On Useful Anger

 

Be angry and sin not (Psalm 4:4).

Be angry with yourself, brethren, and sin no more. Be angry at your sins of thoughts and deeds, and sin no more. Be angry with Satan the father of lies (John 8:44), and no longer do his will. Be angry at sin in the world and the trampling of God's holy Church by godless men, but beware that you do not cure sin by sin. Be angry with your friends when they sin; but be angry with the intention to correct them, and not to embitter them even more. The anger of a friend toward a friend, and the anger of parents toward their children-and of God toward men-is not a storm that uproots the tree but a wind that strengthens the tree, and rids it of rotten fruit so that the healthy fruit will increase in number and beauty. But let your anger have measure, so that it may be healing and not poisonous. In order to have this kind of control, keep God before you in your anger. There is no stronger containment for anger than God. All anger that is not in the name of God and God's righteousness is a sin. Do not become angry for the sake of idleness, but become angry for that at which God is angered. If your will is firmly set in God's law, you will always know when it is necessary to be angry, and how much is needed. This cannot be expressed entirely in words, nor can it even be explained to the uneducated. Anger, in its place, acts as mercy does in its place. O my brethren, do you see how various powers are placed in our souls, and man, by his free will, can utilize them for life or death? Anger toward oneself can never be recommended enough. Here is a wonderful example: the more a man learns to be angry with himself, the less he is angry with others. Carried away with anger at his own weaknesses, he either does not see the weaknesses of others, or when he does see them, he judges them kindly.

O Lord God, Thou only righteous One, implant in us the remembrance of the Day of Thy righteous anger, so that we may protect ourselves from spiritual sin.

To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.(Prologue from Ohrid, October 4th)

6. "Be ye angry, and sin not" (ver. 4) For the thought occurred, Who is worthy to be heard? or how shall the sinner not cry in vain unto the Lord? Therefore, "Be ye angry," saith he, "and sin not." Which may be taken two ways: either, even if ye be angry, do not sin; that is, even if there arise an emotion in the soul, which now by reason of the punishment of sin is not in our power, at least let not the reason and the mind, which is after God regenerated within, that with the mind we should serve the law of God, although with the flesh we as yet serve the law of sin consent thereunto; or, repent ye, that is, be ye angry with yourselves for your past sins, and henceforth cease to sin. "What you say in your hearts:" there is understood, "say ye:" so that the complete sentence is, "What ye say in your hearts, that say ye;" that is, be ye not the people of whom it is said, "with their lips they honour Me, but their heart is far from Me. In your chambers be ye pricked." This is what has been expressed already "in heart." For this is the chamber, of which our Lord warns us, that we should pray within, with closed doors. But, "be ye pricked," refers either to the pain of repentance, that the soul in punishment should prick itself, that it be not condemned and tormented in God's judgment; or, to arousing, that we should awake to behold the light of Christ, as if pricks were made use of. But some say that not, "be ye pricked," but, "be ye opened," is the better reading; because in the Greek Psalter it is katanughte, which refers to that enlargement of the heart, in order that the shedding abroad of love by the Holy Ghost may be received.(St. Augustine of Hippo)

I suffer from anger issues. Why, I do not know - this is something that I will hopefully discuss with my therapist if ever I can get back into counseling. Perhaps it comes from selfishness, perhaps I am angry at myself and I have no way of dealing with that in a healthy manner, perhaps it stems from being taught one thing as a child only to see the opposite done by my parents and family. I really do not know. I am definitely not trying to make excuses for my anger.

 

It is nobody's fault but my own. Angry at my brother, my sister, my friends? It is my fault for allowing myself to be angry at them. Sure, their actions, words, or attitude may not have been proper or right, but it is on me if I allow those things to anger me.

 

Being angry can be healthy, it is after all an emotion. But how we deal with that anger can be very unhealthy - just like how we deal with other emotions.

 

When we sin, we absolutely should be angry with ourselves - not to the point of flagellating our backs with whips to beat the devil out of us - but so we can recognize where we went wrong and try to fix the issue in a healthy way. We should step back and take a look at what caused us to stumble, and be determined to do better. We should not beat ourselves up - mentally or physically - over making mistakes, but understand that we did indeed make a mistake and try to do better.

 

We can be angry when someone else sins - especially against us. But we use that anger in a constructive way to gently correct. We do not use that anger to lash out and strike - verbally or physically; we do not turn ourselves into monsters to prove that the other person was wrong. Gently, we should correct those who err, understanding that we too err.

 

As St. Augustine says, even if we are angry do not let that cause us to sin. And it is OK to be angry with our past sins, and use that anger to help us sin no more.

 

The rest of Psalm 4:4 says to search (or commune with) our own hearts and be still (or be pricked). Search our hearts, search for what is making us angry and contemplate that. Be still, be not quick to action, but be still so we can deal with our anger without causing harm to ourselves or others. Definitely advice that I should heed, advice I should have heeded throughout my life. 

 

I have learned (and am still learning) that when I am angry that I should stop and pray. Typically the Jesus Prayer, or just saying something along the lines of, "God help me and remove this anger from me." Breathing exercises help as well. But, as is too often the case, I allow my anger to overwhelm me and I allow myself to forget to stop, breath, and pray. This is often detrimental to my relationships - with my family, with my friends, and even with myself.

 

For me, anger issues are a thing that I have struggled with for years. I denied that I even had anger issues to the point of being angry when people would point out that I was unnecessarily angry. Looking back through the memories that I have of my life, I realize (and have for some time) that I do indeed have anger issues. And, I have been for some time trying to curb those issues. It is definitely one of my largest struggles. I pray that one day, I can completely overcome my anger, and use it in a constructive way. I guess you could say that I am angry over my anger.

 

Please pray for me, a sinner.