The Mystical Communion of the Saints: Why was Sanctorum Communionem added to the Apostles’ Creed? (original) (raw)
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COMMUNION OF SAINTS THE UNITY OF DIVINE LOVE IN THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST
All biblical citations that I have used in my own original text are taken from the Knox Bible, copyright, Baronius Press, London. All Scriptural passages contained within quotes are kept in their original form. Concerning the former, I have decided to use the translation of Monsignor Ronald Knox, which he completed in 1948, because alongside the Clementine Vulgate which had been the official Latin text of the Catholic Church for centuries, Mons. Knox studiously cross-checked his translation with Hebrew and Greek texts; consequently we get closer to the inner theological and spiritual heart of Sacred Scripture. Abbreviations CCSL: Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina, Turnhout, 1953-. A critical edition of all the Latin texts from the first eight centuries of the Christian era.
The Saints as an Element in the Communion and Communication in the Early Church
The cult of the martyrs and saints, their veneration and fame for miracles, intercesson to them, the cult of relics, the custom of seeking burial near the shrines of saints, etc., grew and spread as a development of popular devotion in the ancient Church without much regulation except on a local level by the local bishop. The lack of control of course led to the growth of all sorts of legends, which, as mentioned at the beginning, the Bollandists have tried to sort out for centuries.56 It also lead eventually to more centalized forms of regulation. The theological rational for the cult of the martyrs and saints was provided in the development of the idea of the communion of the saints by many theologians.
Cruciality of the Communion of the Saints
Theological Reflections: Eastern European Journal of Theology
The “communion of the saints” is usually considered a New Testament topic. It appears in the Apostles’ Creed as a mandatory commitment for church orthodoxy and orthopraxy. However, the Old Testament Hebrews were also a faith community and committed to beliefs and behaviors (at least “on paper”) that enable and enhance communion and fellowship as well as exclude actions that cause division and dissension, which can lead to discouragement, disengagement, and even destruction. Consequently, the Hebrew Bible can offer, at least typologically, statements and stories that illustrate how crucial communion and community were for God’s OT people, and anticipate the same for the NT churches. This article will make use of selected passages in the Pentateuch that provide mainly data about what would prevent or pervert communion among ancient Hebrew believers inYahweh, which provides principles applicable to modern Gentile believers in Jesus as the Christos.
2006
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." "As this Church is governed by one and the same Spirit, all the goods she has received necessarily become a common fund."
The Church as Communion in Early Christian Thought
In the New Testament the term koinônia denotes Christ’s sharing in our flesh and blood as well as the communion/fellowship among the members of the community because of the communion that we have with Christ, and with his Father. In the Pauline letters the phrases “in Christ,” “in the Spirit,” “one body” are used to signify the abolition of the barriers ans obstacles to communion. In the early Fathers we find an emphasis on the link between doctrine and communion as well as an emphasis on the unity of the community often centered on the bishop. In the Latin Fathers the question of doctrine is connected with the links with the apostolic churches and the unity among the bishops themselves is stressed. The Trinity itself is put forth by several fathers as a model of the unity that should exist in the church. Augustine stresses above all the unity of the Body of Christ and the connection of that unity with the Eucharist. A similar emphasis is found in John Chrysostom. Finally with Basil we find the relations within the Trinity described as a communion (koinônia), which in turn becomes the model for the communion within the church.
Union and Distinction in the Thought of St. Maximus the Confessor. By MELCHISEDEC TÖRÖNEN
The Journal of Theological Studies , 2008
REVIEWS examination of the eucharist piece by piece, enabling the scholar to examine the similarities and differences between different sources. Considerable attention is given to Roman and eastern influences: the widespread borrowing across the Mediterranean and beyond is ample testimony to Christian travel and curiosity. Smyth is less convincing when he tries to establish the ancient roots of this liturgical family. As he shows, some of the material may indeed pre-date Nicene Christianity, even in the eucharistie prayers, which are, in virtually all the manuscripts, structured around the comparatively late Sanctus and institution narrative. However, links to remarks in Cyprian are tinged with optimism, to say nothing about the claims of continuity with Justin or even the Didache. But Smyth has ably demonstrated the rich seam of evidence for the liturgy of Gaul and Spain, of considerable importance in itself and also for understanding the Roman rite which somehow is taken for granted as the standard western rite but in other ways could be seen as a hybrid between eastern and Gallican traditions.
Founders Journal, 2020
From the editorial page of the journal: Scott Callaham has written an excellent piece on chapter 27, “On the Communion of Saints.” This is a strikingly thorough discussion, a virtual biblical theology, of that rich biblical idea. He brings to bear a comprehensive grasp of the distinctives as well as the unity of the Old and New Testaments, an excellent competency in the biblical languages, and a love for doctrine that arises from careful exegesis. This is an encouraging and spiritually edifying look at the blessing that God has given in our fellowship and union in the gospel.
The discovery at Mainz by Franc Ëois Dolbeau of a new collection of sermons of Augustine has enabled us to study, in far greater detail, the attitude of Augustine to the reform of the cult of the martyrs between 391 and 404. This study aims to understand Augustine's insistence on the need to imitate the martyrs against the background of his views on grace and the relation of such views to the growing differentiation of the Christian community. It also attempts to do justice to the views of those he criticized: others regarded the triumph of the martyrs over pain and death as a unique manifestation of the power of God, in which believers participated, not through imitation but through celebrations reminiscent of the joy of pagan festivals. In this debate, Augustine by no means had the last word. The article attempts to show the continuing tension between notions of the saints as imitable and inimitable ®gures in the early medieval period, and more brie¯y, by implication, in all later centuries.
The Reception of the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon in Latin Christology after Augustine – Nineteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies – Oxford, 5th-9th August, 2024
Among the earliest testimonies to a reception of the Council of Ephesus in 431, Vincent of Lérins plays a significant role in fifth-century Latin Christology after Augustine. It is true that Vincent is remembered on a theological level above all for his thinking concerning the ecclesiastical tradition and the development of dogma; and it is true that Hipponate's own fame risks overshadowing other fifth-century Latin authors. However, the specific contribution of the monk of Lérins in the field of Christology deserves to be investigated, having as a key to understanding precisely his reception of the Council of Ephesus, not only as a confirmation of his own principle of ecclesiastical tradition, but also as a source of his theological thought, in dialogue with previous Latin Christological authors. At least three focal points at the Christological level are identified in this contribution, through the recurrence of specific key expressions. We will start from the unity of Christ, expressed by Vincent through the Augustinian expression una persona-or unitas personae-and his own more typical locution unus idemque Christus, which takes up the Greek unitive tradition that comes to Ephesus thanks to Cyril, but also Gregory of Nazianzus, arriving at a clear anti-Nestorian option. We will then move on to the consideration of the duplicity of substances, in which the monk of Lérins confirms the fundamentally diphysite approach of previous Latin tradition through the two phrases consubstantialis Patri consubstantialis matri and perfectus Deus perfectus homo, both of which also have roots that connect with an anti-Apollinarian Greek substratum. Finally, we will conclude with the theme of communicatio idiomatum, declined in the context of Theopaschism and especially of Mary's divine motherhood, which leads to the affirmation of the Marian title of Theotocos and to an original Christological proposal by Vincent.