communio sanctorum

December 31, 2009

(Latin, “communion of the saints”)

The Christian belief, often emphasized in the Catholic and Orthodox church, that the church is comprised of a spiritual communion or fellowship of all saints, including those living (ecclesia militans “the church militant,” cf. 1 Cor. 12:1ff) and those dead (ecclesia triumphans “the church triumphant,” cf. Heb. 12:1). In such a fellowship, the body of Christ continues to find strength in all its members. Protestants often find offense at this concept because of the perceived abuses of the Catholic and Orthodox churches who advocate prayer to dead saints as a benefit of such communion. But prayers to the saints is not a necessary result of a belief in the communio sanctorum. In fact, the communio sanctorum is part of the Apostle’s Creed, to which Evangelical Protestants adhere.

See the Catholic Catechism on Communion of the Saints.

Read John E. Colwell for an Evangelical perspective on the Communion of the Saints.

See the Credo House of Theology

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