Homilia adversus eos qui irascuntur

Homily 10 Against Those Who Are Angry Just as in the case of medical prescriptions, when they are made accurately and according to the principles of the art, their benefit is especially demonstrated after experience; so in the case of spiritual exhortations, when the precepts have received confirming fulfillment, then their wisdom and usefulness for the correction of life and the perfection of those who obey is revealed. For hearing the Proverbs plainly declaring that "Anger destroys even the prudent," and hearing also the apostolic exhortations: "Let all anger and wrath and shouting be removed from you along with every evil," and the Lord saying that one who is angry in vain at his brother is liable to judgment; now when we have come to experience of the passion, not as it occurred within us, but as it fell upon us from without like some unexpected squall, then especially have we recognized the wonder of the divine precepts. Having ourselves given place to anger, like a passage for a violent stream, and observing in tranquility the unseemly disturbance of those possessed by the passion, we have recognized in practice the accuracy of the saying: "A wrathful man is not seemly." For once the passion, having thrust aside reason, has taken over the sovereignty of the soul, it completely bestializes the man, and no longer allows him to be a man, since he no longer has the assistance of reason. For what venom is to venomous creatures, that wrath becomes for those who are provoked. They rage like dogs, they dart like scorpions, they bite like snakes.

Also Scripture knows how to call those who are mastered by this passion by the names of the beasts to which they have likened themselves through their wickedness. For it calls them dumb dogs, serpents, offspring of vipers, and the like. For those who are ready for mutual destruction and for harm against their own kind would rightly be numbered among beasts and venomous creatures, in whom there exists by nature an irreconcilable hatred toward human beings. Because of anger, tongues are unbridled and mouths are unguarded; hands are unrestrained; there are insults, reproaches, slanders, blows, and all the other things that no one could even count—these are the offspring of wrath and anger. Because of anger, the sword is sharpened; the death of a human being at the hand of a human being is dared. Because of this, brothers have not known one another, and parents and children have forgotten nature. For those who are angry first fail to know themselves, and then all their intimates as well. For just as torrents, flowing together into hollows, sweep away whatever they encounter, so the violent and uncontrollable impulses of angry people proceed alike through everything. Gray hair is not respected by those in a rage, nor is a virtuous life, nor the closeness of kinship, nor past favors, nor anything else that is honorable. Anger is a brief madness. Indeed, they often throw themselves into manifest evil, neglecting their own safety in their eagerness for revenge. For, as if goaded by the sting of the memory of those who have grieved them, with their anger leaping and bounding within them, they do not cease until they have given some harm to the one who provoked them, or have received something themselves, if it so happens.

Just as when things violently broken often suffer more than they do to the resistant objects against which they shatter. Who could comprehend the evil? How those quick to anger, kindled by any pretext, shouting and raging, and attacking more shamelessly than any venomous creature, do not stop until through some great and incurable evil, like a bubble, their anger bursts and the inflammation dissipates. For neither the edge of a sword, nor fire, nor any other fearful thing is sufficient to restrain a soul driven mad by anger—any more than it can those possessed by demons, from whom the angry differ neither in appearance nor in the disposition of the soul. For in seeking retaliation, the blood seethes in the heart, as if churned and bubbling by force of fire; and rising to the surface, it shows the angry person in another form, changing the familiar and customary face like a mask on a stage. For their own and familiar eyes are unknown to them; the eye is deranged and already sees fire. And they whet their teeth against those who come to close quarters, like boars. The face is livid and bloodshot; the body swells; veins burst, as the breath is tossed by the internal storm. The voice is harsh and strained, and speech is inarticulate and falls forth at random, not proceeding in parts, nor orderly, nor distinctly. But when, as a flame with an abundance of fuel, it is kindled by provocations to the incurable point, then indeed are seen spectacles neither expressible in words nor bearable in deed.

hands raised against their own kind, and brought against every part of the body, and feet leaping without restraint upon the most vital parts, and every object that comes to sight becoming a weapon for their madness. And if they encounter from the opposite side an equal evil arrayed against them, another anger and an equivalent madness; thus falling upon one another, they did and suffered all that is likely for those led by such a demon to suffer. For they often carry off mutilations of limbs or even deaths as the prizes of their anger, the combatants. One began with unjust hands, the other defended himself; the other struck back, the other did not yield. And the body is cut open by the blows, but the passion deprives them of the perception of pain. For they have no leisure for the perception of what they have suffered, their whole soul being stirred toward vengeance against the one who has grieved them. Do not then heal evil with evil, nor attempt to surpass one another in calamities. For in evil contests, the victor is the more wretched, because he departs having the greater share of sin. Do not, therefore, become a full contributor to an evil collection, nor a worse repayer of a wicked loan. Did he insult in anger? Stop the evil by silence. But you, as if receiving his anger into your own heart like a stream, imitate the winds, which by counter-blast give back what was brought. Do not use your enemy as a teacher, nor emulate what you hate. Nor become like a mirror of the angry man, displaying his form in yourself.

