ARCHBISHOP

ARCHBISHOP avrciepi,skopoj. Title arising in the 4th c., used to designate the bishops of the great sees Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, Jerusalem and Rome that would later constitute the five patriarchates. In some cases, however, it was also applied to metropolitans and to bishops of important episcopal sees Ephesus, Caesarea in Palestine, Thessalonica, Seleucia-Ctesiphon and so on. The term had no particular legal significance. The Council of Constantinople of 869 can. 19 distinguishes archbishops from metropolitans. In the West the term spread slowly, in general not indicating a precise hierarchy. Isidore of Seville divides bishops into four categories: bishops, metropolitans, archbishops and patriarchs. The archbishop was called the princeps episcoporum or chief of the bishiops Etym. 7, 12,10; thus he praesidet tam metropolitanis quam episcopis ceteris ibid., 7, 12,6; that is, he presides over both metropolitans and the rest of the bishops, but the reality was often different. Only later did the term become a synonym for metropolitan. For the ancient period, the term archbishop is commonly used to indicate the metropolitan.Archbishop’s war on payday giants wonga over huge rates holidaymapq