Servant of the servants of God


Servant of the servants of God is one of the titles of the pope and is used at the beginning of papal bulls.

History

was the first pope to use this title extensively to refer to himself as Pope, reportedly doing so as a lesson in humility for the Archbishop of Constantinople John the Faster, who had been granted the title "Ecumenical Patriarch" by the Byzantine Emperor: the humble title "Servant of the Servants of God" countervailed the other's claim of power and eminence against the Bishop of Rome. Some of Pope Gregory's successors used the phrase off and on for some centuries, but they did so regularly only from the 9th century. At times, some civil rulers also used this title, but after the 12th century it came to be used exclusively by the Pope.

Biblical background

This papal title also has a biblical background found in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, chapter 20, verses 25 to 27: