The Spirit of God and the Church

The gift of God (the Spirit) has been entrusted to the Church, as breath was to the first created man, for this purpose, that all the members receiving it may be vivified; and the [ means of ] communion with Christ has been distributed throughout it, that is, the Holy Spirit, the earnest of incorruption, the means of confirming our faith, and the ladder of ascent to God…. For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church, and every kind of grace; but the Spirit is truth. Those, therefore, who do not partake of Him, are neither nourished into life from the mother‘s breasts, nor do they enjoy that most limpid fountain which issues from the body of Christ.

St Irenaeus of Lyons

Against Heresies, III, 24, 1.

ANF I, 458.