Church militant and church triumphant

The community of all believers of the Christian Church as a whole is traditionally divided into:

• The disputants Church (Ecclesia Militans ), consisting of the now living Christians;
• The Church Triumphant (Ecclesia Triumphans ), which includes the deceased in heaven, and
• The sufferer Church (Ecclesia Ecclesia penitens or undergoer ), Hopeful Church (Ecclesia Expectans ) or in Purgatory Church ( Ecclesia in Purgatorio ) consisting of those Christians who just are in purgatory. The last group of terms will be used primarily by Catholic authors.

These terms are often used in the context of the Catholic doctrine of the communion of saints. Although Christians are separated by the death of a natural way of each other, they remain united together in a church and support each other in prayer.

The Latin word means first militare " serve as a soldier ", but additionally, it took meant here meaning of " struggling to make an effort " to. Christians in the world (the disputants church) are still struggling against sin, hoping to come to her death into the sky and become part of the Triumphant Church, ie Part of those who have triumphed over sin. But if this battle was successful, but not completely successful, then they will be in the Catholic understanding first after her death, part of the suffering church, before they are included in the final Triumphant Church.

The Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Triumphant Church and the sufferer church on two consecutive days: All Saints Day on November 1 and All Souls Day on November 2.