Prikaz

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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.