Archbishop

ecclesiastical title

Archbishop, in the Christian church, a bishop who, in addition to his

ordinary episcopal authority in his own diocese, usually has jurisdiction (but
no superiority of order) over the other bishops of a province. The functions of
an archbishop developed out of those of the metropolitan, a bishop presiding
over a number of dioceses in a province, though the title of archbishop, when
it first appeared, implied no metropolitan jurisdiction. It seems to have been
introduced in the Eastern church in the 4th century as an honorary title of
certain bishops. In the Western church it was little known before the 7th
century, and it did not become common until the Carolingian emperors
revived the right of metropolitans to summon provincial synods. The
metropolitans then commonly assumed the title of archbishop to mark their
preeminence over the other bishops. The Council of Trent (1545–63) reduced
the powers of the archbishop, which had been quite extensive in the European
Middle Ages. In the modern Roman Catholic church the title is also used
occasionally as an honorary title for certain bishops who are not
metropolitans.

In the Orthodox and other churches of the East, the title of archbishop is far
more common than in the West, and it is less consistently associated with
metropolitan functions. In the Orthodox church there are autocephalous
archbishops who rank between bishops and metropolitans.

In the Protestant churches of continental Europe, the title of archbishop is

rarely used. It has been retained by the Lutheran bishop of Uppsala, who is
metropolitan of Sweden, and by the Lutheran bishop of Turku in Finland.

In the Church of England the ecclesiastical government is divided between two

archbishops: the archbishop of Canterbury, who is called the “primate of all
England” and metropolitan of the province of Canterbury, and the archbishop
of York, who is called the “primate of England” and metropolitan of York. See
also metropolitan.