Κεφ. ϞΓ'
The Proper Direction of Anger
Macarius explains that anger is destructive when turned against people but spiritually aligned when directed against demonic forces.
Macarius, the Egyptian elder and chosen instrument, asked me, "Why is it that when we hold grudges against people, we destroy the soul’s power of memory, but when we direct our anger against demons, we remain unharmed?" When I could not think of an answer and asked him to explain, he said, "Because the first is contrary to the nature of anger, while the second accords with its nature."✦1
Read the original Latin
Ἠρώτησέ με τὸ σκεῦος τῆς ἐκλογῆς ὁ Αἰγύπτιος γέρων Μακάριος· τί δήποτε μνησικακοῦντες μὲν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὴν μνημονευτικὴν δύναμιν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀφανίζομεν, δαίμοσι δὲ μνησικακοῦντες ἀβλαβεῖς διαμένομεν; Κἀμοῦ πρὸς τὴν ἀπόκρισιν ἀπορήσαντος καὶ παρακαλοῦντος τὸν λόγον μαθεῖν, διότι, φησὶν ἐκεῖνος, τὸ μὲν πρότερον παρὰ φύσιν, τὸ δὲ δεύτερον κατὰ φύσιν ἐστὶ τοῦ θυμοῦ.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Acts.9.15 — But the Lord said to him, "Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.
Notes
- 1 ↩Literally “the vessel of election,” a scriptural title rendered here as “chosen instrument” for natural contemporary English.
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.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent