RIGHTEOUS ANGER?

We Must Never Allow Ourselves to View Anger as Righteous

Most people, when angered by someone, think the best way to deal with the anger is by avoiding the person who offended us. The problem with this approach is that it allows the anger to take root in the heart, festering as a sinful passion. Because anger is a sin, it can not be conquered by avoiding the person who made us angry. It must be rooted out by love, and this requires us to reach out to the offender.

The Lord said, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head (Romans 12:20).” The only way we can do battle with the passion of anger is by setting aside our petty egos, and reaching out to the offender.

We must realize that the anger we feel is not really about the person who has offended us, but about the sin that lurks in our own hearts. If we were not plagued by the passion of anger, we would not have become angry to begin with. If we are to conquer the sins that have taken root in our own heart, we must return only love and kindness to the person who has offended us. By doing so, we sow the seeds of Christ’s love in both of us.

Sometimes we are even tempted to view our anger as righteous anger, or even proof of our Christian manliness. Yet the most righteous among us are those who, in all humility, correct others, not with anger, but with sweetness of spirit. It is through such humble sweetness that true correction is made, for the person in need of correction is shown the path to true spiritual awakening by having seen the love in the face of the person who has corrected them.

Anger should never be the desired path to correcting others, for the true Christian should always  shine forth in their demeanor, and in their words, the love of Christ. This is especially true when it comes to child rearing. The parent who is always yelling at their child, or worse, striking their child, potentially raises them to be future abusers themselves, and such behavior can be the very thing that drives them from the Church. The verbally abused child often finds it almost impossible to come to know God as their loving father, having been deprived of such love as a child by their biological parents.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Photos: Our Monastery’s Valaam Trail, named after the famous Valaam Monastery in Russia.

Monday August 9, 2021 / July 27, 2021
8th Week after Pentecost. Tone six.
Holy Great-martyr and Healer Panteleimon (305).
Commemoration of the canonization of Venerable Herman of Alaska (1970).
New Hieromartyrs Ambrose, bishop of Sarapul, priests Plato and Panteleimon (1918).
New Hieromartyr John priest (1941).
St. Ioasaph, metropolitan of Moscow (1555).
Blessed Nicholas Kochanov, fool-for-Christ at Novgorod (1392).
Venerable Anthusa, abbess of Mantinea in Asia Minor and her 90 sisters (759).
St. Clement of Ochrid, bishop of Greater Macedonia (916), and Sts. Angelar (10th c.), Gorazd(896), Nahum of Ochrid (910), and Sabbas (10th c.), disciples of Sts. Cyril and Methodius (Bulgaria).
Martyr Christodulus (1777) (Greek).
The blind man who confessed Christ and was martyred with St. Panteleimon (Greek).
853 Martyrs of Thrace who were drowned (Greek).
St. Manuel, monk (Greek).

The Scripture Readings

Luke 21:12-19

12 But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake. 13 But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. 14 Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. 18 But not a hair of your head shall be lost. 19 By your patience possess your souls.

2 Timothy 2:1-10

Be Strong in Grace

2 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. 5 And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops. 7 Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.

8 Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, 9 for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the [c]elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

John 15:17-16:2

17 These things I command you, that you love one another.

The World’s Hatred

18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. 25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

The Coming Rejection

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

Jesus Warns and Comforts His Disciples

16 “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.