Servant of the servants of God
"Servant of the servants of God" (Latin: servus servorum Dei)[1] is one of the titles of the Pope and is used at the beginning of papal bulls.[2]
History
[edit | edit source]Pope Gregory I (pope from 590 to 604), the first Pope to use this title extensively to refer to himself,[3] 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"[4] by a Council convened in Constantinople in 587.[5] Gregory reportedly reacted negatively to the Patriarch's title, claiming that "whoever calls himself universal bishop [the imprecise Latin translation of "Ecumenical Patriarch"],[citation needed] or desires this title, is, by his pride, the precursor to the Antichrist."[6]
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Gabriel Adeleye, Kofi Acquah-Dadzie, Thomas J. Sienkewicz, World dictionary of foreign expressions: a resource for readers (1999) "Servus servorum Dei", p. 361.
- ^ Ian Robinson The papal reform of the eleventh century p. 326 - 2004 "Gregory bishop, servant of the servants of God, to the archbishops, bishops , dukes, counts and the greater and lesser men in the kingdom of the Germans, greeting and apostolic blessing."
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Bibliography
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