In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop heading a diocese of particular importance due to either its size, history, or both. The diocese 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:
Etymology: From Greek archepiskopos: arche, first, and epi-skopos, over-seer or supervisor.