tears in spiritual life - Church of the Virgin Mary and St. Athanasius

4. It is the same situation with respect to Ezra the priest, when
he found out about the sins of the people. He wept and made
the people weep with him.
The Bible says, “Now while Ezra was praying, and while
he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down before the
house of God, a very large congregation of men, women, and
children assembled to him from Israel; for the people wept
very bitterly”. (Ezra 10:1).
✥✥✥
Other than in ‘Lamentations’, Jeremiah the prophet says in
his book, ‘Jeremiah’: “Oh, that my head were waters, and my
eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for
the slain of the daughter of my people!” (Jer 9:1)
✥✥✥
5. Daniel the prophet also wept concerning the years of
captivity:
He said about this, “Then I set my face toward the Lord
God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting,
sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the LORD my God, and
made confession, and said ... “we have sinned and committed
iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by
departing from Your precepts and Your judgments”.
(Dan 9:3-5).
“In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate
no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor
33