Archbishop - this is an important church order

The overwhelming majority of people living in our country are Orthodox Christians. Many heard what kind of spiritual dignity exists: the bishop, the metropolitan, the bishop. However, very few people know what they really mean, where they come from, and what duties these people perform in the church hierarchy. The Archbishop is who? Why do you need this order?

Origin of the word

Archbishop - this is the bishop's order. The word by its origin is Greek and consists of several words: άρχή - "main", επί - "above", σκοπος - "superintendent". If you put it together and translated word for word, it means "chief over caretakers". However, the very word "bishop" comes from the whole word επίσκοπος and means "guardian". The Archbishop is the so-called "government" degree of the bishop, the next rank is directly the metropolitan.

History of origin of the term

Under the emperor Constantine the Great, an administrative reconstruction of the entire Roman Empire was carried out, which was divided into four prefectures. Each of them consisted of so-called dioceses, which already consisted of provinces. The civil system was in full accord with the church. At that time, the archbishop was the chief bishop of the dicez, and he was also called the exarch (in Latin - vicar). This rank stood in the hierarchy after the patriarch - head of the prefecture, but higher than the metropolitan. But in the Eastern Empire in the early Byzantine era, originally in the patriarchate of Constantinople, the meaning of the word archbishop acquired a second meaning. This word began to be called the bishops, whose regions were on the territory of the metropolitan district, but were withdrawn from the direct department of the metropolitan himself and were transferred to the patriarch. Also, the Archbishop began to occupy a place in the diptych lower than the Metropolitan. In the end, this dignity became a distinction of the bishop himself and is not connected with any powerful special powers in comparison with simply bishops.

In the Orthodox Russian Church

In Orthodoxy there are many outstanding spiritual figures, for example Archbishop Luke, who for his faith became a victim of Stalinist repression. The second primate of the Russian Orthodox Church - Metropolitan Leonty, who was part of the patriarchate of Constantinople, was often also called the archbishop. However, in the future, all the priests in Russia were already called metropolitans. In Russia, the Archbishop is a title that was exceptionally honorary and in no way connected with any additional administrative duties and powers additional to the status of the bishop. Since the twelfth century, this word began to be called the lord of Novgorod. Then this title was called the bishops and other departments: Krutitskaya, Kazan, Rostov and others. Archbishop Luke also received this order for his exceptional services to the Church in a difficult time.

In modern world

In our time, the archbishop is the head of the autocephalous Church. Along with the patriarchs, this term is called the Constantinople priests (archbishop of New Rome - Constantinople), the archbishop of Tbilisi and the Meckhits (Georgian Church), the archbishop of Pech (Serbian Church) and Bucharest (Romanian Church). In the same way, the presiders of the autonomous Churches - Finland and Sinai, and also the Cretan semi-autonomous Church are also named. In accordance with the established in Russia tradition, the rank of archbishop is an honorary distinction and is lower than the title of metropolitan. The same is true of the Jerusalem and Georgian Churches. In autonomous and autocephalous churches, the title of archbishop can be worn as the rank next to the metropolitan, that is, the secondary one. In the Bulgarian and Alexandrian Churches this dignity is absent altogether.