An ecumenical council is a conference of ecclesiastical dignitaries and theological experts convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice in which those entitled to vote are convoked from the whole world and which secures the approbation of the whole Church. The word "ecumenical" derives from the Late Latin oecumenicus "general, universal", from Greek oikoumenikos "from the whole world", from he oikoumene ge "the inhabited world; the first seven ecumenical councils, recognised by both the eastern and western denominations comprising Chalcedonian Christianity, were convoked by Roman Emperors, who enforced the decisions of those councils within the state church of the Roman Empire. Starting with the third ecumenical council, noteworthy schisms led to non-participation by some members of what had been considered a single Christian Church. Thus, some parts of Christianity did not attend councils, or attended but did not accept the results. Bishops belonging to what became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church accept only seven ecumenical councils, as described below.

Bishops belonging to what became known as the Church of the East only participated in the first two councils. Bishops belonging to what became known as Oriental Orthodoxy participated in the first four councils, but rejected the decisions of the fourth and did not attend any subsequent ecumenical councils. Acceptance of councils as ecumenical and authoritative varies between different Christian denominations. Disputes over christological and other questions have led certain branches to reject some councils that others accept; the Church of the East accepts as ecumenical only the first two councils. Oriental Orthodox Churches accept the first three. Both the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church recognise as ecumenical the first seven councils, held from the 4th to the 9th centuries. While the Eastern Orthodox Church accepts no council or synod as ecumenical, the Roman Catholic Church continues to hold general councils of the bishops in full communion with the Pope, reckoning them as ecumenical.

In all, the Roman Catholic Church recognises twenty-one councils as ecumenical. Anglicans and confessional Protestants accept either the first seven or the first four as ecumenical councils; the doctrine of the infallibility of ecumenical councils states that solemn definitions of ecumenical councils, which concern faith or morals, to which the whole Church must adhere, are infallible. Such decrees are labeled as'Canons' and they have an attached anathema, a penalty of excommunication, against those who refuse to believe the teaching; the doctrine does not claim that every aspect of every ecumenical council is dogmatic, but that every aspect of an ecumenical council is free of errors or is indefectible. Both the Eastern Orthodox and the Catholic churches uphold versions of this doctrine. However, the Roman Catholic Church holds that solemn definitions of ecumenical councils meet the conditions of infallibility only when approved by the Pope, while the Eastern Orthodox Church holds that an ecumenical council is itself infallible when pronouncing on a specific matter.

Protestant churches would view ecumenical councils as fallible human institutions that have no more than a derived authority to the extent that they expound Scripture. Church councils were, from the beginning, bureaucratic exercises. Written documents were circulated, speeches made and responded to, votes taken, final documents published and distributed. A large part of what is known about the beliefs of heresies comes from the documents quoted in councils in order to be refuted, or indeed only from the deductions based on the refutations. Most councils dealt not only with doctrinal but with disciplinary matters, which were decided in canons. Study of the canons of church councils is the foundation of the development of canon law the reconciling of contradictory canons or the determination of priority between them. Canons consist of doctrinal statements and disciplinary measures—most Church councils and local synods dealt with immediate disciplinary concerns as well as major difficulties of doctrine.

Eastern Orthodoxy views the purely doctrinal canons as dogmatic and applicable to the entire church at all times, while the disciplinary canons apply to a particular time and place and may or may not be applicable in other situations. Of the seven councils recognised in whole or in part by both the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Church as ecumenical, all were called by a Roman emperor; the emperor gave them legal status within the entire Roman Empire. All were held in the eastern part of the Roman Empire; the bishop of Rome did not attend. Church councils were traditional and the ecumenical councils were a continuation of earlier councils held in the Empire before Christianity was made legal; these include the Council of Jerusalem, the Council of Rome, the Second Council of Rome, the Council of Ephesus, the Council of Carthage, the Council of Iconium, the Council of Antioch, the Councils of Arabia, the Council of Elvira

Dubysa, at 131 km, is the 15th longest river in Lithuania. It originates just a few kilometers from Lake Rėkyva near Šiauliai city. At first it flows south, but at Lyduvėnai turns southeast and near Ariogala - southwest. Dubysa is a Samogitian river; the first few kilometres of Dybysa are known as Genupis or Šventupis. Dubysa has about 40 tributaries, the largest being Kražantė on the right and Šiaušė, Gryžuva, Gynėvė on the left. Kražantė is twice as long as the upper reaches of Dubysa before the confluence. Though Kražantė's basin is somewhat smaller, it should be considered the main river. Dubysa is fed by rainfall and melting snow, therefore its water levels change rapidly; the maximum depth is about 4 m. The valley of Dubysa is one of the widest in Lithuania; the valley reaches 20 -- 40 m in 300 -- 500 m in width. It was formed during the last glacial period. Near Lyduvėnai there is a railroad bridge across the valley, the highest and longest such bridge in Lithuania; the bridge was first built by the Germans during World War I.

