The Communion of Saints- Profoundly Scriptural

Hebrews 12 is the Scriptural basis of the Communion of Saints. What do I mean by the Communion of Saints?
The term is from the Apostles' Creed, a Creed confessed by many bodies of Christians.  The communion of Saints is the mystical spiritual reality that in Christ there is a fellowship within the Church between those in heaven and those on earth and transcends the limits that were hitherto imposed by death before the Victory of Christ, with his death, the harrowing of hell, his resurrection and asencsion.  In the Communion of Saints, we pray to Christ, and ask the prayers of those whose victory in Christ has been won.  In the Communion of Saints, those in heaven follow the example of their head and make intercession for those on earth.
The doctrine of the Communion of Saints scares many Christians in the Protestant tradition, especially in the Evangelical quarter of that movement. It scares them because it does not to their way of thinking have Scriptural foundation. To many the invocation of Saints makes them think of the Old Testament prohibition against necromancy, mediumism, and brings to mind the mediumistic calling of of Samuel by the witch of Endor for King Saul in his time of abandonment by God.
It used to bother me too, and I once wrote a tract in which I expressed my feelings at the time that there was simply no need for the invocation of Saints because communion with the Lord was so fulfilling. 
Along the way I became an Eastern Orthodox Christian and part of that is the acceptance of the doctrine of the Communion of Saints, and we do ask the Saints for prayer.  On the way to Orthodoxy I had a number of interesting experiences that helped to re-shape my thinking, but the most helpful thing for others confronting this issue is to re-visit Scriptures that I think point clearly to the Practice as being firmly based on Scripture. 
To see the Communion of Saints based squarely on Scripture one must have a certain viewpoint of Scripture.  Scripture is not systematic theology. Most of the New Testament was written in order to fix things that were going wrong in the Churches that had already received the full Apostolic Tradition by the teaching of the Apostles- before any  of it had been written down. So Scripture as we have it today was not written to be a complete treatment of the fullness of the Faith.  However, Scripture is the supreme expression of the Faith and so the things that exist within Christian Faith and Practice must find concord in Scripture. However, there are things in the Christian Tradition that are not explicitly stated in Scripture. For example, we are never commanded to celebrate the Resurrection on the first day of the week. However, that was the universal practice of the Church from the beginning.  Scripture itself tells us that we are to observe the written and oral traditions of the Apostles.
 2Th 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle
So, it is possible that a practice in the Church not be expressly commanded or exampled in Scripture yet be fully in accord with its teaching.  This is the case of the Communion of Saints.
It is not expressly commanded or exampled in Scripture but it is fully in accord with It and is a valued part of the Apostolic Tradition.

