Synkellos (office)

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Synkellos (Greek cell mate ; pl. Synkelloi ; Latin Syncellus ) is the name for a personal advisor and employee of a bishop in matters of administration and canon law. The Synkellos is usually an ordained priest .

In ecclesiastical usage, this usually means the earlier custom of a priest or deacon to live constantly at the side of a patriarch . The Synkellos function was like that of a private secretary. He was the most important person after the Patriarch and often his designated successor.

The name Synkellos is known in the Byzantine (Greek Orthodox) , Syrian Orthodox churches and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church . The office corresponds roughly to that of a vicar general in the Catholic Church . In the Armenian Church there is a wardapet comparable to this function .

A well-known Synkellos was the weaver Simon bar Sabbae in the 4th century or the chronicler Georgios Synkellos in the 9th century.