From Wikipedia:
In hierarchical Christian churches, 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 is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital. His jurisdiction is called a metropolia or a metropolis.
Before the establishment of patriarchs (beginning in 325 AD), metropolitan was the highest episcopal rank in the Christian church. They presided over synods of bishops, and were granted special privileges by canon law and sacred tradition.
In the Roman Catholic Church, a metropolitan has supervisory authority over the bishops in the dioceses that make up his ecclesiastical province, who are therefore called his suffragan bishops.
For instance, the Archbishop of Philadelphia is the metropolitan of the other suffragan sees in Pennsylvania (Allentown, Altoona-Johnstown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Scranton). New York is the metropolitan see of the dioceses in NY state, and Boston is the metropolitan see of all the dioceses in Massachusetts.
Thanks, but I was particularly interested in the Romanian Church, not the Roman Church, which I’m very familiar with.
Thanky you for jumping in and clairfying this so well.