The Old Testament did not give us any example of the Communion of Saints.  The righteous dead reposed in the place of Abraham's bosom, which was a place that was not torment but it was separated from Paradise and a place of longing by all the righteous of the ages for full redemption promised by the Law and the Prophets.    It took the formation of the Church as the Body of Christ to accomplish two things so as to make the Communion of Saints a reality.  The victory of Christ in his death, resurrrection and asension populated Paradise once again with the righteous of all ages.  And by virtue of the Union of all believers in Christ, whether on earth or in Paradise as members of His body, a communion was established in the Holy Spirit, that hitherto, did not exist, and was a totally new order of existence for human beings.  This spiritual communion in Christ that comprised believers in heaven and on earth laid the conditions for a first fruit as it were, in anticipation of the Resurrection, the full restoration of all of Humanity in Christ. This first fruit was a spiritual communion that all believers, everywhere have in Christ-whether in heaven or in earth. 
It says it in Scripture  'if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.' I John 1:7
There is nothing in this that limits the fellowship to those on earth, and the Church is one body, both in paradise and on earth.  Further, it is a fellowship where one member cannot say of the other, "I have no need of you." , which is the theme of I Corinthians the 12th and 14th chapters, concerning spiritual gifts.    This applies not only to the brother standing in the Nave of the Church across from you but also to the brother, now sainted, standing in the heavenly throne room.  You have need of him and those reposed in Christ awaiting the General Judgment have need of us.  The Scrpture says as much. The foundation of the Church is the Apostles and the Prophets- not 'was' the foundation. Is the foundation. 
There is a mutuality of dependence that exists across the gulf, uniting the Church militant and the Church triumphant.   This dependence is explicit in Scripture.  Jesus Christ the man, ever lives to intercede for us.  Christ is the example for all those in Him in heaven to follow.  Do you think that Christ is ever living to intercede for us, and those who follow Him, their captain, their elder brother, their Savior and their God, do not?  No, those in heaven, who see Him as He is, are like Him, having been made more fully than we can possibly imagine, partakers of the Divine Nature.  As Christ intercedes for us, soalso do the Saints who follow Him. Sure, his mediations are unique for He is the only mediator between God and man, according to nature- for He by His one Person united forever both to the Divine Nature and to the Human.  By His unique existence He is the only mediator between God and man. However, according to grace, there are many who participate in his intercessions, who participate in his mediations, not according to nature, but according to grace. 
Hebrews 12 is the clincher. In Hebrews 12 we must realize that we do not have an academic discourse here being delivered from a parchment that fell from heaven, telling Paul what it was like up there in heaven.  No.  When Paul was writing Hebrews 12 he was describing his experience of heavenly realities in Christ.  Paul was opened to the heavenlies and experienced the reality of the union of heaven and earth that had been effected by the victory of Christ,  and he saw that on the deep level of our being that those on earth were really united, not in a mere legal or positional way, but on the level of their inner being, on an ontological level, have their concourse in heaven.

"But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."
And
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, "

Paul was not speaking metaphorically. He was speaking as the passage says concerning the Church, the called out; those assembled; for the Church is the fellowship of those, not just who have responded to the Gospel, but who, by virtue of the Gospel have been assembled in the heavenly assembly.  We are called, of course, to fellowship with Jesus Christ on the basis of this
having been assembled in heaven. It is the basis for our ability to pray to Him and to be heard of Him and for us to have fellowship and Communion with Him.  But, by the same token, we have also been gathered to the spirits of just men made perfect, that is to say, the Saints, with whom we have spiritual fellowship in the Holy Spirit, and the gathering together with their spirits is the very basis for the ancient and historic practice of the invocation of Saints. It's logic is the same of any prayer request addressed to anyone that we may see on earth who is an earnest believer. Its spiritual certainty has to do with the cosmic change introduced into the human family by the formation of the Church, the general assembly of the First Born- which is comprised of all believers whether still plodding the earth, or passed on into heavenlies, awaiting the General Resurrection.  The Communion of Saints is perfectly grounded in the realities that Paul describes in Hebrews 12. In the light that we have been gathered to the Saints in heaven, not just in a positional or legal sense, but in a real  and ontological sense, how can we not rather conclude that it would be impious to live out our Christian lives without asking for the prayers, not only of Christ, but also His friends, whom He has called to share in His ministry, to rule and reign with Him?  No. The communion of Saints is demanded of us who believe Scripture and meditate on the full implications of the teaching in Hebrews 12. 
Hebrews 12 also finds additional support from the letter of Paul to the Ephesians in the second chapter. 
"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:"

This passage is not simply a fancy way of saying we are saved, but it is pointing to the fundamental change that has happened in the cosmos by Jesus Christ in the Church which is His Body.  We now have being, both in heaven and on earth.  In Jesus Christ heaven and earth are once again united in Him, and by our participation in his life we participate in real heavenly concourse that begins now.  Ephesians 2 is also a foundational passage that undergird the good and pious doctrine of the Communion of Saints.
For this reason, the doctrine of the Communion of Saints was included in what came to be known as the Apostles' Creed.  It was the broad experience of the early Church there was a deep mystical sense of the communion of heaven and of earth.  You see it in the account of the martyrdom of Polycarp in the early writings of the Church. You see it in the Catacombs of Rome where the early Christians asked in writing  for the prayers of the departed.  You find that it is the universal conviction of every one of the ancient Churches, whose traditions go back to the beginning, whether Orthodox, or Roman Catholic, or Egyptian Coptic, or Oriental Orthodox of Syria , India or Armenia. 