That man is red; but have you not turned crimson? His eyes are bloodshot; but yours, tell me, do they look serene? His voice is harsh; but is yours gentle? Not even the echo in the deserts returns so unbroken to the speaker as insults recoil upon the reviler. Rather, the echo itself is returned the same; but abuse comes back with increase. For what do they shout at one another when they revile? One said "obscure," and the other called him "homebred slave" from "homebred slaves"; this one called him "poor," that one "vagabond"; this one "ignorant," that one "madman"—until their insults, like arrows, run out. Then, when they have slung every abuse from the tongue, they proceed at last to vengeance through deeds. For wrath stirs up strife, strife begets insults, insults produce blows, blows cause wounds, and from wounds often come deaths. Let us check the evil from its first beginning, removing anger from our souls by every means. For thus

May we be able to cut off most evils, as if by some root and beginning, together with this passion. He reviled? Do you bless. He struck? Do you endure. He spits and holds you as nothing? Do you take thought of yourself, that you are from earth, and will be dissolved into earth again. For he who has prepared himself beforehand with these words will find every dishonor less than the truth. For thus you will render the enemy's defense impossible, showing yourself invulnerable to revilings; and you will procure for yourself the great crown of patience, making another's madness an occasion for your own philosophy. Therefore, if you are persuaded by me, even lavish him with insults. He called you obscure, and inglorious, and nobody from nowhere? Do you call yourself earth and ashes. Are you not more dignified than our father Abraham, who called himself these things? He called you ignorant and poor and worth nothing? Do you call yourself a worm, and say that you have your origin from dung, speaking the words of David. To these add also the fine saying of Moses. He, when reviled by Aaron and Miriam, did not complain to God, but prayed for them. Whom do you wish to be a disciple of rather, the God-loving and blessed men, or those filled with the spirit of wickedness? When the temptation of reviling stirs in you, consider that you are being judged, whether through patience you approach God, or through anger you run off to the adversary. Give time to your reasonings to choose the good portion. For either you have benefited that man as well by the example of gentleness, or you have defended yourself more severely through contempt.

For what could be more painful to an enemy than to see his enemy exalted above insults? Do not cast down your own resolve, nor allow yourself to become accessible to those who insult you. Let him bark at you in vain; let him burst with rage against himself. For just as one who strikes a person who does not feel the blow punishes himself (for he neither avenged himself against his enemy nor gave rest to his own anger), so too one who reviles a person who cannot be reviled is unable to find relief from his passion. On the contrary, as I said, he is even more vexed. For immediately from the present circumstances, what is each of you called? The one is a reviler, but you are magnanimous; the one is wrathful and harsh, but you are patient and gentle; the one will repent of what he has uttered, but you will never regret your virtue. Why need I say much? For the one, reviling has closed off the kingdom of the heavens; for revilers will not inherit the kingdom of God. For you, silence has prepared the kingdom. For the one who endures to the end, that one will be saved. But if you defend yourself and set yourself on equal footing with the reviler, what will you plead in defense? That he provoked you by beginning? And what forgiveness is this worthy of? For not even the fornicator, when he shifts the blame to the courtesan as having incited him to sin, is deemed less worthy of condemnation. Neither are there crowns without opponents, nor falls without adversaries. Listen to David saying: "When the sinner stood against me, I was not provoked, nor did I defend myself, but I became deaf and humbled myself, and I was silent from good things." But you are provoked as if by a base thing, namely reviling, yet you imitate it again as if it were good. For behold, you have suffered what you accuse.

Or do you carefully observe the evil of another, while you set no value on your own shame? Is insult an evil thing? Then flee from imitating it. For it is not enough that the other person began it to excuse yourself. It is more just, as I persuade myself, to intensify your indignation, because the one who first became angry did not have the example of self-control before him; but you, seeing the angry man behaving disgracefully, did not avoid becoming like him, but instead you are indignant, you are harsh, and you return his anger. And your passion becomes a defense for the one who preceded you. By the very things you do, you both absolve him of blame and condemn yourself. For if anger is an evil thing, why did you not shun the evil? And if it is worthy of pardon, why are you harsh with the angry man? So, even if you were second to respond in kind, this will not benefit you. For in the crown contests, it is not the one who begins the wrestling, but the one who overcomes who is crowned. Therefore, it is not only the one who initiates the evil who is condemned, but also the one who follows a wicked leader into sin.

