A ''diak'', ''d'iak'' or ''dyak'' (, ) is a historical Russian bureaucratic occupation whose meaning varied over time and approximately corresponded to the notions of "chief

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

" or "chief of office department". A ''diak'' was a title of the chief of a structural division of a ''

prikaz A prikaz (; , plural: ) was an administrative, judicial, territorial, or executive bureaucracy , office functioning on behalf of palace, civil, military, or church authorities in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Tsardom of Russia from the 15th ...

''. For example, "посольский дьяк" (''posolsky diak'') is a ''diak'' of the ''posolsky prikaz'' (

foreign ministry In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

). A ' (думный дьяк) was the lowest rank in the

boyar duma A duma () is a History of Russia, Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...

(15th to 17th centuries). Outside of the grand princely administration, the ''diaki'' were also found in ecclesiastical (episcopal) administrations, particularly in

Veliky Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the ...

. In this sense they may be more broadly defined as secretaries or clerks. According to the ''Life'' of Archbishop Iona of Novgorod (), although he was a poor orphan, the woman who raised him hired a ''diak'' to teach him reading and writing. Chronicle sources also indicate that Archbishop Feofil () had his ''diak'' write up a charter recognizing grand prince Ivan III's powers following his seizure of the city in 1478. After the Muscovite annexation, the office of the ''diak'' continued as one of the more important administrators of the House of Holy Wisdom, as the archiepiscopal (and later metropolitan) administration in Novgorod the Great was known. The ''dvortsovyi diak'' essentially ran the financial and administrative affairs of the archbishops and metropolitans (they were so important that

Boris Grekov Boris Dmitrievich Grekov (; – 9 September 1953) was a Russian Empire, Russian and Soviet Union, Soviet historian noted for his comprehensive studies of Kievan Rus and the Golden Horde. He was a member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (19 ...

wrote that one could not brew kvas in the city without his permission). That, however, was after the Muscovite annexation, and the administrative structure of the House of Holy Wisdom had been reorganized along the lines of the grand princely administration in Moscow. Indeed, when Archbishop Sergei () arrived in Novgorod following his election, he was accompanied by a ''diak'' and a treasurer who were to see that the archiepiscopal administration complied with Muscovite norms.B. D. (Boris Dmitrevich)Grekov, ''Novgorodskii Dom sviatoi Sofii; opyt izucheniia organizatsii i vnutrennikh otnoshenii krupnoi tserkovnoi votchiny, chast” I'' (St. Petersburg: M. Aleksandrova, 1914. Reprinted in Izbrannye trudy, vol. 4: 7-436).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyak (Clerk) Government occupations Obsolete occupations Tsardom of Russia

See also

References