Anger in the Writings of John Cassian (with ten remedies)

(as seen in The Institutes & The Conferences)

INTRODUCTION

By posting this article, am not attempting to explain away the Scriptural exhortation to “Be angry, and do not sin,” but I only want to remind myself and others that the Apostle Paul also said, “do not let the sun go down on your wrath” (Eph 4:26). In fact, according to Scripture and the teachings of the early Christians, anger (whether it is a short eruption or a long, slow burn) is spiritually dangerous. However, we plainly read of God being angry, and of Jesus having anger (Mk 3:5). We also read of incidents in Jesus’ life where His zeal for righteousness & justice cause Him to act and speak in such a manner that it is hard to imagine Him doing it with a big smile and with His face lit up with joy (cleansing the Temple; rebuking the Jewish leaders, etc). I am inclined to believe that we, the adopted sons & daughters of God, are more prone to err in this particular passion than Jesus, but this article is not an exhaustive Scriptural study on the subject of anger. Instead, in order to fulfill a requirement for a seminary class I once enrolled in, I had to “Compose a research paper on a particular topic from the readings in John Cassian,”[1] and so I am sharing the results of it. Other Christians who desire to purify themselves as He is pure (1 Jn 3:3) might be interested in this subject. Maybe they’ve had some of the same struggles I’ve had, and might benefit from what John Cassian had to say on this matter, because after completing the first block of reading that was assigned for the class, it became VERY obvious what topic would be most fitting for me to write about because it kept jumping off the pages of The Institutes,[2] clamoring for my attention. Continue reading John Cassian speaks on Anger →