If someone calls you poor, if he speaks the truth, accept the truth; but if he lies, what is the saying to you? Do not be puffed up by praises that exceed the truth, nor grow savage at insults that do not touch you. Do you not see how arrows naturally glance off hard and resistant surfaces, but in soft and yielding ones they lose their force? Consider that something similar is true of abuse. The one who resists admits it into himself; but the one who gives way and yields, by the softness of his character, dissolves the malice directed at him. Why does the name "poor" disturb you? Remember your own nature: that you came into the world naked, and naked you will depart. And what is more destitute than a naked person? You have heard nothing terrible, unless you appropriate the words to yourself. Who was ever led away to prison because of poverty? It is not being poor that is shameful, but not bearing poverty nobly. Remember the Master: that, being rich, he became poor for our sake. If someone calls you foolish and ignorant, recall the Jewish insults with which they reviled true wisdom: "You are a Samaritan, and you have a demon." If you become angry, then you have confirmed the reproaches—for what is more foolish than anger? But if you remain unangered, you have shamed the insulter, having displayed self-control in deed. Were you struck? So was the Lord. Were you spat upon? So was our Master. For he did not turn his face away from the shame of spittings. Were you falsely accused? So was the judge.

They have torn your tunic? They stripped even the Lord, and divided his garments among themselves. You have not yet been judged, you have not yet been crucified. Much is lacking for you to reach his imitation. Let each of these things run through your mind and quell your inflammation. For such preparations and dispositions, removing, as it were, the leaps and palpitations of the heart, bring the thoughts back to stability and calm. And this is indeed what was said by David: "I was prepared, and I was not disturbed." Therefore, one must quell the manic and startling movement of the soul by the memory of the examples of blessed men: how the great David meekly endured the drunken violence of Shimei. For he did not give occasion for anger to be stirred, transferring his thought to God: "The Lord," he says, "commanded Shimei to curse David." Hence, hearing "man of blood" and "lawless man," he was not angry at him, but humbled himself, as if the insult met him according to his worth. Remove these two things from yourself: neither judge yourself worthy of great things, nor think that any man is far inferior to you in worth. For thus anger will never rise up in us against the insults brought upon us. It is terrible that the one who has been benefited and is indebted for the greatest favors should, in addition to ingratitude, also initiate insult and dishonor. It is terrible, but it is a greater evil for the one who does it than for the one who suffers it. Let him insult; do you not insult. Let the words be a training ground for philosophy. If you are not stung, you are invulnerable.

If you suffer something in your soul, keep the grief within yourself. "For in me," he says, "my heart was troubled"; that is, the passion was not diffused outward, but like a wave breaking within the shores was calmed. Quiet for me your heart that barks and rages. Let the passions be ashamed before the presence of the reason in you, just as disorder in children is before the presence of a respected man. How then might we escape the harm from becoming angry? If we persuade the spirited part not to anticipate our reasonings, but first take care that it never runs ahead of our thought; and let us have it like a horse yoked to us, and obedient to reason as to a bridle, never stepping out of its proper order, but led by reason wherever it may guide. For the spirited part of our soul is still suitable for many works of virtue when, like a soldier who has placed his weapons beside his general, it readily provides its assistance for what is commanded and is an ally to reason against sin. For the spirited part is a sinew of the soul, producing tension in it for the steadfast pursuit of good things.

For if at any time it should take the soul relaxed by pleasure, like tempering iron in a forge, it makes it austere and manly from being too soft and slack. For it is not possible, unless you become angry at the wicked, to hate him as much as he deserves. For I think one must have equal zeal both for love of virtue and for hatred of sin. For this purpose anger is especially useful: when, like a dog with a shepherd, anger accompanies reason, remaining gentle and tame toward what is beneficial, and easily recalled by reason, growing fierce at a stranger's voice and appearance, even if it seems to offer service, but cowering when one who is familiar and a friend calls out. This is the best and most measured cooperation of the spirited part with the rational part of the soul. For such a person will be irreconcilable and implacable toward plotters, never accepting friendship with what harms, but always barking at and tearing apart pleasure that plots like some wolf. Such, then, is the benefit from anger for those who know how to handle it. For each of the other faculties also becomes either evil or good for its possessor according to the manner of its use. For example, with the appetitive part of the soul, one who uses it for the enjoyment of the flesh and impure pleasures is abominable and licentious, but one who turns it toward the love of God and the desire for eternal goods is enviable and blessed. And again, with the rational part, one who handles it well is prudent and intelligent, but one who sharpens the mind for the harm of neighbors is malicious and wicked.

