Archbishop

In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop, responsible for all churches belonging to a religious group of a particular district. The diocese of which an archbishop is head is called an archdiocese. An archbishop is usually also the Metropolitan of an ecclesiastical province, but there are exceptions to this rule. 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.

Notable archbishops, past and present, include:

• Isidore, Archbishop of Seville
• Albert, Archbishop of Mainz
• Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica
• Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York
• William, Archbishop of Mainz
• Joseph Ratzinger, Archbishop of Munich and Freising
• Bernard Law, Archbishop of Boston
• John Carroll, Archbishop of Baltimore
• Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Cape Town

See also: Archbishop of Canterbury

Etymology: From Greek archepiskopos, arch- probably from archon, leader or ruler, and epi-skopos, over-seer.