Гнев

We hear, as clearly expressed in the parables, that anger destroys even the wise (Prov. 15:1); We also hear the apostolic exhortation: let all... rage, and anger, and crying... with all malice be put away from you (Eph. 4:31); We hear that the Lord also says: he who is angry with his brother in vain is subject to judgment (Matthew 5:22); and now, when we have experienced this passion, a passion that was not revealed within ourselves, but from outside, like some unexpected storm, hitting us, 30 now we have learned most of all how amazing the Divine prescriptions are worthy. Having given place to anger, like a free path to a rushing stream, and in a calm state observing the unseemly confusion of those possessed by this passion, we actually learned the truth of the saying that an ardent husband is not comely (Prov. 11:25) 31. This passion, as soon as it once rejects the suggestions of reason and takes possession of the soul, already makes a person a perfect beast and does not allow him to be a man, depriving him of the help of reason. As there is poison in poisonous animals, there is irritation in angry animals. They rage like dogs, rush like scorpions, bite like snakes. Likewise, Scripture calls those possessed by this passion by the names of those animals to which they are likened by their vice. It calls them dumb dogs (see Isa. 56:10), serpents, brood of vipers (see Matt. 23:33). And for their willingness to mutually destroy each other and harm their fellow tribesmen, it is fair to classify them as beasts and poisonous animals, which by nature have an irreconcilable hatred of people (1). Why do people quickly become irritated, inflamed by unimportant reasons; screaming, growing fierce, rushing more recklessly than any poisonous animal, until they stop, until, from the excess and incurability of evil, their anger, like a bubble, bursts and the fever cools down? Neither the edge of a sword, nor fire, nor any other terrible thing can restrain a soul driven into a frenzy by anger, almost as much as a person possessed by a demon, from whom the angry one does not differ either in appearance or spiritual disposition. Those who want to repay an insult with an insult have blood boiling in their hearts, seething and bubbling, as if on a strong fire; rushing to the surface of the body, it shows the angry man in a different form, replacing his ordinary and well-known features as if with a mask used for disgrace 32 . You don’t recognize those eyes that are characteristic and common to them; on the contrary, the gaze wanders and sparkles with fire. They grind their teeth like pigs as they charge at each other. The face is gloomy and bloodshot; the whole body is inflated, the veins are ready to burst, because the spirit is agitated by an internal storm. The voice is cruel and tense, the speech is incoherent, goes into excess, flows inseparably, out of order, incomprehensible. And when, like fire with an abundance of combustible matter, a person is inflamed to the extreme degree of distress for him - then, oh! - then you will see such sights that cannot be retold in words and cannot be endured in practice. He raises his hands against his fellow tribesmen, raises them to all parts of the body, his feet mercilessly trample the most important members; whatever comes into his hands becomes an instrument of his rage. And if on the opposite side the same evil is met ready to fight back - similar anger and fury of an equal degree - in this case, those irritated in a mutual battle inflict everything on each other and suffer from each other that is only typical for those fighting under the influence of such a demon to endure; Such warriors, as a reward of anger, often receive damage to their limbs or even death. One inflicts offense with his hand, the other takes revenge with the same; one responds to the blow with a new blow, the other does not want to give in. My lips are already broken, but irritation takes away the feeling of pain. They don’t even have time to feel what they have suffered, because their whole soul is occupied with taking revenge on the offender (1). How can we avoid the harm caused by our anger? If we instill our irritability not to prevent reason, but first of all we will take care that thought never goes ahead; Let us treat her like a horse, which is given to us to control, like some kind of bridle, submits to reason, never steps out of its own duty, but goes where reason tells it. The irritable power of the soul is still useful to us for many deeds of virtue, when it, like some warrior who has laid down his arms before the leader, readily gives help where ordered and promotes reason against sin. For irritability is a mental nerve that gives the soul strength for wonderful undertakings. And if when it happens that the soul is weakened by voluptuousness, irritability, tempering it, like iron is tempered by immersion, turns it from weak and very pampered