Really, John doesn't want to be violent, exactly. It's not really his jam to go out and just start hitting people over the head for no reason. But he feels like he has to do something if people are dying, and this is all he really knows how to do. He was hoping he could come and talk some sense into these monks, but it sounds like this one doesn't want to talk. He has his hand on Fear No Anvil's handle, all the same.

"So, what, if we guess the password, will you let us in?"

That's how it works, right?