> The term signifies the spiritual, familial bond between believers that exists on account of the church's collective and individual union with God through the mediation of Christ. lt is thus a dynamic evocation of the theology of the church's communion (ecclesiology).
> It has two distinct associations. The first is the communion of saints that exists on earth. From New Testament times, "the saints" was a designation of Christians, and a popular term of reference in Paul.
> John also expresses this sense of the ecclesial communion most distinctly when he says: "What we have seen and heard we declare also lo you, so that you also may have communion (koinonia) with us, and our communion may be with the Father, and with his son, Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3; also cf. 1:7).
> The second, and related, aspect is the manner in which this communion (or fellowship) extends beyond the visible community of the faithful to embrace the saints and angels before the time of Jesus, and the saints who have passed through death to the heavenly communion. The communion o saints in this sense connotes the concept of the heavenly support that Christians receiving the course of their discipleship.
> In Colossians 1:12 the communion-fellowship of the saints on earth is affirmed with those who have gone before: "We give thanks to God the Father who has made us worthy to share in the lot of the saints, in light."
> The actual term, "Communion of the Saints” was first developed in Latin writing by Nicetas of Remesiana in the early fifth century and was introduced into the last article of the (Roman) Apostles' Creed in the West alter the early sixth century.
