Wrongly Directed Zeal
St. Isaac the Syrian speaks of two kinds of zeal. In homily 51 he speaks of a “sick” zeal, a “wrong” zeal. And in homily 55 St. Isaac speaks of zeal as a “watchdog” and “shield” of the soul. However, to say these are two different kinds of zeal is not quite correct. Both find their origin in the natural, “incensive” faculty of the soul. This is an old English word that…