Communion (Christian)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For a discussion of Holy Communion see the article on the Eucharist.
The term Communion, from Latin communio, meaning sharing in common, also often refers to the relationship of Christians, as individuals or as a Church, with God and with other Christians. The word is related to the greek koinonia (κοινωνία).
Churches in full communion have no barriers to acceptance of each other.
When an Eastern Rite Catholic Church elects a new Patriarch, the Pope sends him a "letter of communion", indicating recognition of him as a fellow pastor of the same Church and a successor of the Apostles.
When the ecclesiastical link of communion, especially of faith, is complete, it is referred to as full communion, a term, however, that some use of merely practical arrangements that fall short of full unity. If a Church recognizes that others share with it some, but not all, of the beliefs and essential practices of Christianity, it may speak of the existence of "partial communion".
In its original Latin form, the Western creed known as the Apostles' Creed professes faith in "communionem sanctorum". Though traditionally translated into English as "the communion of saints", this phrase refers in the first place to communion or sharing by all the members of the Church in the holy things (Latin, sancta) of faith, sacraments (especially the Eucharist, and the other spiritual graces and gifts that they have in common. But it also refers to communion between people who, because of their link with Christ, are holy (Latin, sancti), whether they are still in earthly life or have already gone past death to be "at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8).
Eucharistic usage
- Main article: Eucharist
Communion is a term that Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians apply to partaking of the consecrated bread and wine, not to the Eucharistic sacrament as a whole. However, Protestant groups (originating in the Protestant Reformation) use this to refer to whole rite.
The word Communicant is often used in reference to someone who does recieve the sacrament of communion.
With reference to the Eucharist the fuller term Holy Communion is typically used. Some may also avoid the term sacrament, preferring ordinance: not a channel of grace but an expression of faith and obedience of the Christian community.
As Saint Paul indicated in 1 Corinthians 10:16, receiving the bread or wine consecrated in the Eucharist is seen as a way of entering into special communion with Christ. Accordingly, this participation is itself referred to, par excellence, as "communion". Some, especially if associated, either historically or today, with a minimization of the significance of the Eucharist, give the name of "communion" to the whole Eucharistic rite. Most Christians see the Eucharist as involving other aspects as well as this.
Biblical usage
The greek term is found, as a noun or in its adjectival or verbal forms, in 43 verses of the New Testament. The noun is found additionally in some manuscripts (used for producing the English translation known as the King James Version, but not for more recent translations) in Ephesians 3:9.
For the New Testament writers the word κοινωνία has religious overtones, which ecclesiastical usage since then has further intensified.
The communion, sharing or fellowship, according to the context, refers to one or other of:
- the divine nature (2 Pt 1:4), God (1 Jn 1:6), the Trinity (1 Jn 1:3), Jesus, Son of God (1 Co 1:9), his sufferings (Ph 3:10; 1 Pt 4:13), his future glory (1 Pt 5:1), the Holy Spirit (1 Co 13:14; Ph 2:1)
- the blood and the body of Christ (1 Co 10:16), pagan sacrifices and gods (1 Co 10:18, 20)
- fellow Christians, their sufferings and the faith (Ac 2:42; Ga 2:9; ; 1 Jn 1:3, 7; Heb 10:33; Rv 1:9; Phm 6, 17)
- a source of spiritual favours (Rm 11:17), the gospel (1 Co 9:23), light and darkness (2 Co 6:14)
- others' sufferings and consolation (2 Co 1:7; Ph 4:14), their evangelizing work (Ph 1:5), their graces or privileges (Rm 15:27; Ph 1:7), their material needs, to remedy which assistance is given (Rm 12:13, 15:26-27; 2 Co 8:4, 9:13; Ga 6:6; Ph 4:15; 1 Tm 6:18; Heb 13:16)
- the evil deeds of others (Mt 23:30; Ep 5:11; 1 Tm 5:22; 2 Jn 1:11; Rv 18:4)
- the bodily human nature all have in common (Heb 2:14)
- a work partnership, secular or religious (Lk 5:10; 2 Co 8:23)
