Whats's the Difference

PaulSamir

What is the difference between a metropolitan and a bishop?
Do they have different authorities?

peterfarrington

In different jurisdictions the responsibility of a Metropolitan bishop (they are still just bishops), was to be the bishop of the senior city in a region with a local Synod of bishops. A Metropolitan bishop would still usually be part of the local Patriarchal Synod.

In the area of Alexandria the Archbishop (another term) was so important, because of geography and the social context in Egypt, that the Metropolitan bishops tended to be honorary titles for senior bishops rather than representing bishops who headed a Metropolitan Synod in their own right.

There is only one episcopate. The bishop, the Metropolitan, and the Patriarch are all equally bishops, though with different wider responsibilities. In his own see each bishop is, or should be, essentially the spiritual father with no other authority over him, save that of the Synod he belongs to.

copticuser20

I was told that Metropolitans are just older and in charge of more areas such as multiple cities and or monasteries that he oversees. i might be wrong though