Archbishop
In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop heading a diocese of particular importance due to either its size, history, or both, called an archdiocese. When a plain bishop becomes an archbishop, he is not in any sense being ordained nor otherwise receiving any sacrament; by contrast (in the Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox churches) a man becoming a bishop is being ordained.
Archbishops do not necesarily have more power than normal bishops. They just get to be in charge of more prestigious dioceses. However, many archbishops are also the metropolitans of the ecclesiastical province in which their archdiocese is located. In Western churches (i.e. Roman Catholic or Anglican), this is almost always the case, whereas in Eastern churches (both Catholic and Orthodox) many archbishops are not metropolitans.
Notable archbishops, past and present, include:
- Isidore, Archbishop of Seville
- Albert, Archbishop of Mainz
- Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica
- David Hope, Archbishop of York
- William, Archbishop of Mainz
- Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Archbishop of Munich and Freising
- Bernard Cardinal Law, Archbishop of Boston
- John Carroll, Archbishop of Baltimore
- Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Cape Town
- Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop of York
See also
Etymology: From Greek archepiskopos: arche, first, and epi-skopos, over-seer or supervisor.
