Canon James Tipp, 64, deserted his wife of 40 years to start a new life with his deputy, the Reverend Elaine Northern, 54.
Mr Tipp's wife Veronica, 61, only discovered the affair when she found a note last February. Churchgoers learned of the scandal when Mrs Northern failed to step in to hold the Sunday service.
Now a Church of England disciplinary panel has banned Mr Tipp for life - the first cleric ever to receive such a punishment - and barred Mrs Northern for 12 years.
The clerical couple have criticised the 'lack of forgiveness' in the Church, calling it a 'a travesty of the Gospel and the Living Lord Jesus' and said a wife-swapping vicar received a softer punishment.
Mr Tipp, the former vicar of Christ Church in Snodland, Kent ran off with Mrs Northern who lived five minutes away from him in February last year. Parishioners had previously thought Mr and Mrs Tipp, who have two grown-up children, were the perfect couple.
The two former priests, who have since set up home together and plan to marry, have now broken their silence and branded their sentences as 'abysmal'.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1106564/Two-married-priests-abandoned-families-set-home-banned-Church.html