or ARCHPREBETE, a priest or presbyter established in some dioceses with a pre-eminence over the rest. Anciently the archpriest was next in rank after the bishop; and acted in his absence as his vicar in all spiritual matters. In the sixth century there were several archpriests in the same diocese, from which period some believe them to have been called deans. In the ninth century there were two kinds of cures or parishes; the smaller governed by simple priests, and the baptismal churches by archpriests, who, besides the immediate concern of the cure, had the inspection of the other inferior priests, and gave an account of them to the bishop, who governed the chief or cathedral church in person. In the Greek church, archbishops still exist, who are invested with most of the functions and privileges of choroeconspiri or rural deans.