Paul Kwong, Anglican Archbishop and Primate of Hong Kong

In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop. Paul Kwong ( is the second Archbishop and Primate of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui and Bishop of the Diocese of Hong Kong Island Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight In the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and others, this means that they lead a diocese of particular importance called an archdiocese, or in the Anglican Communion an Ecclesiastical Province, but this is not always the case. See also Anglicanism The Anglican Communion is an international association of national Anglican churches In many rites of the Roman Catholic Church and in Anglican churches, a diocese is an administrative territorial unit administered by a Bishop. In many rites of the Roman Catholic Church and in Anglican churches, a diocese is an administrative territorial unit administered by a Bishop. See also Anglicanism The Anglican Communion is an international association of national Anglican churches An ecclesiastical province is a large jurisdiction of religious government so named by analogy with a secular Province, existing in certain hierarchical Christian An archbishop is equivalent to a bishop in sacred matters but simply has a higher precedence or degree of prestige. Thus, when someone who is already a bishop becomes an archbishop, that person does not receive Holy Orders again or any other sacrament; however, in the rarer case when a person who is not a bishop at all becomes an archbishop, they will need to be ordained a bishop before being created an archbishop and installed. In a general sense the term Holy Orders refers to those in the Christian religion who have been ordained in Apostolic Succession. A sacrament, as defined in Hexam's Concise Dictionary of Religion is "a Rite in which God is uniquely active In a general sense the term Holy Orders refers to those in the Christian religion who have been ordained in Apostolic Succession. The word comes from the Greek αρχι, which means "first" or "chief", and επισκοπος, which means "over-seer" or "supervisor". Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly

Western Christianity

In Western Christianity, an archbishop is entitled to a few extra privileges that a simple bishop does not receive. First, an archbishop's coat of arms looks different. Roman Catholic archbishops are allowed ten tassles a side on their coat of arms, while a bishop only receives six. A coat of arms or armorial bearings (often just arms for short in European tradition is a design belonging to a particular person (or group of people In addition, an archbishop can also place an archiepiscopal cross (two bars instead of one) behind his shield. In the Roman Catholic church this cross used to be carried immediately before archbishops in liturgical processions, but this is now not always done. In the Anglican Communion an archiepsicopal or primatial cross is carried before an archbishop in procession. Also in liturgical protocol, archbishops precede simple bishops.

Otherwise, archbishops dress and are styled the same as a normal bishop. Exceptions to style occur in the Anglican Communion and in countries where the Anglican Communion is prevalent. In those places, an archbishop is styled The Most Reverend while a simple bishop is styled The Right Reverend.

Most of the following applies equally to the Latin rite Roman Catholic Church and the churches of the Anglican Communion, though in the latter, the only archbishops are the provincial metropolitans and the church primates. The Latin Rite is one of the 23 Sui iuris Particular Churches within the Catholic Church. See also Anglicanism The Anglican Communion is an international association of national Anglican churches Primate (from the Latin Primus, "first" is a title or rank bestowed on some Bishops in certain Christian churches

Archbishops of archdioceses

Most archbishops are called so because they are in charge of an archdiocese, a diocese of particular importance. Most of the time, this importance is because the archdiocese is the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province in which the see is located. An ecclesiastical province is a large jurisdiction of religious government so named by analogy with a secular Province, existing in certain hierarchical Christian These metropolitan archbishops, in addition to the usual ceremonial privileges of archbishops, hold the responsibilities of a metropolitan bishop over the suffragan bishops of the province and are thus the only archbishops who wear the pallium by right. In Hierarchical Christian churches the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the Diocesan bishop or A suffragan bishop is a Bishop subordinate to a Metropolitan bishop or Diocesan bishop. This article refers to the religious garment called a "pallium" In the Roman Catholic Church, if the archdiocese is particularly significant, the archbishop may become a cardinal. A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official usually a bishop, of the Catholic Church.

Sometimes, a diocese is an archdiocese because of its history or size and not because of its jurisdictional importance. Their archbishops, while retaining the ceremonial privileges of archbishops, are really normal residential bishops and usually are suffragan to some metropolitan bishop. Most of these non-metropolitan archdioceses are located in Europe, and a few examples are the Archdiocese of Strasbourg, which is not in any ecclesiastical province, and the Archdiocese of Avignon, whose archbishop is a suffragan of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Marseille [1]. The Bishopric was a client state of the Holy Roman Empire from the 13th century until 1803 An ecclesiastical province is a large jurisdiction of religious government so named by analogy with a secular Province, existing in certain hierarchical Christian A suffragan bishop is a Bishop subordinate to a Metropolitan bishop or Diocesan bishop.

Some titular sees are/were archiepiscopal, so their incumbents are also archbishops. A titular see in the Roman Catholic Church is a Diocese or Archdiocese that now exists in title only These titular archbishops retain the privileges of archbishops but have the jurisdiction of neither a metropolitan nor a residential bishop. Main article Bishop (Catholic Church A titular bishop is a bishop of the Catholic Church who is not in charge

Roman Catholic archbishop's coat of arms (version with pallium)

Other archbishops

A residential archbishop who resigns his see and does not take up another one retains the title Archbishop Emeritus of the last see he occupied before the resignation. This article refers to the religious garment called a "pallium" This occurs when an archbishop retires or is transferred to some other non-diocesan office, such as the Roman Curia. The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Roman Catholic Church, together with the Pope In the past the Pope would normally bestow a titular see on every retired bishop and every bishop who transferred to the Curia, so this recent canonical innovation was instituted to conserve titular sees for active auxiliary bishops and members of the Roman Curia who have not had a diocesan appointment yet. A titular see in the Roman Catholic Church is a Diocese or Archdiocese that now exists in title only Canon law is internal ecclesiastical law governing the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox churches and the Anglican Communion of churches The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Roman Catholic Church, together with the Pope

If archdiocese X has a coadjutor bishop, his official title is Coadjutor Archbishop of X. A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Roman Catholic or Anglican churches who is designated to assist the diocesan bishop However, until he succeeds to the archiepiscopal see, the coadjutor archbishop is treated as an important bishop and diocesan official and is considered an auxiliary bishop with the privilege of succession, and not as a regular archbishop.

Finally some archbishops hold their privileges ad personam. This means that the archiepiscopal dignity is conferred on them alone and not their diocese. The primates of the Anglican Communion are this kind of archbishop, since they only hold archiepiscopal rights for the duration of their presidency. In the Latin-rite Roman Catholic Church, the Pope grants ad personam archiepiscopal privileges, which usually endure perpetually. History See also History of the Papacy Catholics recognize the Pope as a successor to Saint Peter, who Jesus named as the "shepherd" and The bishop has a higher authority than an archbishop.

Eastern Christianity

In the Eastern churches (Catholic and Orthodox) archbishops and metropolitans are distinct, although a metropolitan may be referred to as metropolitan archbishop. In the Greek Orthodox Church, archbishops outrank metropolitans, and have the same rights as Eastern Orthodox metropolitans. The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world The Oriental Orthodox generally follow the pattern of the Slavic Orthodox with respect to the archbishop/metropolitan distinction. Oriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three Ecumenical councils — the First Council of Nicaea, the Slavic Orthodox Churches are to be found in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia

See also

• Major archbishop
• List of Bishops and Archbishops
• Archbishop of Canterbury
• How the Church of England is organised