He said, “Be patient and understanding, and you will master every evil deed and practice all righteousness. For if you are patient, the Holy Spirit who dwells in you will remain pure, not darkened by another evil spirit. Instead, dwelling in a spacious place, He will rejoice and be glad with the vessel in which He dwells and will serve God with great cheerfulness, having well-being within Himself. But if a quick temper comes near, immediately the Holy Spirit, being gentle, is distressed because He does not have a clean place, and He seeks to withdraw from that place. For He is choked by the evil spirit and has no room to serve the Lord as He wishes, because He is defiled by the quick temper. For the Lord dwells in patience, but the devil in quick temper. Therefore, for both spirits to dwell together is harmful and evil for the person in whom they dwell. For if you take a very small amount of wormwood and pour it into a jar of honey, is not all the honey spoiled? So much honey is ruined by the smallest amount of wormwood. It destroys the sweetness of the honey, and the honey no longer has the same favor with its owner, because it has become bitter and lost its usefulness. But if the wormwood is not put into the honey, the honey remains sweet and becomes useful to its owner. You see, then, that patience is sweeter than honey and useful to the Lord, and He dwells in it. But quick temper is bitter and useless. Therefore, if quick temper is mixed with patience, patience is defiled, and its intercession is no longer useful to God.” “Sir,” I said, “I want to know the working of quick temper so that I may guard myself against it.” “Indeed,” he said, “if you and your household do not guard yourselves against it, you have lost all your hope. But guard yourself against it, for I am with you. And everyone who repents with their whole heart will also keep away from it, for I will be with them and preserve them. They were all justified by the most venerable angel.”
“Listen now,” he said, “to the working of quick temper: how evil it is, how by its own working it ruins my servants, and how it leads them away from righteousness. But it does not lead astray those who are full in faith, nor can it work upon them, because my power is with them. It leads astray those who are empty and double-minded. When it sees such people prospering, it inserts itself into that person’s heart, and for no reason a man or woman becomes bitter over matters of daily life—over food, some petty matter, a friend, giving or receiving, or other foolish things of this kind. All these things are foolish, empty, senseless, and unprofitable for the servants of God. But patience is great and strong. It has mighty and vigorous power and flourishes in great spaciousness. It is joyful, rejoicing, free from care, glorifying the Lord at every time, having nothing bitter within itself, and remaining always gentle and peaceful. This patience, therefore, dwells with those who have complete faith. Quick temper, on the other hand, is first of all foolish, unstable, and senseless. Then from foolishness comes bitterness; from bitterness, wrath; from wrath, anger; and from anger, rage. Then this rage, composed of so many evils, becomes a great and incurable sin. For when all these spirits dwell in one vessel, where the Holy Spirit also dwells, that vessel cannot contain them but overflows. The gentle Spirit, therefore, who is not accustomed to dwelling with an evil spirit or with harshness, withdraws from such a person and seeks to dwell with gentleness and peace. Then, when He withdraws from the person in whom He had been dwelling, that person becomes empty of the righteous Spirit. From then on, filled with evil spirits, he becomes unstable in everything he does, dragged here and there by the evil spirits, and is completely blinded to good understanding. This is what happens to everyone who is quick-tempered. Keep away, therefore, from quick temper, that most evil spirit. Put on patience and resist quick temper and bitterness, and you will be found with Reverence, which is loved by the Lord. Take care never to neglect this commandment. For if you master this commandment, you will also be able to keep the remaining commandments that I am about to give you. Be strong in them and grow in strength, and let all who wish to walk in them also grow strong.”