THE DESTRUCTIVE VICE OF ANGER

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

THE DESTRUCTIVE VICE OF ANGER

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil
speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God in Christ
forgave you" [Ephesians 4:31-32].

Saint Basil the Great recognized the loss of reason in anger,"it makes a man completely bestial…in fact, it does not even allow him to be a man at all, because he no longer has the lelp of his reason." Furthermore, Saint Basil says, "Anger nurses a grievance. The soul, itching for vengeance, constantly tempts us to repay those who have offended." Saint Isaac the Syrian writes: "Do not pass through the streets of the hot-tempered and quarrelsome, lest your heart be filled with anger, and the darkness of delusion dominates your soul." And Saint John Cassian states: "No matter what provokes it, anger blinds the soul’s eyes, preventing it from seeing the Sun of Righteousness."

The deleterious vice of anger has been responsible for even murder which leads to one’s damnation. It is through prayer and obedience to our Lord’s admonition to love our enemies. He said: "But I say to you, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, BLESS THOSE WHO CURSE YOU, DO GOOD TO THOSE WHO HATE YOU, AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO SPITEFULLY USE YOU AND PERSECUTED YOU" [Matthew 5:44]. Having freed us from hate, sadness, and anger, He offers the greatest possession of all–PERFECT LOVE. Saint Theophylact states, "Here has reached the very pinnacle of the virtues. For what is greater than to love one’s enemies? But it is not impossible to accomplish. For Moses and Saint Paul loved the Jews who were raging against them more than they loved themselves, and all the Saints have loved their enemies. "Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you…" . "We bless them because we must consider them our benefactors. For anyone who persecutes us and puts us to the test, lightens the punishment that we will suffer for our own sins. We will also bless them when God gives us the great crown of the contest" writes Saint Theophylact.

The vile passion of anger is detrimental to our salvation. The holy Apostle Paul writes, "Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma" [Ephesians 5:1-2]. In the Gospel of Saint Luke 23:33-34 we are told, "And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, ‘Father, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY DO." This is a remarkable prayer, showing the BOUNDLESS MERCY OF THE CRUCIFIED JESUS. To be imitators of Christ means that we too must show the same mercy to our enemies.

The vice of anger has no place in the heart of the Christian and neither does hatred, vangeans, envy, malice, and vindictiveness. Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also" [Matthew 5:38-39]. Through Christian forbearance it brings both us and our enemy under the yoke of God’s love. We are reminded by the holy Apostle Paul that "the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, JOY, PEACE, LONGSUFFERING, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, SELF-CONTROL" [Galatians 5:22]. Even though someone may attempt to provoke us to anger we must resist and instead respond with kindness, patience, self-control, and gentleness.

Having a hot temper and to lash out at someone is wrong and hurtful to the innocent person. We must exercise self-control at all times and if we are tempted to lose our temper at someone we must immediately seek God’s aid to avoid it. There is no one that deserves any unjust chastement by us. There are some people, however, who get some kind of personal satisfaction or gratification by blowing up at others but that is totally wrong and wicked. That type of attitude is unchristian and becomes an obstacle to our relationship with our Lord and to our spiritual welfare. We, as Orthodox Christians, know that there is an adversary who is relentless in his attacks upon us. We are, therefore, to "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of the age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" [Ephesians 6:11-12]. All who stand for good must wage a constant battle with the forces of evil. For the demons still have power in the world until Christ comes again in glory. Christian fight back with God’s arms, that is, His Uncreated Divine energy, given to us and actively used by us. The Orthodox Christian has "put on" at baptism all of the qualities listed as armor in vv. 14-17 in Ephesians Chapter 6. These qualities must be exercised in the conflict of growth: no struggle, no theosis (deification).

Be gentle and respectful to all. just as Jesus is with all of us. He says to us, "learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart" [Matthew 11:29]. To attempt to justify our wrong actions of flare ups is unacceptable. The good and meek Christian does not place his burdens on others. Everyone has problems, frustrations, disappointments, failures, and worries but we must not take our anger out on others who are not responsible for them. We must instead deal with all our personal issues through prayer, trust in God and faith. To lash out on people who love us and help us is unfair and unjust. This kind of treatment is a form of violence and is directed to people who may be vulnerable and are unable to defend themselves. Violence and physical, emotional, spiritual, or psychological abuse that causes pain and injury to another person is condemned by our Holy Orthodox Church. We all know for a fact, that words and vicious threats can be just as injurious, as physical attacks. Those guilty of such hostile behavior must come to their senses and end it immediately. Also, they need to find a spiritual father or father confessor and participate in the Mystery (Sacrament) of Repentance/Confession. By the grace of God, he or she will be granted forgiveness and reconciliation with God, and those who have been wounded by them.

Christians understand that nothing that we think, say, or do goes unnoticed by God. There are high standards that every Christian must adhere to and values that must be implemented in his or her life. Our behavior today has consequences for the future. As we have been blessed so must we bless others. We, an Orthodox Christians, are living witnesses to God’s graciousness to all of us, unworthy as we are, and the entire world, "Glory Be To GOD for all things!"

___________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George