According to the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, directives on the position of okolnichy date back to the 14th century.
While lower than boyars, it was one of the highest ranks (or positions) close to the tsar[1] in the courts of the Moscow rulers until the government reform undertaken by Peter the Great.
[2] The duties of the first known okolnichies included arranging the travel and quarters of grand princes and tsars, as well as accommodating foreign ambassadors and presenting them to the court.
Okolnichies had a seat in prikazes, were appointed as namestniks and voivodes, served as diplomatic envoys and members of the tsar's council (duma).
According to the system of mestnichestvo, a person could not be made a boyar unless someone else in his family had recently held the boyar/okolnichy rank.