Diak (clerk)

A diak, d'iak or dyak (Russian: дьяк, IPA: [ˈdʲjak]) is a historical Russian bureaucratic occupation whose meaning varied over time and approximately corresponded to the notions of "chief clerk" or "chief of office department".

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.

[1] 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 his seizure of the city in 1478.

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.)

Indeed, when Archbishop Sergei (r. 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.