The Communion of Saints relates to a larger view of salvation.  Too often in individualistic America where we are focused on getting our individual souls 'saved', we fail to realize that salvation has a larger dimension, and that is the restoration of the Human family, in Christ, the recapitulation of the failed lineage of Adam, in the triumphant headship of Christ.  It is not just saved souls that Christ was after but a restored Humanity.  That is what the Communion of Saints points to- the larger dimension of salvation which was at the heart of Christ's program of salvation. 
Of course, given the human penchant for missing the mark, there has been the abuse of the doctrine of Communion of Saints, superstitious applications of it, imbalance in the presentation of it, casual or flippant use of it. But such is the case with anything that people touch .  Because of abuses we should not throw the baby out with the bathwater. 
This paper I am writing on the 11th of October, which is the Name Day of my Patron Saint.  As I was becoming Orthodox, I wanted to enter into the Communion of Saints carefully and experientially. I did not want to speak about it simply out of a rote repitition of my catachesis.  So, when it came time for me to take a patron saint, I prayed about it. I had been told, you don't pick the saints, they pick you.  So, I prayed,  "Ok, Lord, I am supposed to have a Patron Saint, so I ask you to lead me to one."  "St. Philip", was immediately, inaudibly, and unexpectedly, implanted on my spirit. 
Wow, interesting. I waited a few days, and said, that could be my imagination.  I said, "Lord, how bout some confirmation."  "Acts 8". Once again impressed on my spirit. I remembered St. Philip was in the book of Acts, but I did not remember the chapter. I went and looked up the eighth chapter, and there he was!  Being sent to the heterodox Samaritans, working miracles, evangelizing, a first class deacon!   That sealed it for me. St. Philip is my patron saint.  My Orthodox name is Philip.

Several years earlier, when we were attending a 28 Prayer Book Anglican Church, that had a statue of the Virgin Mary, that made me feel very uncomfortable, we had one Sunday an especially precious Communion Service. The Lord was so very Present in the Bread and the Wine.  And that special presence continued all day. That evening we were driving back from fellowship with our friends the Desroches, and while the family was asleep and I was driving, there came to my attention in that afterglow of the Lord's presence, a presence within His presence, a feminine presence- and I knew that it was His Mother.  That happened and I left it on the shelf for another five years, because at the time, I had no way of handling that experience doctrinally.  I knew is was not a demon; I had had extensive experience in deliverance work, and I knew it was not the enemy.  It took me several years of prayer to come to terms with that experience.  Since that time, there have been times when I have asked Her for prayers, and have had the most precious answers to the glory of God. What can I say? She is His mother; and I love her.  She is a most precious part of the communion of Saints.  Blessed is the word. 
Then there was the time that I woke up one night.  "I'm ok", I heard in my spirit, and I knew that it was my dear elder friend Pastor Will the Lutheran. I woke Mary up and told her.  The next day Mary called me and said, "Pastor Will passed away just about the time that you had that experience.  That was the communion of Saints. 

Then there was the time after I had lost my podiatry license and was unemployed because of a fight with the IRS.  I went to a monastery for a retreat, happened to pick up some literature, that introduced me to a Gr. Gavrilia, and I was just stunned because she was a podiatrist who quit her podiatry at age 56 and was called to other things; the same age that I was when I ceased being a podiatrist.  She became one of my favorite heavenly prayer partners, one who is keenly identified with my current adventures in life. 
So, to my reading of Scripture, and to my experience in Christ, the Communion of Saints is a doctrine most agreeable, and a practice most wholesome and necessary as a part of the great salvation that has come to us through our Lord, Savior and God Jesus Christ, who with His Unoriginate Father, and All holy and good and life-giving Spirit, alone is worshipped and glorified.  Amen.