“The church of Christ has been founded by shedding its own blood not that of others, by…”

The church of Christ has been founded by shedding its own blood not that of others, by enduring outrage not by inflicting it. Persecutions have made it grow; martyrdoms have crowned it.

Jerome · Letters · NPNF2 VI, Letters, Letter LXXXII, 10

Written to Theophilus of Alexandria, who had sought a decree of exile against him in the Origenist quarrel. Jerome is telling a patriarch what the church is for while that patriarch is using the state against him.