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Summary
- Short prayers cover the moment anger rises, everyday irritation, a hard conversation, a lost temper, a parent who shouts, a grudge, anger from an old hurt and anger at injustice.
- Further prayers are for someone who is angry with you, including an angry husband or wife, with US and UK helplines for when anger becomes abuse.
- Traditional prayers quoted are the Prayer of Saint Ephrem the Syrian (Hapgood, 1906), an evening prayer from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer asking God to “reform whatever is amiss in the temper,” and a line from the Universal Prayer of Clement XI.
- Russian Orthodox Christians pray about anger before the icon of the Mother of God called the “Softening of Evil Hearts,” which recalls Simeon’s words in Luke 2:35.
- Scripture separates anger from sin (“Be ye angry, and sin not,” Ephesians 4:26) and records Jesus’ anger in Mark 3:5, while James 1:19–20 warns that “the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Psalm 139:23; 141:3; Proverbs 15:1; 16:32; Ecclesiastes 7:9; Jonah 4:4; Matthew 5:24; Mark 3:5; Luke 2:35; Ephesians 4:26, 31; Colossians 3:21; James 1:19–20). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- Hapgood, Isabel Florence, trans. Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906. The First Hour, “Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian,” p. 41. https://www.ponomar.net/data/hapgood.pdf
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. The Litany, p. 54; Family Prayer, “Prayer for Grace to reform and grow Better,” p. 590. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. Occasional Prayers, “A Universal Prayer for all Things Necessary to Salvation,” pp. 175–177. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888
- “«Семистрельная» и «Умягчение злых сердец» — одна и та же икона или разные?” (“Seven Arrows” and “Softening of Evil Hearts”: one icon or two?). Foma. https://foma.ru/semistrelnaja-i-umjagchenie-zlyh-serdec-odna-i-ta-zhe-ikona-ili-raznye.html
- National Domestic Violence Hotline. Home page and “Help for Abusive Partners.” https://www.thehotline.org/ ; https://www.thehotline.org/support-others/help-for-abusive-partners/
- GOV.UK. “Domestic abuse: how to get help.” https://www.gov.uk/guidance/domestic-abuse-how-to-get-help
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. https://988lifeline.org/
- Samaritans. “Contact Samaritans.” https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/
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