Weeping Spends the Night

Once some monks of Mount Nitria sent a message to Scetis to ask Macarius the Great to come to see them. They said if he could not come to them, the whole crowd of them would go to him, since they wanted to see him before he passed on to the Lord.

When Macarius arrived in Nitria, the whole congregation gathered in his presence. The elders asked him to speak a word to the brothers. But he shed tears, and said, "Let us pray and weep, my brothers, before we go hence to the place where our tears consume our bodies."

They all wept; and fell on their faces, saying, "Abba, pray for us."

~~Weeping statue at Pere Lachaise, Paris