Diak (russian: дьяк, ) 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 general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

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

prikaz A prikaz (russian: прика́з, ''prikaz''; , plural: ) was an administrative, judicial, territorial, or executive office functioning on behalf of palace, civil, military, or church authorities in Muscovy and in Russia from the 15th to the 18 ...

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

Posolsky Prikaz A prikaz (russian: прика́з, ''prikaz''; , plural: ) was an administrative, judicial, territorial, or executive office functioning on behalf of palace, civil, military, or church authorities in Muscovy and in Russia from the 15th to the 1 ...

'' (Diplomacy Department). A duma diak (думный дьяк) was the lowest rank in the

Boyar Duma A duma (russian: дума) is a 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 ...

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

Veliky Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...

. In this sense they may be more broadly defined as secretaries or clerks. According to the ''Life'' of Archbishop Iona of Novgorod (r. 1458-1470), 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 (r. 1470-1480) had his diak write up a charter recognizing Grand Prince Ivan III's powers following the grand prince's seizure of the city in 1478. After the Muscovite take-over, the office of 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 wrote that one could not brew kvas in the city without his permission.) This, however, was after the Muscovite conquest, 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 (1483–1484) 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). See also Voyevoda#Siberia,

Podyachy A Podyachy or podyachiy (; from the Greek ''hypodiakonos,'' "assistant servant") was an office (bureaucratic) occupation in ''prikazes'' (local and upper governmental offices) and lesser local offices of Russia in 15th-18th centuries. As an anac ...

Usage note

See " Deacon#Cognates" for other historical terms derived from the Greek ''diakonos''. In particular, the term ''" diachok"'' is constructed in Russian language as a

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...

from ''"diak"'', however it has a completely different meaning. See also " pevchy diak" (

tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...

's or church singer).

References

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