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proceeds (πρόεισι) through the Son and is perfected (τελειοῡται) in the Holy
Spirit.’ 13

Part B: The Sending of the Holy Spirit in Time

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7. We affirm that the Holy Spirit, sent by the Lord Jesus Christ, speaks in and
gives life to the Church and, as we confess together in the Creed, makes it
‘One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic’.

‘One’
8. We affirm that the Holy Spirit makes the Church one, united with Christ,
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through holy Baptism in the name of the Trinity. Baptism, which is rebirth to
life in the Spirit, requires the confession of the One Apostolic Faith. Thus the
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unity of the Church, that is the communion of all the local churches confessing
the one faith in Christ, is realized by the Holy Spirit who dwells in those who
believe: ‘There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one
hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of
all, who is above all and through all and in all.’ 17
9. The Spirit, the giver of life, guarantees the oneness of the body of Christ, the
Church. Without the Spirit, the body becomes lifeless. Through the activity of
the Spirit, the faithful have communion in the sacraments of the Church and
hence in the gift of eternal life granted by the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit
bonds the baptized faithful together with the Lord in a koinonia (κοινωνία) of
concord and love. He enables the unity of the people of God in conformity
with the image of the communion of love within the Trinity described as peri-
choresis (περιχώρησις). Therefore St Paul exhorts the Church ‘to maintain the
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unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’. As God is one in the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, so also the Church, in all its diverse rich traditions, preserves the
unity of faith. The Holy Trinity is the supreme model of Christian unity. Believ-

13 PG 45, 125; Gregory of Nyssa, ‘On “Not Three Gods” to Ablabius’, in Philip Schaff, ed., Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. V (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1978), 334.
14 Cf. John 16.7.
15 Cf. Matthew 28.19.
16 Cf. Romans 6.4; 7.6.
17 Ephesians 4.4–6.
18 Ephesians 4.3.

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