"Oecumenical Councils (Gk. οἰκουμένη, ‘the whole inhabited world’). Assemblies of bishops and other ecclesiastical representatives of the whole world whose decisions on doctrine, cultus, discipline, etc., are considered binding on all Christians. Acc. to the teaching of most Christian communions outside the RC Church there have been no Oecumenical Councils since the schism between E. and W., the last being the second of Nicaea in 787. . . .
"Seven Councils are commonly held both in E. and W. to be oecumenical. These are, with their dates and the chief subjects dealt with: (1) Nicaea I (325, Arianism); (2) Constantinople I (381, Apollinarianism); (3) Ephesus (431, Nestorianism); (4) Chalcedon (451, Eutychianism); (5) Constantinople II (553, Three Chapters Controversy); (6) Constantinople III (680–1, Monothelitism); (7) Nicaea II (787, Iconoclasm). . . ."
"Oecumenical Councils" The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Ed. F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. © Oxford University Press 2005. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church: (e-reference edition). Oxford University Press. Seattle Pacific University. 4 June 2012 http://ezproxy.spu.edu/login?url=http://www.oxford-christianchurch.com/entry?entry=t257.e4938.
