"Servant of the servants of God" () is one of the titles of the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

and is used at the beginning of

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

History

Pope Gregory I Pope Gregory I (; ; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great (; ), was the 64th Bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 until his death on 12 March 604. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Ro ...

(pope from 590 to 604), the first Pope to use this title extensively to refer to himself, deployed it as a lesson in humility for the archbishop of Constantinople John the Faster (in office 582–595), who had been granted the traditional title "

Ecumenical Patriarch The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople () is the archbishop of Constantinople and (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox Church. The ecumenical patriarch is regarded as ...

" by a Council convened in Constantinople in 587. Gregory reportedly reacted negatively to the Patriarch's title, claiming that "whoever calls himself universal bishop he imprecise Latin translation of "Ecumenical Patriarch"">Latin.html" ;"title="he imprecise Latin">he imprecise Latin translation of "Ecumenical Patriarch" or desires this title, is, by his pride, the precursor to the Antichrist."

References

Bibliography

* * {{Papal symbols and rituals Papal titles