The Anglican Bishop of Christchurch, Victoria Matthews, says she has been treated "shabbily" and has dismissed a reported rift between her and Dean Peter Beck as "fiction".

Dean Beck announced his resignation from ChristChurch Cathedral last Wednesday to contest a Christchurch City Council seat in a by-election. Senior church figures have suggested he and the Bishop fell out over the future of the earthquake-damaged cathedral.

Haydn Rawstron, a member of the cathedral's Canons Almoner group, said in a letter to The Press last week that Bishop Matthews made Dean Beck's position "untenable".

Bishop Matthews, who moved from Canada in 2008 to take up the role of bishop, is defiant in the face of the criticism.

"They can tell me to go back to Canada as often as they like. I am not leaving," she said.

"I have been treated pretty shabbily. I have a ministry to serve, and rude letters are not going to send me packing.

"I think a lot less of Kiwi hospitality than I did earlier."

She said her relationship with Peter Beck was good and denied there was a rift.

"I think very highly of Dean Peter Beck. I think he has been outstanding and given good leadership. I enjoyed working with him," she said.

"There has not been a major falling-out. That is a false representation. We are both looking at what is best for the cathedral. I don't see that our relationship has changed."

Dean Beck last week declined to elaborate on any rift, but acknowledged "there have been differences between me and the bishop, but they are between me and the bishop".

Bishop Matthews said Peter Beck had been keen to enter politics for some time and even considered a run for councillor in the October 2010 elections.

"He came and spoke to me first when the city was gearing up for the election after the September earthquake. He wondered about the possibility of letting his name stand. I know he has thought about this for some time."

• Full story