculiar rite involving Eastern bishop and dog (7)

6 Mothers’ Union thus provides sheets of notes? (5)

7 Sacred writing from small underground chapel said to overlook river (9)

8 Herb, 100, is a foolish person (9)

13 Drunken person starts to supply extremely silly answers ( 9)

14 Move to see somewhere else (9)

16 Mendicant friar taking vehicle of the best kind outside Mass (9)

18 Suffer when tagging behind a large old maid (7)

19 A sacred place, miles away, beginning to sing ‘Holy, holy, holy’ (7)

21 Report of wickedness, strange in a church council (5)

23 E.g. Aquarius as water carrier round the middle of drought (5)

24 Doctor, female ending in a skirted garment (5)

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