Thank you for making that point. Some modern Easterners like to say that the Palamite Council in 1351 is Ecumenical without the Pope (879 is another matter).
Just last night I was reading this month's "Crisis" magazine. In it there is an interesting article by Fr. Ray Ryland on Vladimir Soloviev which touches on this very same thing. He quotes Soloviev as saying "Since breaking with Rome, the Eastern Churches haven't been able to convoke and ecumenical council and probably never will be able to" (I am paraphrasing because I'm too lazy to get up and get the magazine, but the paraphrase I wrote is almost a duplicate for the original).
My question is why hasn't there been an ecumenical council by the Eastern Churches since @1054 and what did Soloviev mean when he said the EC's haven't been able to and probably never will be able to convoke one? I'd be interested in both of your thoughts on this since I find both of you fair and fact minded.
Good article, btw - although it left me with some unanswered questions (like above) and there were a couple of things I disagreed with (on the part of the author of the piece and not Soloviev).