Major archbishop

In the Roman Catholic Church, a major archbishop is an Eastern Rite hierarch who has the same jurisdiction in his autonomous (sui juris) particular Church that an Eastern-rite patriarch has in his, but whose episcopal see is less prestigious than a patriarchal see. Consequently, there are ceremonial differences between the two:

• Major archbishops rank below patriarchs but immediately precede primates, and
• If made members of the College of Cardinals, major archbishops join the Cardinal Priests, whereas patriarchs of the east join the Cardinal Bishops.

Like patriarchs, major archbishops are elected by the synod of the sui iuris Church. But unlike patriarchs, their election requires confirmation by the Pope. The title major archbishop in the Roman Catholic Church is roughly equivalent to the title catholicos in some Orthodox Churches.

By December 2005, the number of major archbishops had grown to four, each leading a major archiepiscopal autonomous (sui iuris) Church:

Episcopal See	Bishop	Election
Kiev-Halych of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church	Lubomyr Cardinal Husar	2001
Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church	Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil	1999
Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church	Cyril Mar Baselious	2005
Făgăraş-Alba Iulia of the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic	Lucian Mureşan	2005

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