Ecumenical council

: See also General Council (disambiguation)

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In Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, an ecumenical council or general council is a meeting of the bishops of the whole church convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice. The word is from Greek Οικουμένη (oikumene), which literally means "inhabited", i.e. all places that are being inhabited by live beings, therefore "World-wide" or "General". "The whole church" is construed by most Eastern Orthodox Christians as including all Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions in full communion with each other. This does not include the Roman Catholic Church. While a few Orthodox would see a council as fully ecumenical only if it included all the ancient patriarchates, including Rome, this is not mainstream Orthodox opinion. Similarly, Roman Catholics take the whole church to mean "only" those in full communion with the (Roman) Catholic church. Again, some Catholics would see it necessary to include the Eastern Churches in an ecumenical council, in the full and proper sense. As Pope John Paul II often put it, the Church needs to breathe "with two lungs." More local meetings are sometimes called "synods", but the distinction between a synod and a council is not hard and fast. However, both churches do recognize the validity of all of the early councils before the Great Schism, with the exception of the Fourth Council of Constantinople, which Catholics hold to be the council of 869–870 and Orthodox the subsequent council of 879–880.

Related Topics:
Catholicism - Eastern Orthodoxy - Ecumenical - Greek - Full communion - Roman Catholic Church - Pope John Paul II - Synod - Great Schism - Fourth Council of Constantinople

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The Greek word "synod" (σύνοδος) derives from "syn" (together) and "odos" (road, way), therefore a synod is the coming together of several people sharing a common element, in this case the Christian bishops.

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