In 1918 an iron railway bridge replaced it. Dubysa is connected with the Venta River by the abandoned Windawski Canal started in 1825 by the authorities of the Russian Empire; the canal was supposed to have 20 locks. The intention was to connect the Neman basin with the Baltic Sea through the port of Ventspils; the lower reaches of Neman were under Prussian control. The work was interrupted by the Uprising of 1831; the work resumed only at the beginning of the 20th century but was interrupted again by the World War I. After the war there was no purpose for the canal as Lithuania gained control over the Klaipėda region and lower reaches of Neman; the canal was based on the Kartuva rivulet. Dubysa ichthyological reserve was established in 1974, it protects spawning other ca. 25 species of fish. The reserve protects Dubysa below Ariogala down to its mouth. Dubysa Regional Park was established in 1992 to protect the Dubysa valley and cultural heritage, including the birthplace of poet Maironis; the park encourages eco-tourism.

It covers is located in the territories of the Raseiniai district municipalities. Simas Sužiedėlis, ed.. "Dubysa". Encyclopedia Lituanica. II. Boston, Massachusetts: Juozas Kapočius. Pp. 113–114. LCC 74-114275. Jonas Zinkus. "Dubysa". Tarybų Lietuvos enciklopedija. I. Vilnius, Lithuania: Vyriausioji enciklopedijų redakcija. Pp. 463–464. Vaclovas Biržiška, ed.. "Dubysa". Lietuviškoji enciklopedija. VII. Kaunas: Spaudos Fondas. Pp. 79–94. "Dubysos pabaseinis". Environmental Protection Agency, Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved 2007-01-01. Map of Dubysa basin Kurtuvėnai Regional Park

Dumitru Popovici was a Romanian literary historian. Born in Dăneasa, Olt County, his parents were Ioan Popovici, a teacher, his wife Ioana. After attending primary school in nearby Șerbănești from 1909 to 1914, he studied at Radu Greceanu High School in Slatina from 1914 to 1923. Popovici went to the literature faculty of Bucharest University from 1923 to 1927, earning a doctorate there in 1935. From 1924 to 1926, he was honorific teaching assistant to Dumitru Caracostea, he taught high school in Iași. From 1936 until his death, he was a professor in the literature faculty of Cluj University. From 1930 to 1934, he audited the Modern Greek courses of André Mirambel in Paris, he took classes with Daniel Mornet, Fernand Baldensperger, Paul Hazard and Mario Roques, shifting toward studies of comparative literature and working as a lecturer on the Romanian language at the Sorbonne and the École nationale des langues orientales vivantes. Popovici published his first articles of literary history in the Slatina magazine Oltul in 1928.

His proper debut as a critic took place in 1929 in Viața Românească, with the study Poezia lui Cezar Bolliac. He took part in leading Atheneum magazine in Iași. Popovici's first published book was his doctoral thesis, the 1935 Ideologia literară a lui I. Heliade-Rădulescu. Între utopie și poezie. During World War II, he lived in Sibiu, having withdrawn there after the Second Vienna Award granted Northern Transylvania, including Cluj, to Hungary. While there in 1942, he founded Studii literare magazine, which ran until 1948, he held courses on the history of literary ideology and of modern Romanian literature, published a volume of studies and put together critical editions of the works of Dimitrie Bolintineanu and Ion Heliade Rădulescu. He made plans for a wide-ranging history of modern Romanian literature, of which he managed to publish just the first volume, La Littérature roumaine a l’époque des Lumières, he prepared a lithographed course book, Literatura română în epoca "Luminilor" și Literatura română modernă.

Tendința de integrare în ritmul cultural occidental. Unedited fragments of this literary history were preserved as lithographed courses. There remain in manuscript from his last years a series of literary projects and attempts: a partial translation of Dante Alighieri's Inferno, he married Elvira Chiffa a professor. Petrescu, herself became a literary historian and critic