Apocrisiarius
An apocrisiarius, the Latinized form of apokrisiarios (Greek: ἀποκρισιάριος), sometimes Anglicized as apocrisiary, was a high diplomatic representative during Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages.An apocrisiarius was a cleric who served as the representative (also described as legate, a less precise term) of a patriarch or other bishop to the Byzantine imperial court of Constantinople.The title was also used for the representative of a metropolitan archbishop at the court of his "territorial" patriarch in either Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, or Jerusalem and for secular officials carrying correspondence of the Byzantine emperor.However, they were only royal archchaplains decorated with the title of the ancient papal envoys, since they did not perform any diplomatic duties.[citation needed] In the modern Anglican Communion, representatives of the Archbishop of Canterbury to various churches are styled apocrisiarioi.