A prikaz (
Russian: прика́з; IPA:[prʲɪˈkas]ⓘ, plural: prikazy) was an administrative, judicial, territorial, or executive
office functioning on behalf of palace, civil, military, or church authorities in the
Grand Duchy of Moscow and the
Tsardom of Russia from the 15th to the 18th centuries.[1] The term usually suggests the functionality of a modern "
ministry", "
office", "department", or "bureau"; however, in practice prikaz was historically applied to most governmental organizations regardless of their function or authority.[2] In modern Russian,
prikaz literally means an 'order' in the meaning of 'directive' or 'command'.
Most of the prikazy were subordinated to the
boyar duma. Some of them, palace prikazy (Russian: дворцовые приказы, romanized: dvortsovyje prikazy), were subordinated to the taynyi prikaz or pervyi prikaz, which answered directly to the
tsar of Russia. The
patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' had his own prikazy.
History
Originally, prikazy were created by private orders given by the tsar to a certain person. The functions of the prikazy would be led by boyars and professional administrators. From 1512, the term "prikaz" started to be used to refer to offices. There were 22 prikazy (departments) in 1613, however this number would balloon to 80 by the mid-17th century.[1]
Abolition
The prikazy were abolished by
Peter the Great as part of his
governmental reform program and replaced them, beginning in 1717, with administrative organs known as
Collegiums. This process would undergo a long span of time; the Siberian Prikaz, for example, was restored in 1730 and existed until 1755. At the beginning of the 18th century, Peter the Great even established some new prikazy. The system was only fully eliminated by
Catherine the Great in 1775.[citation needed]
Captive Prikaz, (Polonyanichy Prikaz from archaic
Russian: полон, плен 'polon', 'plen' meaning "captive") — for the redemption of Russian captives and prisoners of war
Prikaz of
Pans (Panskiy Prikaz) — office of Polish affairs
Administrative
Prikaz of the Seal (Pechatny Prikaz) — placed the tsar's
seal on various documents granting various things to private individuals, and collected the corresponding
duties
Stone Prikaz (Kamennyi Prikaz)
Coachman Prikaz (Courier Prikaz,
Yam Prikaz: Yamskoy Prikaz)
Preobrazhensky prikaz (
ru) — oversaw the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky regiments in the 18th century
Prikaz of German feeds — probably, paid a salary to foreigners (known as "Germans" (Russian: немцы, romanized: niemtsy, which also means "mute people")) in Russian military or state service
Ritter Prikaz
Financial Prikazes
Domestic Prikaz (Pomestny Prikaz)
Accounting Prikaz
Prikaz of Grand Treasury
Prikaz of Grand Income
Security
Prikaz of Petitions (Chelobitny Prikaz) — considered complaints or petitions addressed to the Tsar; the adjective chelobitnaya (
Russian: челобитная) comes from the expression bit' chelom, "to knock with one's forehead (on the ground)", meaning a very humble submission of a petition, with an
extremely low bow. The standard form of such complaint included the words "Slave of God ... (or: 'Your slave') is beating with the forehead", or "Slaves and orphans are beating with foreheads"
Privy Prikaz (
Prikaz tainyh del [
ru], Tayny Prikaz) — secret police (1654–1676)
Robbery Prikaz (Razboiniy Prikas) — criminal police
Prikaz of Investigations (Sysknoy prikaz)
Regional Prikazes
Little Russia, Ministry of the Ukrainian (
Malorossiya) Affairs (Малороссийский приказ, Malorossiyskiy prikaz)
Kazan (Казанский приказ, Приказ Казанского дворца, Kazan Palace Prikaz),
Volga Region (Поволжье) Affairs (South-West of Russia, territories of former
Kazan Khanate)
Prikaz of Requiem (Panihydniy prikaz) - requiems for members of the tsar's family
Patriarchal Prikazes
Patriarchal Prikaz-in-charge
Patriarchal Treasury Prikaz
Patriarchal Palace Prikaz
Other
Order-in-charge (Razryadny Prikaz) — in charge of higher military and civil administration personnel
Kholop Prikaz (Kholopskiy Prikaz) — considered the affairs of
kholops
Classification
The classification of the various prikazes is a very difficult task. In fact, each major historian tries to build their own system of classification. Major variants include prikazes of a territory, of a class of population, or of an area of affairs. Another method of classification is to rank prikazes by subordination.