The suspension of the 57-year-old married dean shocked worshippers in Ripon Cathedral yesterday when it was announced in a statement from the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, John Packer.
The legal move – officially called an "inhibiting" – took effect from midnight on Saturday.
It means the dean is barred from taking services at the cathedral, the oldest in England, which for three years has been at the centre of a simmering row over his "autocratic" leadership.
Congregations at Ripon Cathedral yesterday morning were handed copies of the brief statement which said the action had been taken after "a number of formal complaints" had been made, of "conduct unbecoming the office and work of a clerk in Holy Orders".
Dean Methuen last night said he was innocent of the allegations and was determined to clear his name.
With the dean, a former Eton College chaplain, suspended on full pay of £28,000, the senior residentiary canon, Michael Glanville-Smith, is now in charge of the mother church of the Anglican diocese that covers Leeds and much of North Yorkshire.
The "trial" now facing Dean Methuen, who has been the dean since 1995, will be in the Consistory Court, an ancient and rarely-convened ecclesiastical tribunal.
If found guilty, a cleric can be admonished, removed from office, or, in extreme cases, deposed from holy orders, the punishment popularly known as defrocking.
Such proceedings are brought under the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure of 1963, a little-used piece of church law dealing with clergy discipline.
But a legal official known as the Examiner has yet to determine if there is enough evidence to put Dean Methuen on "trial".
It has not been disclosed how many complaints have been made against the dean, a Church Commissioner and one-time Manchester vicar.
"The dean is clear that he has a full answer to the complaints," the statement from the bishop said.
"However, under the (Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction) Measure, and to eliminate as far as possible continued pressure and gossip, I have decided to inhibit the dean from the exercise of his office until such time as these matters are disposed of, either by a rejection of the complaints by an independent examiner, or by means of a trial in a Consistory Court.
"Until that time, the dean will play no part in the life of the cathedral and diocese."
A spokesman for the bishop yesterday declined to disclose the nature of the allegations against the high-profile dean.
But the troubles at Ripon Cathedral, at which Dean Methuen is at the centre, have been in the spotlight since 2001 – and have included demands for his resignation.
The calls have been made by members of the cathedral congregation and community and have been accompanied by criticism of the dean's management style.
The apparent unpopularity of the dean resulted in the resignations – beginning in November 2001 – of chapter clerk Howard Crawshaw, bursar Nigel Clay and organist Kerry Beaumont.
More recently, in October last year, Mr Beaumont's successor as organist, Simon Morley, also quit – after less than six months in the job.
There has also been at least one official demand for the dean's resignation. This, as exclusively reported in the Yorkshire Post, was made in a secret report into the beleaguered dean's conduct which was compiled by a top-level trio including the then Bishop of Knaresborough, Frank Weston, now deceased, and the then Dean of York, Raymond Furnell, now retired.
One of the options presented in the report, which Bishop Packer has never published, was the departure of the dean.
Dean Methuen said: "I would like to state categorically that I am entirely innocent of any complaints against me.
"I am deeply saddened that matters concerning Ripon Cathedral remain unresolved and that the Bishop has decided to institute formal processes.
"I have committed no offence, Ecclesiastical or otherwise, and will strenuously defend myself within the proceedings.
"I am particularly distressed that the Bishop has suspended me from performing my function as dean in faithfully promoting the mission of the Church within the cathedral and the diocese. I look forward to resuming my duties as soon as possible."
Yesterday's Parish Euch-
arist service began with an invitation to pray for Dean Methuen and his wife and members of the congregation were urged to talk to any of the cathedral's canons about worries they might have.