Isaac of Nineveh

For what reason did wrath and death come upon the house of the priest Eli, the righteous elder who was eminent for forty years in his priesthood? Was it not because of the iniquity of his sons [Hophni] and [Phinehas]? For neither did he sin, nor did they with his assent, but it was because he did not have the zeal to demand from them the Lord’s vindication and he loved them more than the statutes of the Lord. Lest someone surmise that the Lord manifests His wrath only upon those who pass all the days of their life in iniquities, behold how for this unseemly sin He manifests His zeal against His genuine servants, against priests, judges, rulers, men consecrated to Him, to whom He entrusted the working of miracles, and He in no wise overlooks their transgression of His statutes.