A ''sakellarios'' () or ''sacellarius'' is the title of an official entrusted with administrative and financial duties (cf. ''sakellē'' or ''sakellion'', "purse, treasury") in a government or institution. The title was used in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

with varying functions and the title remains in use in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

Civil administration

The first known ''sakellarios'' was a certain Paul, a

freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...

appointed by Emperor

Zeno Zeno may refer to: People * Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the given name * Zeno (surname) Philosophers * Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes * Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 B ...

(reigned 474–491). Hence, the ''sakellarios'' usually is presumed to have headed a ''

sakellion A ''sakellarios'' () or ''sacellarius'' is the title of an official entrusted with administrative and financial duties (cf. ''sakellē'' or ''sakellion'', "purse, treasury") in a government or institution. The title was used in the Byzantine Empi ...

'' (or ''sakella'', ''sakelle''), a term that appears in early

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

sources with the apparent sense of "treasury", more specifically of "cash", as opposed to the '' vestiarion'' that was for goods. Despite the origin of the term, the ''sakellarioi'' of the early Byzantine period (fifth–seventh centuries) are not directly associated with financial matters. Rather they appear connected with the imperial bedchamber (''koiton''), bearing court titles such as '' spatharios'' or '' koubikoularios'', while some holders of the office were entrusted with distinctly non-financial tasks: Emperor

Heraclius Heraclius (; 11 February 641) was Byzantine emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the Exarch of Africa, led a revolt against the unpopular emperor Phocas. Heraclius's reign was ...

(r. 610–641) appointed the ''sakellarios'' Theodore Trithyrius to command against the Arabs, and yet another ''sakellarios'' conducted the examination of Maximos the Confessor under

Constans II Constans II (; 7 November 630 – 15 July 668), also called "the Bearded" (), was the Byzantine emperor from 641 to 668. Constans was the last attested emperor to serve as Roman consul, consul, in 642, although the office continued to exist unti ...

(r. 641–668). It is only in the early eighth century that ''sakellarioi'' are directly mentioned as treasurers. By the time of the '' Taktikon Uspensky'' of c. 843, the ''sakellarios'' had become a general

comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accountancy, accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior- ...

of the fiscal bureaux (the ''sekreta''), with notaries reporting to the office holder in each department. The head of the ''sakellion'' department from this period on became the '' chartoularios tou sakelliou''. From the late eleventh century, the prefix ''megas'' ("grand") was added to it. The post continues in evidence until at least 1196, although for a time, it may have been subsumed into that of the '' megas logariastes'' under

Alexios I Komnenos Alexios I Komnenos (, – 15 August 1118), Latinization of names, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine Emperor, Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After usurper, usurping the throne, he was faced with a collapsing empire and ...

(r. 1081–1118).

Ecclesiastical administration

Imitating the practice of the imperial court, the Patriarchate of Constantinople had its own ''sakellion''. Like the office holder's secular counterpart, the patriarchal ''sakellarios'' lost its function as treasurer. By the late eleventh century the ecclesiastic official took over the supervision of donations to, and the administration of, the monasteries of Constantinople. At the same time, it also acquired the prefix ''megas'' and replaced the '' megas skeuophylax'' as the second-most important official of the patriarchate. By the thirteenth century, the institution of ''megas sakellarios'' had been replicated in the provincial sees as well.

References

Sources

* * {{Byzantine Empire topics, governance Eastern Christian ecclesiastical offices Byzantine fiscal offices