into courageous and severe. If you are not angry against the evil one, it is impossible for you to hate him as much as you should. I think that one should love virtue and hate sin with equal zeal. For this, irritability is very useful when, like a dog following a shepherd, following reason, it remains meek and obedient to those who provide help, soon runs to the call of reason, but becomes ferocious from someone else’s voice and gaze, although they seem friendly, and shrinks with fear when it hears the voice of an acquaintance and friend. This is the best and most correct assistance that an irritating force can provide to the rational part of the soul. In this case, she will be irreconcilable with those who intend evil, will not enter into any relations with them, will never enter into friendships that are harmful, but, on the contrary, will always bark and rush at insidious voluptuousness like a wolf. Such is the benefit of irritability, if one knows how to control it; because every other ability, according to the way it is used, is either bad or good for the one who has it (1). What the Creator has given us for salvation, let us not turn it into a reason for sin! In this case, irritability, brought into action when it should and as much as it should, produces courage, patience and self-control; and if he acts contrary to common sense, he turns into rage. Therefore, the psalm admonishes us: when you are angry, do not sin (Ps. 4:5). And the Lord in vain threatens the angry with judgment, but does not forbid where anger should be used, as if in the form of medicine. For the words: I will put enmity between you and the serpent (Gen. 3:15), and: Enmity with the Midianites (Num. 25:17), are the words of one who teaches to use irritability as a weapon. Therefore, Moses, the meekest of all people (Num. 12:3), when punishing idolatry, armed the hands of the Levites to kill their brothers. He said: put every sword on your thigh, go through the camp from gate to gate and back, and kill every one his brother... friend... every one his neighbor (Ex. 32:27). And soon afterwards it was said: Moses said: Today consecrate your hands to the Lord, every one of you in his son and in his brother, that He may send you a blessing today (Exodus 32:29). What exonerated Phinehas? Isn't there righteous anger against those who have gone astray? He was very philanthropic and meek, but when he saw the fornication clearly and shamelessly committed by Zimri and the Midianite woman, so that they did not hide the shameful sight of their cold, 33 then, without suffering this, he took advantage of his irritability in a timely manner and pierced both of them with a spear (Num. 25: 7, 8). And did not Samuel kill in righteous anger, bringing out on Wednesday 34 the king of the Amalekites, Agag, whom Saul saved, contrary to God’s command (see 1 Sam. 15:32, 33)? Thus, irritability is often the servant of good deeds. And the zealot Elijah, in a reasonable and chaste irritation for the benefit of all Israel, put to death four hundred and fifty priests of the cold and four hundred priests of the forest, eating from the table of Jezebel 35 (1 Kings 18:19). But you are angry with your brother in vain. For is not anger in vain when one is the cause of an action, and you are irritated by another? Are you not doing the same thing as dogs who gnaw a stone, but do not touch the one who throws the stone? The one who serves as an instrument of action is pitiful, but the one who acts is hated. Turn your irritability against him - against the murderer, the Father of lies, the doer of sin; but be compassionate towards your brother, who, if he continues in sin, will be consigned to eternal fire along with the devil... How can we prevent passion from being aroused where it shouldn’t? How to do it? First learn humility, which the Lord commanded both in word and in deed. He commanded in a word when he says: whoever wants to be first among you must be last of all (Mark 9:35); He showed it by deed when he meekly and without an angry movement suffered the one who hit him. The Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, Whom every creature, both intelligent and sensual, worships, upholding everything with the word of His power (Heb. 1:3), did not cast him down alive into hell, did not command the earth to open up under the wicked, but exhorts and teaches him: if I said bad, show that it is bad; What if it’s good that you beat Me? (John 18:23). If, according to the commandment of the Lord, you learn to be the least of all, will you ever be able to become indignant, as if you have received an undeserved insult? When a foolish child reproaches you, his reproaches will give you a reason to laugh. And when a madman, crazy in his mind, speaks dishonest words to you, you consider him worthy of pity rather than hatred. Therefore, as a rule, it is not words that arouse grief in us, but contempt for the one who reproached