metropolitan

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adjective

Of, in, or belonging to a city: city, municipal, urban. See urban/rural.

adj

Definition: concerning a city
Antonyms: country

1. Referring to a large, and especially a powerful, city.

2. Referring to a country or city that is the centre of colonial or imperial power.

A metropolitan is the chief prelate in an ecclesiastical territory that usually coincided with a civil province.

The metropolitan ranks just below a patriarch and just above an archbishop, except in the contemporary Greek Orthodox Church, where since the 1850s the archbishop ranks above the metropolitan. The term derives from the Greek word for the capital of a province where the head of the episcopate resides. The first evidence of its use to designate a Churchman's rank was in the Council of Nicaea (325 C.E.) decision, which declared (canon 4; cf. canon 6) the right of the metropolitan to confirm episcopal appointments within his jurisdiction.

A metropolitan was first appointed to head the Rus Church in 992. Subsequent metropolitans of Kiev and All Rus resided in Kiev until 1299 when Metropolitan Maxim (1283 - 1305) moved his residence to Vladimir-on-the-Klyazma. His successor, Peter (1308 - 1326), began residing unofficially in Moscow. The next metropolitan, Feognost (1328 - 1353), made the move to Moscow official. A rival metropolitan was proposed by the grand duke of Lithuania, Olgerd, in 1354, and from then until the 1680s there was a metropolitan residing in western Rus with a rival claim to heading the metropoly of Kiev and all Rus.

Until 1441, the metropolitans of Rus were appointed in Constantinople. From 1448 until 1589, the grand prince or tsar appointed the metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus following nomination by the council of bishops. When the metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus was raised to the status of patriarch in 1589, the existing archbishops - those of Novgorod, Rostov, Kazan, and Sarai - were elevated to metropolitans. The Council of 1667 elevated four other archbishops - those of Astrakhan, Ryazan, Tobolsk, and Belgorod - to metropolitan status. After the abolition of the patriarchate in 1721 by Peter I, no metropolitans were appointed until the reign of Elizabeth, when metropolitans were appointed for Kiev (1747) and Moscow (1757). Under Catherine II, a third metropolitan - for St. Petersburg - was appointed (1783). In 1917, the patriarchate of Moscow was reestablished and various new metropolitanates created so that by the 1980s there were twelve metropolitans in the area encompassed by the Soviet Union.

Bibliography

Ellis, Jane. (1986). The Russian Orthodox Church: A Contemporary History. London: Croom Helm.

Fennell, John. (1995). History of the Russian Church to 1448. London: Longman.

Preobrazhensky, Alexander, ed. (1998). The Russian Orthodox Church: Tenth to Twentieth Centuries. Moscow: Progress.

—DONALD OSTROWSKI

IN BRIEF: Pertaining to a chief city.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art some time ago held a display of contemporary art at which $52,000 was awarded to American sculptors, painters, and artists in allied fields. — James Keller

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For a list of words related to metropolitan, see:

• Urban Structures and Phenomena - metropolitan: (adj) relating to or characteristic of a city
• Titles of Rank - metropolitan: primate of ecclesiastical province
• Individuals and Titles - metropolitan: bishop of diocese of Orthodox Eastern Church, ranking below exarch

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See words rhyming with "metropolitan."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Metropolitan.

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - hovedstads-, storby-
n. - hovedstadsboer, storbyboer

Nederlands (Dutch)
betreffende een metropool, hoofdstedelijk, behorende tot het moederland, aartsbisschoppelijk, bewoner van een metropool, aartsbisschop, werelds iemand

Français (French)
adj. - métropolitain
n. - métropolitain

Deutsch (German)
adj. - hauptstädtisch, zum Großraum (einer Metropole) gehörend
n. - Metropolit

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - μητροπολιτικός, της πρωτεύουσας
n. - πρωτευουσιάνος

Italiano (Italian)
metropolitano

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - metropolitano
n. - metropolitano (m)

Русский (Russian)
житель столицы, митрополит, столичный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - metropolitano, de la metrópoli, de la gran ciudad
n. - metropolitano

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - huvudstads-, metropolitansk
n. - storstadsbo, metropolit, ärkebiskop

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
大都市的, 母国的, 大主教区的, 大都市的居民, 母国的居民, 大主教

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 大都市的, 母國的, 大主教區的
n. - 大都市的居民, 母國的居民, 大主教

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 거대도시의, 대주교교구의
n. - 도시민, 대주교

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 大都市の, 首都の, 大司教管区の
n. - 大都市の住民, 大司教

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) عواصمي, إبن عاصمه, مطراني, ما يخص المدينه (الاسم) من المدينه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮של מטרופולין, אופייני לעיר גדולה, של ראש הבישופים, של ארץ מוצא‬
n. - ‮תושב כרך, ראש הבישופים בכנסיה הקתולית, ארכיבישוף הממונה על חבל-ארץ בכנסיה האורתודוכסית, מטרופוליט‬

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