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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:

See also: Archbishop of Canterbury

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