Editing Ecumenical council (section)

== Acceptance of councils by denomination ==
The [[Church of the East]] (accused by others of adhering to [[Nestorianism]]) accepts as ecumenical the first two councils. [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental Orthodox Churches]] accept the first three.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.holypimoly.com/images/im_about_ortho/coptic_church.pdf| title = Coptic Orthodox Christian Center, "The Coptic Church"| access-date = 8 October 2011| archive-date = 5 January 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200105171203/http://holypimoly.com/images/im_about_ortho/coptic_church.pdf/| url-status = dead}}</ref>

Both the [[Catholic Church]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] recognize as ecumenical the first seven [[council]]s, held from the 4th to the 9th centuries. While some Eastern Orthodox accept [[Fourth Council of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox)|one later council]] as ecumenical (which was later repudiated by the Catholic Church), the Catholic Church continues to hold general councils of the bishops in [[full communion]] with the [[Pope]], reckoning them as ecumenical. In all, the Catholic Church recognizes twenty-one councils as ecumenical.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

The first four ecumenical councils are recognized by some [[Lutheran Church]]es, [[Anglican Communion]] and [[Reformed Church]]es—though they are "[[Sola scriptura|considered subordinate to Scripture]]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Olson |first1=Roger E. |title=The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition Reform |date=1 April 1999 |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0-8308-1505-0 |page=158 |language=English}}</ref> The [[Lutheran World Federation]] recognizes the first seven Ecumenical Councils as "exercises of apostolic authority" and recognizes their decisions as authoritative; while member churches are not required to accept all theological statements produced by the Federation, but only to subscribe to the most basic Lutheran historical confessional documents, most do follow this recommendation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/1993-Lutheran_Orthodox_Dialogue-EN.pdf|title=The Ecumenical Councils and Authority In and Of The Church (Lutheran-Orthodox Agreed Statement, 1993)|access-date=9 March 2021|archive-date=9 October 2022|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/1993-Lutheran_Orthodox_Dialogue-EN.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>