On the beginnings of repentance

You ask how to lay the beginnings of repentance--if you wish to begin repentance, look at the woman sinner: she washed Christ’s feet with her tears (Luke 7:38).  Tears wash away sins of every person.  But a person acquires tears by internal efforts, through the diligent study of the Holy Scripture, through patience, meditation on the Last Judgment and eternal shame, and through self-denial, just as the Lord said: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me," (Matt 16:24). To deny one’s self and to take up the cross — means to sever your own will in everything and regard yourself as nothing.  Ss. Barsanuphius and John