Servant of the servants of God
"Servant of the servants of God" (Template:Langx)<ref>Gabriel Adeleye, Kofi Acquah-Dadzie, Thomas J. Sienkewicz, World dictionary of foreign expressions: a resource for readers (1999) "Servus servorum Dei", p. 361.</ref> is one of the titles of the Pope and is used at the beginning of papal bulls.<ref>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."</ref>
History
Pope Gregory I (pope from 590 to 604), the first Pope to use this title extensively to refer to himself,<ref>Template:CathEncy</ref> 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"<ref> Template:Cite book </ref> by a Council convened in Constantinople in 587.<ref> Template:Cite book </ref> Gregory reportedly reacted negatively to the Patriarch's title, claiming that "whoever calls himself universal bishop [the imprecise Latin translation of "Ecumenical Patriarch"],Template:Cn or desires this title, is, by his pride, the precursor to the Antichrist."<ref> Template:Cite book </ref>