| ecles. |
archdiocese; metropolitan see (In the Latin Church, or Western Church, of the Catholic Church, a metropolitan see is the chief episcopal see of an ecclesiastical province. Its ordinary is a metropolitan archbishop and the see itself is an archdiocese. It has at least one suffragan diocese.  wikipedia.org); metropolis (A metropolis, metropolitanate or metropolitan (arch)diocese is an episcopal see whose bishop is the metropolitan bishop or archbishop of an ecclesiastical province. Metropolises, historically, have been important cities in their provinces.
Eastern Orthodox
In the Eastern Orthodox Churches, a metropolis (also called metropolia or metropolitanate) is a type of diocese, along with eparchies, exarchates and archdioceses. In the churches of Greek Orthodoxy, every diocese is a metropolis, headed by a metropolitan while auxiliary bishops are the only non-metropolitan bishops. wikipedia.org) |
