when his Holiness Pope John 23, first called for an Ecumenical Council, and at the same time voiced his yearning for Christian unity, the enthusiasm among Catholic and Protestant ecumenicists was immediate.

Deemed a heretic by the Ecumenical First Council of Nicaea of 325, Arius was later exonerated in 335 at the regional First Synod of Tyre, and then, after his death, pronounced a heretic again at the Ecumenical First Council of Constantinople of 381.

In 381, at the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople, a group of mainly Eastern bishops assembled and accepted the Nicene Creed of 381, which was supplemented in regard to the Holy Spirit, as well as some other changes: see Comparison between Creed of 325 and Creed of 381.

After the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea, the church structure was patterned after the administrative divisions of the Roman Empire wherein a metropolitan or bishop of a metropolis came to be the ecclesiastical head of a civil capital of a province or a metropolis.

At the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon in 451, Constantinople was given jurisdiction over three dioceses for the reason that the city was " the residence of the emperor and senate ".

* The Ecumenical Catholic Communion * The United Methodist Church: Council of Bishops

The Council of Trent () was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church.

It would be over 300 years until the next Ecumenical Council.

Pope John XXIII initially called for a Synod of the Diocese of Rome, an Ecumenical Council, and an updating to the 1917 Code.

After the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican ( Vatican II ) closed in 1965, it became apparent that the Code would need to be revised in light of the documents and theology of Vatican II.

That Council of Chalcedon is one of the first seven Ecumenical Councils accepted by Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and many Protestant Christian churches.

The Council is considered by the Roman Catholics, Eastern Catholic Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Old Catholics, and various other Western Christian groups to have been the Fourth Ecumenical Council.

The Ecumenical Council of Nicea AD 325 was convened by Constantine under the presidency of Saint Hosius of Cordova and Pope Saint Alexander I of Alexandria to resolve the dispute and eventually led to the formulation of the Symbol of Faith, also known as the Nicene Creed.

In the year AD 381, Pope Timothy I of Alexandria presided over the second ecumenical council known as the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople, to judge Macedonious, who denied the Divinity of the Holy Spirit.

" Nestorius however, still would not repent and so this led to the convening of the First Ecumenical Council of Ephesus ( 431 ), over which Cyril presided.

This title is historically known as “ Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa on the Holy Apostolic Throne of Saint Mark the Evangelist ,” that is “ of Alexandria and of all Africa .” The title of “ Patriarch ” was first used around the time of the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, convened in AD 431, and ratified at Chalcedon in AD 451.

" These are likely the same Cathari mentioned in Canon 8 of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, which states "... f those called Cathari come over the Catholic faith, let them first make profession that they are willing to communicate full communion with the twice-married, and grant pardon to those who have lapsed ..."

Gregory XII then sent representatives to Constance, whom he granted full powers to summon, open and preside over an Ecumenical Council ; he also empowered them to present his resignation to the Papacy.

* Tanner, Norman P., editor, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils: Council of Constance 1414 – 18, excerpts of the sessions ( in English )

In the history of Christianity, the First seven Ecumenical Councils, from the First Council of Nicaea ( 325 ) to the Second Council of Nicaea ( 787 ), represent an attempt to reach an orthodox consensus and to unify Christendom under the State church of the Roman Empire.

Florence hosted the Great Ecumenical Council in 1439 ; this council was launched in an attempt to reconcile the Byzantine Orthodox Church with Roman Catholicism.

The Bull of Union with the Copts was promulgated by Pope Eugene IV at the Ecumenical Council of Florence on 4 February 1442.

* Ecumenical Council of Florence 1438-1445

In calling for the reception of converts into Orthodoxy through means other than baptism in certain cases, the Ecumenical Councils made no determination regarding the existence of sacraments outside of Orthodoxy, but only addressed the situation of the convert to Orthodoxy.

Doctrinally the Ambrosian Catholics accept the first Seven Ecumenical Councils ; the succession of the Apostles is regarded as necessary to the true Church, but rejects any claim of superiority of any bishop over another ; the mass is celebrated in the Ambrosian Rite in the vernacular and having communion in both species.

