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Let all bitterness and wrath be put away from you, with all malice.

Prov. 27. A stone is heavy, and sand is hard to bear; but the anger of a fool is heavier than both.

Prov. 16. A patient man is better than a strong one; and he who rules his anger, than he who captures a city.

The wrath of a king is a messenger of death; but a wise man will appease it.

Sirach 30. Anger and wrath shorten days.

Basil. But defending yourself and retaliating in kind against the reviler, what will be your defense? That he provoked you by starting it? And of what forgiveness is this worthy? For not even the fornicator, shifting the blame onto the harlot, as having incited him to sin, is deemed less worthy of condemnation.

What is more foolish than anger? If you remain without anger, you have shamed the one who insulted you, having demonstrated self-control by your action.

Wrath stirs up a fight, and a fight begets insults; and insults, blows; and blows, wounds; and from wounds, often death.

Of the Theologian. Neither are there crowns without competitors, nor a fall without an adversary.

Wrath is blind and grievous, and especially when righteous indignation is present.

Chrysostom. But when someone insults you, consider the punishment he is suffering; and not only will you not have anger, but you will also shed tears. For no one is provoked at someone with a fever, nor at someone who is inflamed, but pities him completely and weeps. And if you wish to avenge yourself, be silent, and you have given him a timely blow. But if, having been stung, you insult back, you compel what was said to be thought true. For why does the rich man, hearing that he is poor, laugh? Because he is not conscious of poverty in himself. If, therefore, we are to laugh at insults, we will provide the greatest proof, of not being conscious of what is said.

Nothing so muddies the purity of mind and the clarity of the intellect, as disordered anger, carried along with great force.

We have need of more vigorous zeal against anger. For the passion is tyrannical, and often sweeps away those who are not sober, and leads them down to the abyss of destruction.

Are you prone to anger? Be so against your own sins; rebuke your soul; scourge your conscience. Be a harsh judge and (840) a bitter arbiter of your own sins. This is the profit of anger; for this reason God placed it in us.

Of Evagrius. One who abstains from food or drink, but stirs up anger irrationally, this one is like a sea-faring ship, and having a demon as a helmsman.

Of Cyril. What beast is so savage and untamed, as an irascible man, and tyrannized by unrestrained anger?

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Πᾶσα πικρία καί ὀργή ἀρθήτω ἀφ᾿ ὑμῶν, σύν πάσῃ κακίᾳ.

Παροιμ. κζ´. Βαρύ λίθος, καί δυσβάστακτον ἄμμος· ὀργή δέ ἄφρονος βαρυτέρα ἀμφοτέρων.

Παροιμ. ις´. Κρεῖσσον ἀνήρ μακρόθυμος ἰσχυροῦ· ὁ δέ κρατῶν ὀργῆς, ὡς καταλαμβάνων πόλιν.

Θυμός βασιλέως, ἄγγελος θανάτου· ἀνήρ δέ σοφς ἐξιλάσει αὐτόν.

Σιράχ λ´. Ὀργή καί θυμός ἐλαττοῦσιν ἡμέρας.

Βασιλ.´Ἀμυνόμενος δέ καί εἰς ἴσον ἀντικαθιστάμενος τῷ λοιδόρῳ, τί καί ἀπολογήσῃ; Ὅτι παρώξυνε κατάρξας; Καί ποίας τοῦτο συγγνώμης ἄξιον; Οὐδέ γάρ ὁ πόρνος ἐπί τήν ἑταίραν μετατιθείς τήν αἰτίαν, ὡς πρός τήν ἁμαρτίαν διερεθίσασαν, ἧττον τῆς κατακρίσεως ἀξιοῦται.

Τί ὀργῆς ἀφρονέστερον; Ἐάν μείνῃς ἀόργητος, ᾔσχυνας τά ὑβρίσαντα, ἔργῳ τήν σωφροσύνην ἐπιδειξάμενος.

Θυμός ἐγείρει μάχην, μάχη δέ γεννᾷ λοιδορίας· αἱ δέ λοιδορίαι, πληγάς· πληγαί δέ τραύματα· ἐκ δέ τραυμάτων, πολλάκις θάνατος.

Θεολόγου. Οὔτε στέφανοι χωρίς ἀνταγωνιστῶν· οὔτε πτῶμα χωρίς ἀντιπάλου.

Τυφλόν ὁ θυμός καί ἐπίλυπον, καί μάλιστα ὅταν τό δικαίως ἀγανακτεῖν παρῇ.

Χρυσοστ. Ὅταν δέ τις ὑβρίσῃ, ἐννόησον τήν κόλασιν ἥν κολάζεται· καί οὐ μόνον οὐχ ἕξεις ὀργήν, ἀλλά καί δάκρυα ἀφήσεις. Οὐδέ γάρ πρός πυρέττοντά τις παροξύνεται, οὔτε πρός τόν φλεγμαίνοντα ἀλλ᾿ ἐλεεῖ πάντως καί δακρύει. Εἰ δέ καί ἀνύνασθαι βούλει, σίγησον, καί καιρίαν ἔδωκας αὐτῷ τήν πληγήν. Ἄν δέ δηχθείς ὑβρίσῃς, ἀναγκάζεις ἀληθῆ νομίζεσθαι τά λεγόμενα. ∆ιατί γάρ ὁ πλούσιος ἀκούων ὅτι πένης ἐστί, γελᾷ; ὅτι μή σύνοιδεν ἑαυτῷ πενίαν. Εἰ τοίνυν μέλλομεν γελᾷν· ἐπί ταῖς ὕβρεσι, μεγίστην ἀπόδειξιν παρεξόμεθα, τό μή συνειδέναι τοῖς λεγομένοις.

Οὐδέν οὕτω καθαρότητα νοῦ καί τό διειδές θολοῖ τό τῶν φρενῶν, ὡς θυμός ἄτακτος, καί μετά πολλῆς τῆς ῥύμης φερόμενος.

Εὐτονωτέρας ἐπί τῆς ὀργῆς χριῄζομεν τῆς σπουδῆς. Τυραννικόν γάρ τό πάθος, καί πολλάκις παρασύρει τούς μή νήφοντας, καί πρό τό βάραθρον αὐτό κατάγει τῆς ἀπωλείας.

Ὀργίλος εἶ; ἔσο κατά τήν τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων τῶν σαυτοῦ τοιοῦτος· ἐπίπληττε τῇ ψυχῇ· μάστιζε τῇ συνειδήσει σου. Σφοδρός ἔσο κριτής καί (840) πικρός δικαστής τοῖς οἰκείοις ἁμαρτήμασι. Τοῦτο τῆς ὀργῆς τό κέρδος ἐστί· διά τοῦτο ἡμῖν αὐτήν ἐνέθηκεν ὁ Θεός.

Εὐαγρίου. Βρωμάτων ἤ πομάτων ἀπεχόμενος, θυμόν δέ ἀλόγως κινῶν, οὗτος ἔοικε ποντοπορούσῃ νηΐ, καί ἐχούσῃ δαίμονα κυβερνήτην.

Κυρίλλου. Ποῖον οὕτω θηρίον ὠμόν καί ἀνήμερον, ὡς δύσοργος ἀνήρ, καί ἀκράτῳ θυμῷ τυραννούμενος;