What is the Communion of Saints?

Answer 1

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Catholic AnswerThe Communion of Saints, as the above answer points out, is all the believing Christians in the three Churches:

The Church Militant - those on earth

The Church Suffering - those in puragory

The Church Triumphant - the saints in heaven.

from The Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, English translation 1994

946 After confession "the holy catholic Church," the Apostle's Creed adds "the communion of saints." In a certain sense this article is a further explanation of the preceding: "What is the Church if not the assembly of all the saints?" (Nicetas, Expl. Symb. 10: J.P. Migne, ed., Patrologia Latina {Paris: 1841-1855} 52:871B.) The communion of saints is the Church.

947 "Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others . . . We must therefore 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 the members, through the sacraments." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Symb., 10.) "As this Church is governed by one and the same Spirit, all the goods she has received necessarily become a common fund." (Roman Catechism I, 10, 24.

948 The term "communion of saints" therefore has two closely linked meanings: communion "in holy things (sancta)" and "among holy persons (sancti)."

Sancta sanctis!

("God's holy gifts for God's holy people") is proclaimed by the celebrant in most Eastern liturgies during the elevation of the holy Gifts before the distribution of [Holy] Communion. The faithful (sancti) are fed by Christ's holy body and blood (sancta) to grow in communion of the Holy Spirit (koinoinia) and to communicate it to the world.