Irenaeus attacks the Gnostics on the flesh

[Terrance]

And St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, writing around A.D. 160, says:

                 He took that created thing, bread, and gave thanks and
said, ‘This
                 is My body.’ And the cup likewise, which is part of
that creation to
                 which we belong, He confessed to be His blood, and
taught the new
                 oblation of the new covenant; which the Church
receiving from the
                 apostles, offers to God throughout all the world. . . .
Then again,
                 how can they [Gnostic heretics] say that the flesh,
which is
                 nourished with the body of the Lord and with His blood,
goes to
                 corruption and does not partake of life? . . . When,
therefore, the
                 mingled cup and the manufactured bread receives the
Word of God,
                 and the Eucharist of the blood and the body of Christ
is made, from
                 which things the substance of our flesh is increased
and supported,
                 how can [the Gnostics] affirm that the flesh is
incapable of
                 receiving the gift of God, which is life eternal, which
[flesh] is
                 nourished from the body and blood of the Lord, and is a
member of
                 Him? (Against Heresies, 4:17:5, 4:18:4-5, 5:2:3)