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

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

When one gets angry, he is deprived of God's protection.

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.'

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.’

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

My children, desire to purify your hearts from envy and from anger with each other, lest death should overcome you, and you will be counted among the murderers. For whosoever hates his brother, kills a soul.

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

Empty your mind of these two things: the belief that you are deserving of great things, or the thought that any man is beneath you. If you do this anger will never be permitted to rise up within you.

Just as the most bitter medicine drives out poisonous things, so prayer joined to fasting drives evil thoughts away.

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.

Along with an evil thought, a hostile power enters into us, and then the soul is clouded, and evil thoughts harass her.

Leaves, whether of gold or lead, placed over the eyes, obstruct the sight equally, for the value of gold does not affect the blindness it produces. Similarly, anger, whether reasonable or unreasonable, obstructs our spiritual vision.

He who fears God will pay careful attention to his soul and will free himself from communion with evil.

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.

You know that evil entered into us through the transgression of the commandments. Hence it is obvious that by keeping them, evil departs from us. But without the doing of the commandments we should not even aspire or hope for purity of soul, because at the very outset we do not walk on the path that leads us to purity of soul. Do not say that God can give us the grace of purity of soul even without our keeping the commandments.

Do not befoul your intellect by clinging to thoughts filled with anger and sensual desire. Otherwise you will lose your capacity for pure prayer and fall victim to the demon of listlessness.

Prayer is the seed of gentleness and the absence of anger.

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

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5025 E. Mill Rd
Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147

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