archbishop, in the Christian church, a bishop who, in addition to his ordinary episcopal authority in his own diocese, usually has jurisdiction (but no superiority of order) over the other bishops of a province. The functions of an archbishop developed out of those of the metropolitan, a bishop presiding over a number of dioceses in a province, though the title of archbishop, when it first appeared, implied no metropolitan jurisdiction. It seems to have been introduced in the Eastern church in the 4th century as an honorary title of certain bishops. In the Western church it was little known before the 7th century, and it did not become common until the Carolingian emperors revived the right of metropolitans to summon provincial synods. The metropolitans then commonly assumed the title of archbishop to mark their preeminence over the other bishops. The Council of Trent (1545–63) reduced the powers of the archbishop, which had been quite extensive in the European Middle Ages. In the modern Roman Catholic church the title is also used occasionally as an honorary title for certain bishops who are not metropolitans.
In the Orthodox and other churches of the East, the title of archbishop is far more common than in the West, and it is less consistently associated with metropolitan functions. In the Orthodox church there are autocephalous archbishops who rank between bishops and metropolitans.
In the Protestant churches of continental Europe, the title of archbishop is rarely used. It has been retained by the Lutheran bishop of Uppsala, who is metropolitan of Sweden, and by the Lutheran bishop of Turku in Finland.
In the Church of England the ecclesiastical government is divided between two archbishops: the archbishop of Canterbury, who is called the “primate of all England” and metropolitan of the province of Canterbury, and the archbishop of York, who is called the “primate of England” and metropolitan of York. See also metropolitan.