Protasekretis

The grc or grc (), Latinized as protasecretis or protoasecretis, was a senior official in the Byzantine bureaucracy. The title means "first grc", illustrating his position as the head of the order of the grc, the senior class of imperial notaries.

The post evolved gradually. The first grc are attested from the 6th century, and several Ecumenical Patriarchs of Constantinople and one emperor, Anastasios II (), were drawn from their ranks. Aside from possibly anachronistic references to Maximus the Confessor being a grc under Emperor Heraclius (), the earliest confirmed occurrence (as proto a secreta) comes from the Liber Pontificalis for the year 756. As head of the imperial chancery (the effective successor of the late Roman primicerius notariorum), the position was highly influential: in the 899 Kletorologion of Philotheos, a list of court precedence of officials, he is placed seventh among the grc, the financial ministers of the state. From documents and sigillographic evidence, the holders of the office held the dignities of grc, grc and grc. Among others, the Patriarch Photios (858–867 and 877–886) held the post.

His subordinates included not only the grc, but also the inferior class of the imperial grc, under their head, the grc, as well as the official known as grc, placed "in charge of the imperial papers" according to the De Ceremoniis of Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (). The grc seems also to have been in charge of preparing the imperial chrysobulls. After 1106, however, he was moved from the chancery and assumed judicial duties, heading one of the highest courts of the Byzantine Empire, along with the grc, the grc, the grc, the grc, the grc, and the grc, who headed the court for fiscal affairs (grc). Although the class of the grc is not attested after the 12th century, the post of grc survived into the Palaiologan period.