Abstract
In the later stages of the Roman Empire, in view of the great importance attached to the relations between the popes and the imperial court of Constantinople, papal representatives were sent to Constantinople. They gradually took on the character of permanent legates. They were called in Greek "apocrisiarii" from the fact that it was their business to carry out the "answers" or instructions given them by those who sent them. |The origin of "apocrisarii" is traced to the action of Leo the Great in sending Julian, bishop of the island of Cos, to Constantinople, that he might receive from him information on the ecclesiastical affairs of the East, and that the latter might act in his (Leo’s) behalf with the court and Oriental bishops