us and each person’s idea of ​​himself. Therefore, if you destroy both in your thoughts, what you pronounce will be nothing more than empty noise of sounds. So, cease your anger and leave your rage (Ps. 37:8), so that you do not know by experience the wrath that is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Rom. 1:18). For if you are able to use a chaste mind to cut at the bitter root of irritability, then you will destroy many passions at their very beginning. Cunning, suspicion, mistrust, malice, malicious intent, insolence and the whole swarm of similar vices are the offspring of this sin. Therefore, we will not allow such great evil into ourselves - this mental illness, clouding of reason, alienation from God, ignorance of kinship, the beginning of battles, the fullness of disasters; this evil demon, which arises in our very souls, like some restless inhabitant, occupies our insides and blocks the entrance to the Holy Spirit. For where there is enmity, quarrels... strife, disagreements (Gal. 5:20), competitions that produce incessant rebellions in souls, there the Spirit of meekness does not rest. But, having submitted to the admonition of blessed Paul, let us take from ourselves all rage, and anger, and crying... along with all malice (Eph. 4:31), let us be kind and merciful to one another, waiting for the blessed hope promised to the meek (for blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth; Matt. 5:5), in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion forever! (1) Are you proud and hot-tempered? Where does your anger come from? From lack of respect? Can't you bear to hear about your humble origins? Do you immediately feel angry? Are you trying to express yourself worse than what you heard? Lower your gaze and your anger will cease. Look at the earth and think: he said that I, who came from the earth, am of low birth. He said less significant compared to what I am; After all, he did not say that I am from the earth, but he said that I am from man. How much more worthy is a man who has a soul than the ground that is trodden down! I look at the earth as an ancient mother, therefore to be born of a slave is not a shame, but an honor, since I was born with a soul. The one who thought to insult me, without knowing it, rather honored me than insulted me. I, for my part, have an understanding of my nature, I know who I am and where I came from. Thus, the memory that we came from the earth never allows our anger to awaken. May the earth, eternally existing and reminding of itself, be a companion to the mind! (3) How can you not get angry? If you always remain in the thought that you are before the eyes of the spectator God and the existing Lord is near you. For what kind of subject, in front of the sovereign’s eyes, would dare to do anything displeasing to him? Also, if you do not expect obedience from others, but you yourself will be ready to obey, considering everyone superior to you. For if anyone demands obedience for his own benefit, then let him know that the word of the Lord teaches that everyone should serve others. And if he is punished for disobedience to the Lord’s commandment, then he needs not anger, but mercy and compassion, in order to act like the one who said: whoever faints, with whom would I not faint? (2 Cor. 11:29) (5). Others say that it is impossible for a person not to be angry. If a warrior could be angry in the eyes of the king, then even in that case what was said would have no basis. For if the gaze of a person, by nature of equal honor, by the superiority of his rank, restrains him from passion, then how much more will he restrain himself who is undoubtedly sure that God has the viewer of his own movements, since God, who tests hearts and wombs, sees spiritual movements much better than man sees external ones (5). What does the apostle demand when he says: when you are angry, do not sin; let not the sun go down on your anger, having said, however, in another place: let all bitterness and wrath and anger and crying and slander be put away from you along with all malice (Eph. 4:26, 31)? I think that the apostle leads the word here in imitation of the Lord. For just as the Lord in the Gospel, having said first: what was said by the ancients, this and that, then adds: but I tell you this (Matthew 5:21, 22), so the apostle here, first mentioning the ancient saying that was said to those who lived at that time: when you are angry, do not sin (Ps. 4:5), soon then he adds from himself what is appropriate for us, saying: all let bitterness and rage and anger and shouting and slander be put away from you with all malice (5). Infected - infected, struck. There is no Russian translation of this phrase. A mask used in a view. Stud - shame, disgrace, disgrace. That is, false prophets, priests of Baal, eating from the table of Jezebel, the idolatrous queen who killed the prophets of the Lord. You might be interested in: