He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalts folly.
Read Chapter 14
John Cassian
AD 435
Everyone knows that patience is derived from passion and endurance and therefore that you cannot call anyone patient unless he endures indignities without annoyance. So Solomon rightly praised the patient person: “Better is the patient man than the strong, and he who restrains his anger more than he that takes a city,” and “A longsuffering man is mighty in prudence, but a fainthearted man is very foolish.” Therefore, if a wronged man flares up in anger, the wrongful abuse should not be thought of as the cause of his sin but the manifestation of a hidden weakness.
Do you not see the athletes, how they exercise when they have filled the bags with sand? But there is no need for you to practice this. Life is full of things that exercise you and make you strong.… For it is said, “One who is longsuffering abounds in wisdom, but he who is small of soul is strongly foolish.”
