Nicaea, Second Council of, 787, 7th ecumenical council, convened by Byzantine Empress Irene. Called to refute iconoclasm, the council declared that images ought to be venerated (but not worshiped) and ordered them restored in churches. Practically the only Western delegates were the papal legates, but popes have confirmed the conciliar canons. It is the last council accepted by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Eastern Church as ecumenical.