Once again the Greek minority in Turkey suffered from the crisis, many Greeks fled the country, and there were even threats to expel the Ecumenical Patriarch.

Conciliarism was a reform movement in the 14th, 15th and 16th century Catholic Church which held that supreme authority in the Church resided with an Ecumenical council, apart from, or even against, the pope.

His edict of toleration, subsequent patronage of the Christian church, even his convening of and presiding over the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, were all carried out while he was still officially a pagan, and while he bore the pagan office of pontifex maximus.

Hence it is not astonishing that some of these notions have not only been used by the Ecumenical Councils, but even sanctioned by them, so that it is wrong to depart from them.

In the Ecumenical Patriarchate, bishops of modern dioceses are often given a titular see alongside their modern one ( for example, the Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain ).

A case in point is the Third Ecumenical Council where two groups met as duly called for by the emperor, each claiming to be the legitimate council.

Beginning with John the Faster, the Bishop of Constantinople ( John IV, 582-595 ) adopted as a formal title for himself the by-then-customary honorific, Ecumenical Patriarch (" pre-eminent father for the civilized world ") over the strong objections of Rome: a title based on the political prestige of Constantinople and its economic and cultural centrality in the Empire.

Derived from Greek oikoumenikos (), " ecumenical " means " worldwide " but generally is assumed to be limited to the Roman Empire in this context as in Augustus ' claim to be ruler of the oikoumene / world ; the earliest extant uses of the term for a council are Eusebius ' Life of Constantine 3. 6 around 338, which states "" ( he convoked an Ecumenical Council ); Athanasius ' Ad Afros Epistola Synodica in 369 ;< ref >

The Cannes Film Festival Ecumenical Jury, which gives prizes for movies that promote spiritual, humanist and universal values, also " honoured " the film with a special " anti-award "; a spokesman for the jury described it as " the most misogynist movie from the self-proclaimed biggest director in the world.

Ken Howcroft, Methodist minister and the Ecumenical Officer for the Methodist Church of Great Britain, noted that " these conversations have been immensely fruitful.

The third Ecumenical Council ( Council of Ephesus of 431 ) reaffirmed the original 325 version of the Nicene Creed and declared that " it is unlawful for any man to bring forward, or to write, or to compose a different ( – more accurately translated as used by the Council to mean “ different ,” “ contradictory ,” and not “ another ”) Faith as a rival to that established by the holy Fathers assembled with the Holy Ghost in Nicæa " ( i. e. the 325 creed ) This statement has been interpreted as a prohibition against changing this creed or composing others, but not all accept this interpretation.

Although the description " servant of the servants of God " was also used by other Church leaders, including St. Augustine and St. Benedict, it was first used extensively as a papal title by Pope St. Gregory the Great, reportedly as a lesson in humility for Patriarch of Constantinople John the Faster, who had assumed the title " Ecumenical Patriarch ".

He tells the pope that he is suspect of heresy for accepting the Fifth Ecumenical Council ( the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 ), and exhorts him to summon a council and prove his orthodoxy.

* April 10 – Ecumenical Patriarch Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople is blamed by the Ottoman government for being unable to suppress Greek independence and is hung outside the main gate of the Patriarchal Cathedral immediately after the celebration of Easter.

Ecumenical dialogue over the past 43 years since Paul VI's meeting with the Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras I has awoken the nearly 1000-year hopes for Christian unity.

He is also a Doctor of the Church, most remembered theologically for issuing the Tome of Leo, a document which was foundational to the debates of the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon.

* Ecumenical Miracle Rosary for all Christians

Usual titles are Your Holiness for a patriarch ( with Your All-Holiness for the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople ), Your Beatitude for an archbishop in charge of an autocephalous church, Your Eminence for an archbishop, Master or Your Grace for a bishop and Father for priests, deacons and monks though there are variations between the various Orthodox Churches.