A collection of scriptural meditations from Saints and Fathers of the Church.

Of the Only Case in Which Anger is Good... But we have a use for anger most properly planted within us, and for this use alone it is profitable and healthful for us to entertain it, namely, when we burn with wrathful indignation against the lustful motions of our own hearts, and are enraged to find that those things which we should be ashamed to do or to speak of before men have found admittance into the secret places of our minds. We may then well dread and fear exceedingly the presence of the Angels and the Omnipresence of God Himself, and His all-seeing Eye from which no secrets of our hearts can lie hid.

The first step toward freedom from anger is to keep the lips silent when the heart is stirred; the next, to keep thoughts silent when the soul is upset; the last, to be totally calm when unclean winds are blowing.

If you want to pray properly, do not let yourself be upset or you will run in vain.

Apt silence bridles anger.

Silence of lips is better and more wonderful than any edifying conversation. Strive to acquire humility and submissiveness. Never insist that anything should be according to your will, for this gives birth to anger. Do not judge or humiliate anyone, for this gives birth to anger. Do not judge or humiliate anyone, for this exhausts the heart and blinds the mind, and thereon leads to negligence and makes the heart unfeeling.

If, wishing to correct another, you are moved to anger, you gratify your own passion. Do not lose yourself in order to save another.

A brother asked Abba Isidore the priest, 'Why are the demons so frightened of you?' The old man said to him, 'Because, ever since the day I began practicing ascesis, I have striven to prevent anger from reaching my lips.'

Long-suffering and readiness to forgive curb anger; love and compassion wither it.

Through anger the brightness of the Holy Spirit is shut out from the soul.

Truly, arrogance knows that it is guilty; therefore it places anger at the gate, to act as its sentry.

He who has put a stop to anger has also destroyed remembrance of wrongs; because childbirth continues only while the father is alive.

Paissy the Great, having lost his temper, begged the Lord to deliver him from irritability. The Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Paissy, if thou dost not wish to get angry, desire nothing, neither criticize nor hate any man, and thou wilt have no anger.’

Do not let the sun go down on the anger of your brother (Eph. 4:26); that is, let no one be angry and enraged against his brother until the setting of the sun.

How then shall we escape the disasters that anger brings? By training the force of our feelings not to rush ahead of the power of reason.

It is not possible for a man to control his anger when abused, or to overcome trials with patience when afflicted, if he is not willing to take the last and lowest place among other men.

Through anger wisdom is lost, so that we no longer know what we are to do, or in what manner we should do it.

Make the body serve the commandments, keeping it so far as possible free from sickness and sensual pleasure.

As galloping horses race one another, so a good community excites mutual fervor.

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5025 E. Mill Rd
Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147

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