KOINONIA. Community, especially the community of the faithful, of whom St. Luke says they formed a fellowship (koinonia) of believers who worshiped together and held all their possessions in common (Acts 2:42-47). It was also the favorite term of St. Paul to identify the union of the faithful with Christ and among themselves, and it was the Church’s term in the earliest creeds for the communion of saints, i.e., the believers on earth, the souls in purgatory, and the elect in glory.