Anger: That Which Torments Us

St. John Chrysostom when speaking about the anger we have towards others and the anger we continue to harbour or hold against them says,

“For you suppose that you are paying him [the one who angered you] back the injury; but you are first tormenting yourself, and setting up your rage as an executioner within yourself in every part, and tearing up your own bowels [your insides]” St. John Chrysostom, On The Statutes, 20, 6.

For St. John Chrysostom the only one who suffers as a result of the anger we hold against others or the revenge we seek to exact against them is ourselves. We torment ourselves with the anger that fumes within us and boils under the surface until we are able to exact our revenge or perhaps even to go and spill over this anger with venting to another either binding them with the same rage or finding another enemy if they dont agree with us.

Let us seek not to rend our insides apart with anger but rather to cool this fire of rage with love. Love softens the heart, love quells fires, love alone is indestructible.