OECUMENICAL (through the

See also:

• LAT

Lat. from Gr. oiKOVµevI.KOS, universal, belonging to the whole inhabited

See also:

• WORLD

world, i] oiKovµtvf sc. y;7, aides, to dwell)  , a word chiefly used in the sense of belonging to the universal Christian Church . It is thus specifically applied to the general councils of the early church (see COUNCIL) . , In the Roman Church a council is regarded as oecumenical when it has been summoned from the whole church under the presidency of the pope or his legates; the decrees confirmed by the pope are binding . The word has also been applied to assemblies of other religious bodies, such as the Oecumenical Methodist Conferences, which met for the first time in 1881 . " Oecumenical " has also been the title of the patriarch of Constantinople since the 6th century (see ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH) .