The seventh and last Ecumenical Council upheld the iconodules' postion in AD 787. They proclaimed: Icons... are to be kept in churches and honored with the same relative veneration as is shown to other material symbols, such as the 'precious and life-giving Cross' and the Book of the Gospels.

In all, the Catholic Church recognizes twenty-one councils as ecumenical. The first four ecumenical councils are recognized by some Lutheran Churches, Anglican Communion and Reformed Churches—though they are "considered subordinate to Scripture".

The general councils of the church were typically called by the Roman Emperor, who desired to have religious peace throughout the empire. The emperor was, in one sense, a part of the church and had some authority to call councils when religious problems were getting out of hand.