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The Council held in the Temple of Holy Wisdom. Prolegomena. The holy Council which was convoked in the righthand part of the catechumens’ quarters of the Great Church, otherwise known as the Temple of Holy Wisdom (Note of Translator. — The usual designation in English is "St. Sophia," but this is egregiously erroneous), was held in the year 879 after Christ and in the thirteenth year of the reign of Basil the Macedonian. It was attended by three hundred and eighty-three (383) fathers, of whom the outstanding ones were: the most holy Patriarch of Constantinople Photius; Peter the Presbyter, a...

Which Councils are Ecumenical? By Francis Dvornik © 1966, Journal of Ecumenical Studies. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to reproduce this herein. Originally appeared in the Journal of Ecumenical Studies 3(2), 1966, pp. 314-328. Please consider supporting the Journal of Ecumenical Studies; you may visit their homepage by clicking here. It is generally expected that, after the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council the atmosphere will be favorable for dialogues be­tween the representatives of Roman Catholics and the leaders of other Christian churches with a view to finding ways towards a better understanding and a more intimate rapprochement which could...

Rome Thirty-one Roman Catholic bishops, including a cardinal and a senior member of the Roman curia, have signed a petition asking John Paul II to convene a new ecumenical council. “A new council would help the Catholic church respond evangelically, in a spirit of dialogue, in close collaboration with the other Christian churches and religions, to the grave challenges facing humanity, especially persons in situations of extreme poverty in a rapidly transforming and increasingly more interconnected world,” the petition reads. The last ecumenical council was the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65. “We are aware of the difficulties involved in the...