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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"And clamor," he adds. What now, and dost thou take away clamor also? Yes, for the mild man must needs be of such a character, because clamor carries anger, as a horse his rider; trip the horse, and you will throw the rider. This let women above all attend to, them who on every occasion cry aloud and bawl. There is but one thing in which it is useful to cry aloud, in preaching and in teaching. But in no other case whatever, no, not even in prayer. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
Although by what was said above he already rejected anger, now he tears it out as if by the root; because bitterness (that is, harshness) is the root of wrath and anger. For when the bitter fluid (bile) is irritated, it overflows from the vessel containing it, spreads throughout the whole body, and makes a man into a beast. So "bitterness" is an inward corruption, malice, a preparation for evil-doing; and "wrath" is the beginning of "anger," a kind of inflammation, as it were; while anger is the state when it passes into action. …
Desert Fathers
A brother who was hurt by another brother went to the Theban Sisois and said, 'I want to get back at a brother who has hurt me.' The hermit begged him, 'Don't do that, my son, leave vengeance in the hands of God.' But he said, 'I can't rest till I get my own back.' The hermit said, 'My brother, let us pray.' He stood and said, 'O God, we have no further need of you, for we can take vengeance by ourselves.' The brother heard it and fell at the hermit's feet, saying, 'I won't quarrel with my brother any longer; I beg you to forgive me.'
Western Saints
Jerome
Wrath is the outspewing of indignation in the mind when anger overflows. Bitterness and wrath are varieties of anger. Anger desires vengeance after rage has been subdued. Anger wishes to harm the one by whom it believes itself injured.… Vengeance wants to return evil to the one it considers guilty of injury. A Christian ought not to return evil for evil but "overcome evil with good."
Thomas Aquinas
In what follows he discloses what specifically belongs to the old man. For at times a man will sadden his friend out of anger, at other times on set purpose. Anger, however, has three degrees. Sometimes it is constrained and remains within the heart, as when someone is only inwardly mad. On other occasions it is expressed verbally, although not in a contemptuous way, as when someone says "Raca" (cf. Mt. 5:22). …
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