APOCRISIARY. - From the Greek ἀποκρίνο, "I answer," Latin responsalis, but also apocrisarius and apocrisarius, in the late empire it was an official charged with dispatching the affairs entrusted to him by the sovereign. The Church too had its apocrisiaries, envoys sent by patriarchs to the court or to other bishops for the transaction of temporary duties. The first apocrisiary of the Church of Rome of whom there is any record was Julian, bishop of Cos, appointed by Pope St. Leo the Great as his representative at the imperial court. The office became permanent in the time of Justinian and lasted until 742.
The pontifical apocrisiary, chosen from the Roman clergy and invested with the diaconate, resided at Constantinople in the palace of Placidia adjoining the imperial palace, and his duties were so intense and manifold, not only for the political affairs of Italy but also for the religious affairs of the East, that, according to Pope Pelagius II, an apocrisiary could not absent himself from the imperial palace even for an hour. Unfortunately nothing has survived of the reports they sent to the Roman Pontiff. Several popes, among them Vigilius, Pelagius II, and Gregory the Great, were apocrisiaries before ascending to the tiara.
During the early Middle Ages, at the Carolingian court, the keeper of the imperial seal was called apocrisiary, and so was the chief chaplain of the royal palace, who, however, never had the functions of a nuncio. The office of pontifical apocrisiary was the germ of those of legate a latere, for temporary missions, and of nuncio, for the Pope's permanent missions.
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Nicola Turehi