The 1570 bull Quo primum of
Pope Pius V in a
Roman Missal. Below the name of the Pope Pius Episcopus (Pius Bishop) appears his title Servus servorum Dei. Not all papal documents begin in this way, but bulls do.
"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
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
^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."
^
Kiminas, Demetrius (1 March 2009). "The Ecumenical Patriarchate: A Short History".
The Ecumenical Patriarchate: A History of Its Metropolitanates with Annotated Hierarch Catalogs. Orthodox Christianity, volume 1 (1 ed.). Wildside Press LLC. p. 13.
ISBN9781434458766. Retrieved 23 September 2023. [...] the Patriarch of Constantinople began to be addressed as the 'Ecumenical Patriarch', with the first known use of the title being recorded at the time of Patriarch Acacius (472-89).
^
Kiminas, Demetrius (1 March 2009). "The Ecumenical Patriarchate: A Short History".
The Ecumenical Patriarchate: A History of Its Metropolitanates with Annotated Hierarch Catalogs. Orthodox Christianity, volume 1 (1 ed.). Wildside Press LLC. p. 13.
ISBN9781434458766. Retrieved 23 September 2023. A Council held in Constantinople in 587 [...] officially bestowed the title 'Ecumenical Patriarch' on Constantinople Patriarch John IV (582-95). This action caused Patriarch of Rome, Pelagius II (579-90) to sever his connection with Constantinople, while his successor, Gregory I (590-604), sent letters of protest to both Patriarch John IV and Emperor Mauricius (582-602) - but with no results.