In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop (then more precisely called metropolitan archbishop) of a metropolis; that's, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital. His jurisdiction's called a metropolia or a metropolis. Before the establishment of patriarchs (beginning in 325 AD), metropolitan was the highest episcopal rank in the Christian… (More on Metropolitanate)