Let us not, then, make the means given us for salvation by the Creator an occasion of sin for ourselves. So too, anger, when it is moved at the right time and in the right way, produces courage, endurance, and self-control; but when it acts contrary to right reason, it becomes madness. For this reason the Psalm also admonishes us: "Be angry, and do not sin." And the Lord threatens judgment against one who is angry in vain, but does not reject the use of anger where it is needed, as a kind of remedy. For the words, "I will put enmity between you and the serpent," and "Be hostile to the Midianites," are the teaching of one who uses anger as a weapon. For this reason Moses, the gentlest of all men, in avenging idolatry, armed the hands of the Levites for the slaying of their brothers. "Let each," he says, "place his sword upon his thigh, and go from gate to gate, and return through the camp; and let each kill his brother, and each his neighbor, and each his nearest." And a little later: "And Moses said," it says, "You have filled your hands today for the Lord, each with his son and with his brother, that a blessing may be given upon you." And what justified Phinehas? Was it not righteous anger against those who committed fornication? He, who was for the most part gentle and mild, when he saw the fornication

Zambri and the Midianite woman openly and shamelessly, and they did not conceal the shameful sight of their disgrace, he did not endure it, but used his passion rightly, driving the spear through both of them. And Samuel, did he not bring Agag, the king of Amalek, whom Saul had spared contrary to God's command, into the midst and slay him under the influence of righteous anger? Thus anger often becomes the servant of good deeds. And Elijah the Zealot, did he not, with deliberate and temperate anger, put to death the four hundred and fifty priests of shame and the four hundred priests of the groves, who ate at Jezebel's table, for the benefit of all Israel? But you are angry with your brother for no reason. For how is it not for no reason, when another is the agent, you are angry with someone else? And you do what dogs do: they bite the stones, but do not touch the thrower. The one who is acted upon is pitiable; the one who acts is hateful. Transfer your anger there, to the murderer, the father of falsehood, the worker of sin; but for your brother, have compassion, because if he persists in sin, he will be handed over with the devil to the eternal fire. Just as the names "thymos" and "orgē" are different, so too the things signified by them differ greatly from each other. For "thymos" is, as it were, a kind of kindling and sharp exhalation of the passion; but "orgē" is a persistent grief and a lasting impulse toward requital against those who have done wrong, as if the soul were straining toward vengeance.

It is necessary, therefore, to know that men err in both dispositions: either they are moved madly and impetuously against those who provoke them, or they treacherously and insidiously lie in wait for those who have grieved them; both of which we must guard against. How then might the passion not be moved toward what it ought not? How? If you were first trained in humility, which the Lord both ordained by word and demonstrated by deed: at one time saying, "He who wishes to be first among you, let him be last of all"; at another time, meekly and unmoved, enduring the one who struck him. For the maker and master of heaven and earth, who is worshipped by all of intelligible and sensible creation, who bears all things by the word of his power, did not send him alive into Hades, the earth having gaped open for the impious man, but he admonishes and teaches: "If I spoke evilly, bear witness concerning the evil; but if well, why do you strike me?" For if you become accustomed to being last of all according to the commandment of the Lord, when will you be indignant as though insulted contrary to your worth? When a small child reviles you, you make the revilings an occasion for laughter; and when someone whose mind is deranged by frenzy utters words of dishonor, you consider him pitiable rather than worthy of hatred. Therefore, it is not the words that naturally cause pains, but the contempt for the one who has reviled us, and each person's conceit about himself. So if you remove each of these from your own mind, the things brought forward are but sound echoing emptily in vain.

Cease, therefore, from wrath, and abandon anger, that you may escape the trial of wrath, which is revealed from heaven against every impiety and injustice of men. For if by a prudent reasoning you are able to cut out the bitter root of anger, you will also destroy many of the passions together with this root. For the deceitful and suspicious, the faithless and malignant, the insidious and reckless, and the whole swarm of such evil things, are offshoots of this vice. Let us not, then, bring upon ourselves so great an evil: a sickness of the soul, a darkening of the reasonings, an alienation from God, an ignorance of kinship, a beginning of war, a fullness of calamities, an evil demon engendered in our very souls, and like some shameless inhabitant taking possession of our inner parts beforehand, and blocking the entrance for the Holy Spirit. For where there are hatreds, strifes, angers, contentions, quarrels, producing unceasing tumults in the souls, there the spirit of meekness does not abide. But persuaded by the exhortation of the blessed Paul, let us remove all wrath and anger and shouting from ourselves together with every evil, and let us become kind and compassionate toward one another, awaiting the blessed hope promised to the meek (for blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth), in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom are the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.