Κεφ. ΚΔ'
The Proper Use of Anger
The soul's capacity for anger is a natural tool that must be redirected from worldly conflict toward spiritual warfare against demonic influence.
By nature, the power of anger fights against demons and struggles for whatever pleasure it desires.1 For this reason, the angels set spiritual pleasure before us, along with the blessedness that comes from it, and urge us to turn our anger against the demons. The demons, in turn, draw us toward worldly desires and force that power, against its nature, to fight against other people, so that the mind—darkened and fallen away from knowledge—might betray the virtues.
Read the original Latin
Φύσις θυμοῦ τὸ τοῖς δαίμουσι μάχεσθαι καί ὑπὲρ ἡστινοσοῦν ἡδονῆς ἀγωνίζεσθαι. Διόπερ οἱ μὲν ἄγγελοι τὴν πνευματικὴν ἡμῖν ἡδονὴν ὑποβάλλοντες καὶ τὴν ἐκ ταύτης μακαριότητα, πρὸς τοὺς δαίμονας τὸν θυμὸν τρέψαι παρακαλοῦσιν· ἐκεῖνοι δ' αὖ πάλιν πρὸς τὰς κοσμικὰς ἐπιθυμίας ἕλκοντες ἡμᾶς, τὸν θυμὸν παρὰ φύσιν μάχεσθαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις βιάζονται, ἵνα σκοτισθεὶς ὁ νοῦς καὶ τῆς γνώσεως ἐκπεσὼν προδότης γένηται τῶν ἀρετῶν.
Notes
- 1 ↩Here θυμός means the soul’s forceful or spirited power, which can be directed rightly or wrongly; “the power of anger” preserves that distinction better than “anger” alone.
The Praktikos companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
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