A chartophylax is an officer in charge of official documents and records in the household of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Patriarch of Constantinople is the Ecumenical Patriarch, ranking as the first among equals in the Eastern Orthodox communion. ...

Codinus calls the Grand Chartophylax the judge of all causes, and the right arm of the Patriarch. He adds, that this officer was the depository or keeper of all the charters relating to the ecclesiastical rights, stored in the Cartophylacium, or Archives. In addition, he presided over matrimonial causes, and was judge of all the clergy. He drew up all sentences and decisions of the patriarch, who signed and sealed them; presided in the grand council of the Patriarch, took cognizance of all ecclesiastical and civil matters and causes, whether among the clergy, the monks, or the people. George Codinus (Georgios Kodinos), the reputed author of three extant works in Byzantine literature. ... A judge or justice is an official who presides over a court. ... Alternate use, see charter airline, yacht charter, bare-boat charter or Charter Communications. ... This article should be transwikied to wiktionary Ecclesiastical means pertaining to the Church (especially Christianity) as an organized body of believers and clergy, with a stress on its juridical and institutional structure. ... Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. ... A monk is a person who practices asceticism, the conditioning of mind and body in favor of the spirit. ...

The chartophylax took precedence over all the bishops, though himself only a deacon; and, on occasion, discharged the functions of the priests: he had twelve notaries under him. A bishop is an ordained member of the Christian clergy who, in certain Christian churches, holds a position of authority. ... Deacon is a role in the Christian Church which is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. ... Roman Catholic priests in traditional clerical clothing. ...

The chartophylax of Constantinople was the same as the chartulary of Rome. City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC (mythical), early 1st millennium BC (archaeological) Region Latium Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,553,873 almost 4,300,000 1. ...

There were, in reality, two officers with this title; one for the court, the other for the Patriarch. The first was also called a registrator, and the latter scrinarius, though the two terms were usually confounded together. Joannes Leunclavius and others confounded chartophylax with chartulary.

The word chartophylax is formed from the Greek χάρτα, paper, and φύλαξ, guard.

References

• This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.
• "Chartophylax". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Second Edition 1989.
• "Canon IX". Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Series II. Volume XIV. The Seventh Ecumenical Council.

Cyclopaedia; or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (folio, 2 vols. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers is a set of books containing translations of early Christian writings into English. ...

Further reading

• Wehmeyer, Jeffrey M. "The Chartophylax: Archivist and Librarian to the Patriarch in Constantinople". Libraries and Cultures. 1997.