Therefore it is clear why water is associated with the Spirit: because of baptism's dual purpose. On the one hand, the body of sin is destroyed, that it may never bear fruit for death. On the other hand, we are made alive by the Spirit, and bear fruit for holiness. The water receives our body as a tomb, and so becomes the image of death, while the Spirit pours in life-giving power, renewing souls that were dead in sin the life they first possessed. This is what it means to be born of water and Spirit: the water accomplishes our death, while the Spirit raises us to life. - St Basil the Great, *On the Holy Spirit* par. 35.
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