Dyak (clerk)

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".

A dyak was a title of the chief of a structural division of a prikaz. For example, "посольский дьяк" (posolsky dyak) is a dyak of the Posolsky Prikaz (Diplomacy Department). A duma dyak (думный дьяк) was the lowest rank in the Boyar Duma (15-17th centuries).

Outside of the grand princely administration, dyaki were also found in ecclesiastical (episcopal) administrations, particularly in Veliky Novgorod. 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 dyak to teach him reading and writing. Chronicle sources also indicate that Archbishop Feofil (r. 1470-1480) had his dyak write up a charter recognizing Grand Prince Ivan III's powers following the grand prince's seizure of the city in 1478.