"The early church began from the pole of steadfastness in prayer and the refusal of idolatry, manifesting that hypomone which the Book of Revelation regards as the highest Christian virtue. It is usually somewhat limply rendered "patient endurance," but it is in fact closer to "absolute intransigence," "unbending determination," "an iron will," "the capacity to endure persecution, torture, and death without yielding one's faith." It is one of the fundamental attributes of nonviolent resistance."