Gregory the Great (ca. 540 – 604)
“Now I confidently say that whosoever calls himself, or desires to be called, Universal Priest, is in his elation the precursor of Antichrist, because he proudly puts himself above all others.” (written ca. 589)
Pope Gregory the Great
Pope Gregory is troubled. For at least four centuries, Roman bishops have claimed to be, at the very least, first among equals with the other bishops of the church. Almost 150 years earlier (in 443), Leo the First declared that the Bishops of Rome were direct successors of Peter, heirs to Peter’s supposedly unique powers over heaven and hell. (Other church fathers have disputed Rome’s interpretation of Scripture, arguing that the magisterium of bishops share those powers.)
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Now word has reached Gregory that at an eastern council held in 588, John the Faster, bishop of Constantinople has accepted the title “Ecumenical Patriarch” from Emperor Maurice. Gregory reads the title as meaning “Universal Patriarch.” This seems to him a direct attack on the claims of Rome, claims which Gregory has steadfastly upheld in his letters and actions. He also reads the title as the Faster’s claim to be the only bishop. Others have addressed the Patriarch with this flattering title before, but this is the first time a patriarch of Constantinople has added it to his own correspondence.
Perhaps Gregory does not know or care that there is also an “Ecumenical Librarian” in Constantinople, a title which essentially means “imperial librarian” and implies no authority over any other librarian. At any rate he responds with a warning letter to Emperor Maurice.
The bishop of Rome assures the monarch that he has the unity of the church in mind. He says that despite the pain the title has caused him, he has accepted envoys from John in a spirit of love and humility. Nonetheless, he tells the emperor, he has written John, appealing to him to refrain from using the “foolish title.” He points out that a frivolous thing can be extremely dangerous, as for example, when antichrist comes he will take the name of God, an action at once frivolous and deadly dangerous.
This thought leads him directly into his next assertion, which is this: “Now I confidently say that whosoever calls himself, or desires to be called, Universal Priest, is in his elation the precursor of Antichrist, because he proudly puts himself above all others.”
Gregory warns that anyone who exalts himself will be humbled. After asserting his own humility (despite his assumption that the bishop in Rome is head of the entire church, Gregory styles himself “Servant of the Servants of God”), he appeals to the emperor to deal with the offense.
Emperor Maurice ignores Gregory’s request. Indeed, Gregory will die with the matter unresolved. Future popes will also be unable to resolve the issue and in the end will adopt the very title that Gregory has asserted will make its wearer the precursor of antichrist. And ultimately the popes will exalt themselves far higher than John the Faster ever contemplated in his own relatively innocent usage of the title.
