The otHce originated in the Roman countries, when the chief city of a province was called fiifrpoTroXif;. The date of its origin cannot be exjictly fixed, but "the third century," says Coleman {Manual of Prelacy and Ritualism, p. 235), " may be regarded as the period in which it was chiefly consolidated and established." Romanists hold that it can be traced, at least in germ, to the days of the apostles, and that mention is made of the office in the letters of Paul to Timothv and to Titus (comp. Pierre de IMarca, Concord, lib. vi, Giorgi, De Antiquo Ital. Metropol.). Several of the Church fathers also mention the fact that the metropolitan office existed in apostolic days (e. g. Chrysostom, 15 Horn, in V. Tim., and Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. iii, c. 4) ; but it is clear that '• the namt of metropolitan does not occur until the 4th century" (Coleman, Anc. Christiani- ty Exem]>Hfied, p. 143). The title was first publicly adopteil by the Church at the Council of Niciea, A.D. 325, and there seems good ground for the belief that, like all other episco|)al offices, the nictroi)olitan govern- ment "was not the ]iroiliiction of a day, l)ut tiie result of a gradual modilication of the diocesan government, by a further concentration of episcopal power, and the extension of its influence over a wider range of territo- ry" (Coleman, Prel. and Rit. p. 242 ; comp. Schaff, Ch. hist.\\,T,i)).
The following may be considered as the rights and privileges of the office. The metropolitan had prece- dence of all other bishops of his province, a decisive voice in their election, and the power of conlirming and ordaining them. He summoned provincial councils, presided in them, and drew up the decrees. He had the oversight of the provincial bishops, and the ecclesi- astical superintendence of the whole province. He had the privilege of determining all causes of special impor- tance in provincial council, but in concurrence with the other bishops of the province. In extreme cases, appeal was made to him, when he had the power of controlling a provincial bishop, without the assistance of other bishops. He coidd give and receive letters of com- munion, and pulili^h and carry into effect laws enacted either by emjierors or by councils relating to the Church. The bishops of a )irovinee elected and or- dained their metropolitan, without the concurrence of the metropolitan of any other province.
The ninth canon of the Council of Antioch (341) thus defines the office of the metropolitan : " The bishops of each eparchy (province) should know that uiwn the bishop of the metropolis (the municipal capital) also de-
volves a care for the whole eparchy, because in the me- tropolis all, who have business, gather together from all quarters. Hence it has been found good that he should also have a precedence in honor, and that the other bishops should do nothing without him — according to the old and still binding canon of our fathers — except that which pertains to the supervision and jurisdiction of their parishes (i. e. dioceses in the modern terminolo- gy), and the provinces belonging to them ; as in fact they ordain presbyters and deacons, and decide all judi- cial matters. Other^vise tliey ought to do nothing with- out the bishop of the metropolis, and he nothing with- out the consent of the other bishops." In the nine- teenth canon, this council forbade a bishop being ordain- ed without the presence of the metropolitan, and the presence or concurrence of the majority of the bishops of the province. The writers of the Latin Church use promiscuously the words archbi.^hop and metropolitan, making either name denote a bishop, who, by virtue of his see, presides over or governs several other bishops. Thus in the newly-constituted hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in England the archbishop of West- minster has the rank of metropolitan. In the Roman Catholic Church of Ireland, the archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam, all possess the same rank. In the Church of England, also, the real meaning of the term metropolitan seems to have been lost sight of, and the archbishops of Canterbury and York, in England, and in Ireland those of Armagh and Dublin, are called metropolitans. The Greeks, however, use the name only to denote him whose see is really a civil metropo- lis. See Farrar, Eccles. Diet. s.v. ; Hook, Church Diet. s. V. ; Walcott, Sacred A rchwoW/y, s.v.; Siegel, Iland- buch d. christl.-Linhl. .\lt,,ihiiiuVr. iii. 2G4 sq.; Planck, Gesch. d. chri.ill.-/.ir</,/. C: s, //sr/mjlsrcifussunf/, i, 572 s(].; Zicgler, Vtr.^nrli d. klrvhl. W rfissuntjsfornien, p. 61 s<i.
Metropoliticum is the name of the archiejiisco- pal ordinariate and consistory, a sort of eccksiastical supreme court, or second court of appeals, in the Clmrch of Rome, installed by the metropolitans or archbishops. Occasionally it has the special power conferred which constitutes it also a third court of appeals, but, as a rule, this court hears all appeals in matters of discipline and matrimonial difficulties. As the duties of the archbishop are both to attend to the management of his own dio- cese and the dioceses of bis subaltern bishops, the met- ropolitan council is divided into two boards or senates, one of which constitutes the court in cases of discipline and matrimonial differences of the archdiocese, the other hearing appeals from the ordinaries and consistories of the assistant bishops. But it is against the nature of archiepiscopal jurisdiction that the metropoliticum can also take the appeals against the sentence of the archi- episcopal vicary and ordinary and decide upon those. .\n appeal ab eadem ad eundem is not admissible, for it cannot be thought of that the general vicary or the archi- episcopal ordinary rejircsents the archbisho)) as common bishop in propria dia-cesi, the metropoliticimi represent- ing him as such, inasmuch as the archbishop is in his own archdiocese as ordinarius. The archbishop cer- tainly cannot fill the offices of two dignitaries; the cog- nition or decision of ajipeals from sentences of archiepis- copal general vicaries an<l metropolitan courts should therefore be sent to other, hence to the metrojiolitan court of another archbishojiric. Ap)icals from the de- cisions of the metropolitan courts in second instance are usually presented to the iiope himself, securing ac- ipiittal at Rome by tlie Curia Romana, uidess his holi- ness may jdease to order a judices in partii)us, i. e. confer ui)on the metropoliticum the power of acting as a court of ajjpeal of the third instance. See Wctzer und Wclte, Kirchen-I.exikon, s. \\