akolouthia
A liturgical rite composed in honour of a feast or a saint, to be used in the office of that particular feast or of that saint's day.

despotes
Title introduced in the 12th century. In administrative hierarchy, the office of despotes was under the emperor and the co-emperor. From the 14th century onwards, the title was given to the governors of the Byzantine Peloponnese.

domestikos ton scholon
Commander of the regiment of scholae. The first officer with this title appears in 767/8. In the 10th C the domesticos became very powerful among the army of the themata; in mid-10th C the office was divided in two, domestikoi ton scholon of the East and those of the West, commanders in chief of the eastern and the western provinces´ army respectively.

filioque
Filioque means "and [from] the son" in Latin, and it refers to the procession of the Holy Spirit. It was the diversive difference between the Roman and the Eastern Church and triggered, among other things, the Great Schism (1054): the Roman Church had added it to the Nicene Creed, but the Eastern Church never accepted the addition.

megas domestikos
Supreme military commander of the imperial army. High-ranking title which was generally given to close relatives of the emperor.

megas doukas
The commander of the Byzantine fleet (from 1092 onwards). In the Late Byzantine period, the title of the megas doukas was assigned to the highest officials of the imperial administration/army.

novel (novella)
Τerm meaning ad verbum "new decree" and used since around the 4th century in order to denote the provisions of the emperors as separate from the organized codes. They were written mainly in Greek and used extensively in the Middle Byzantine Era. Since the days of Komnenoi and after, they were replaced by other more specialized terms and they are very rare in the Late Byzantine era

pronoia
("care", "forethought") An institution that goes back to the 11th century. It refers to estates granted to a prominent military official or to the Church; it also designates in general the right of an individual of areligious foundation to receive directly from citizens of farmers whatever dues they would normally be obliged to pay to the state. The holder of a pronoia was called pronoiarios. The pronoiai could not be inherited by the family of military officials after their death, while when a donation was made to the Church, the pronoia was considered full and permanent.

protovestiarios
(and protovestiarites) Honorific title given to high-ranking officials and future emperors during this period. The protovestiarios was originally responsible for the imperial wardrobe, but in the 9th-11th centuries the holders of the title could command an army or conduct negotiations with foreign states.

synaxarion
A liturgical text containing a short account of the saint's life and acts meant to be read at orthros (the morning liturgy) on the day of the saint's celebration.