Archiepiscopacy

In Christianity, an archbishop (/ˌɑːrtʃˈbɪʃəp/, via Latin archiepiscopus, from Greek ἀρχιεπίσκοπος, from ἀρχι-, "chief", and ἐπίσκοπος, "bishop") is a bishop of higher rank or office. In some cases, like the Lutheran Church of Sweden, it is the denomination leader title. Like popes, patriarchs, metropolitans, cardinal bishops, diocesan bishops, and suffragan bishops, archbishops are in the highest of the three traditional orders of bishops, priests, also called presbyters, and deacons. An archbishop may be granted the title, or ordained as chief pastor of a metropolitan see or another episcopal see to which the title of archbishop is attached.

Episcopal sees are generally arranged in groups in which the bishop who is the ordinary of one of them has certain powers and duties of oversight over the other sees. He is known as the metropolitan archbishop of that see. In the Roman Catholic Church, canon 436 of the Code of Canon Law indicates what these powers and duties are for a Latin Rite metropolitan archbishop, while those of the head of an autonomous (sui iuris) Eastern Catholic Church are indicated in canon 157 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.