in the catholic prayer Apostles'Creed what does "the communion of saints" mean?

Answer 1

Catholics share the belief in the Communion of Saints with many other Christians, including the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopal, and Methodist Churches.

The Communion of Saints is the belief where all saints are intimately related in the Body of Christ, a family. When you die and go to heaven, you do not leave this family.

Everyone in heaven or on their way to heaven are saints, you, me, my deceased grandmother, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mother Teresa.

As part of this family, you may ask your family and friends living here on earth to pray for you. Or, you may also ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Andrew, or your deceased grandmother living in heaven to pray for you.

Prayer to saints in heaven is simple communication, not worship.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

What is the Church if not the assembly of all the saints? The communion of saints is the Church.
Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others. We believe that there exists a communion of goods in the Church. But the most important member is Christ, since he is the head...Therefore, the riches of Christ are communicated to all members. Since the Church is governed by one and the same Spirit, all the goods she has received become a common fund.
Have a blessed day

Answer 3

It refers to the "community" or fellowship of all saints (Christians) worldwide. The idea that all Christians, whatever physical location or church they attend, as all part of one worldwide "Body of Christ". Catholics extend this to include a "fellowship" with the saints which have gone before (thus allowing prayer to saints).

The Creed is said by more than just Catholics, and is not a "prayer", but rather a "creed", meaning a statement of Christian belief and doctrine. It is to help all the churches stay united on their doctrines.

It is not a reference to the sacrament that is called "communion".

Answer 4

Catholics believe that those who have gone home to God may still have people here on earth about whom they care. God, in His great love, permits them to keep in touch via prayer.

Since ALL believers are part of the Mystical Body of Christ there is a unity of spirit that death does not preclude or prevent.

And THAT is the "communion of saints". Their attachment to the Faith, our attachment to the Faith, equals an attachment to each other.

Catholics have no hesitation in asking those who have gone before to help them bend God's ear for whatever. We do not pray TO them. We ask them to pray WITH us to the Father through Christ. This includes Mary, the Mother of God.

And btw, it's NOT just a Catholic prayer, although the Church put the original together some 18 centuries ago (the Nicene Creed is thefinal version for Catholics). It is not even, strictly speaking, a prayer. It is a testament of the Christian faith. It states what we as Christians believe about Jesus, about God, about our Faith. That's why it's called "Creed", from the Latin credo (I believe).

Hope this helped.

Answer 5

It means that they will pray to those that they have canonized as "saints". The Bible is very clear that 1. these individuals are dead and cannot hear or help you in your prayers. And 2. only prayer is said to God through his son Jesus. No other prayers are ever heard. Also, this same question was asked Saturday. Check back for some of those answers.

Answer 6

The communion of saints refers to the Olld Testament saints (Moses, Job, Elijah, Noah, etc.) who all looked forward to the coming of Christ the Messiah. It also refers to Christians in the New Testament and to present-day Christians who trust in Christ as their only savior. No departed saints has the power of omnipresence (always present everywhere) to hear the simultaneous prayers of the saints here on earth. Neither are they omniscient (knowing all things) so that they can understand the various language use by Christians here on earth in their prayers. Moreover, there are saints who have been dropped from the calendar of saints by Vatican 11 like St. Barbara, St. Christopher, St. Philomena, etc., while there are those who were declared heretics who were later declared as saints like Joan of Arc. God in His Word asked us to pray for one another but not to the departed saints.

Answer 7

This is Not just a Catholic prayer.
The Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed is widely used by a number of Christian denominations for both liturgical and catechetical purposes, most visibly by liturgical Churches of Western tradition, including the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, Lutheranism, the Anglican Communion, and Western Orthodoxy. It is also used by evangelical Protestant denominations such as Presbyterians, Methodists, Congregationalists and many Baptists.



The Communion of Saints is a doctrine included in the Apostles' Creed, a major profession of the Christian faith from not long after the year 100, the basic statement of the Church's faith (William Barclay, The Plain Man Looks at the Apostles Creed, pages 10-12). Its current form was settled in the eighth century.

The doctrine of the Communion of Saints is based on 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul compares Christians to a single body in which each member contributes to the good of all and shares in the welfare of all.

The words translated into English as "saints" can refer to Christians, who, whatever their personal sanctity as individuals, are called holy because consecrated to God and Christ. This usage of the word "saints" is found some fifty times in the New Testament.

The word can also be translated as referring not to holy persons, but to holy things, namely the blessings that these holy persons share with each other, including their faith, the sacraments and the other spiritual graces and gifts they have as Christians.

The holy persons who are linked in this communion include those who have died and whom Hebrews 12:1 pictures as a cloud of witnesses encompassing Christians on earth. In the same chapter, Hebrews 12:22-23 says Christians on earth "have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect."

In Catholic terminology, the Communion of Saints is thus said to comprise the Church Militant (those alive on earth), the Church Penitent (those undergoing purification in Purgatory in preparation for heaven), and the Church Triumphant (those already in heaven). The damned are not among the Communion of Saints.

The Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church as well as the Anglican Church and the Assyrian Church of the East point to this doctrine in support of their practice, from the beginning, of asking the intercession of the saints in heaven, whose prayers (cf. Revelation 5:8) are seen as helping their fellow Christians on earth.

The same ancient Christian churches appeal to this doctrine also in favour of their practice of praying for the dead, a practice that is universal even among the ancient Christian churches that have not adopted the Roman Catholic definition of Purgatory and which employ instead other theories about how precisely departed Christians benefit from the prayers of those on earth.

Answer 8

There are three different interpretations of that phrase: the Catholic Church's, the Anglo-Saxon Church's, and the Protestant views. You probably don't want anyone to write 15 long paragraphs on the subject, so I'm going to refer you to a place where the definitions are clearly laid out. Have a blessed day.

Answer 9

The phrase refers to the unity and community of those blessed persons who have lived, are living, and who will live. All the members of the Church Militant and the intercession of each member for each member.

Answer 10

First of all, all Christians are saints, or sanctified by the blood of Jesus.