Weeping Over Sin

“...There is much in the [Desert] Fathers about weeping over sin, and it is meant literally. The ability to weep in repentance was regarded as a gift from God, something that stony, selfish hearts could not achieve. This is not a convulsive, emotional kind of weeping, however, which could be self-indulgent. It is a gentle flow of tears that is, paradoxically, freeing and consoling. This gift of tears was prized among the Desert Fathers. It was said of Abba Arsenius, who had once been a Roman senator, that, although he was still a noble and handsome figure, ‘Through much weeping his eyelashes had fallen out.’”
~Frederica Mathewes-Green