Sacred objects
Because the life span even of saints is limited, most of the miracles attributed to them occur through their inanimate remains at their tombs or through their relics. These relics may be parts of their bodies—often deliberately dismembered for wider distribution, so that a bone may be in one place, a hair in another, and the heart someplace else—or objects or parts of objects associated with their lives (e.g., the shroud of Christ or fragments of the True Cross).
Not all miracle-working objects of veneration are relics. Statues and icons can work miracles, and in many Christian countries images and icons of the Virgin Mary are especially famed for their miraculous virtues. In the Christian Middle Ages the veneration of the sacrament of the Eucharist brought about a proliferation of miracles. Here, as in the case of images, a distinction can be made between the magical character of folk beliefs and the diverse theological doctrines concerning these religious objects; only rarely have religious authorities opposed the cult of saints, images, and relics and the concomitant belief in miracles—an exception is classical Protestantism, which in the 16th century rejected such cults.
Although they are not strictly sources of miracles, talismans and amulets—i.e., objects believed to possess magical virtues such as good luck or protection of the bearer or owner from all kinds of danger—should be mentioned in this connection. They are found in diverse forms and sizes and in all kinds of material.
Sacred places
Miracles are often connected with special sacred places. Normally these are natural shrines, such as sacred groves, or temples and sanctuaries in which a god or spirit lives or has manifested himself or in which his statue, symbol, holy objects, or relics are enshrined. Holy places, such as Mecca and the Kaʿbah in Islām or the Buddhist stupas, are centres of pilgrimages and veneration because of their religious significance and the religious values that they symbolize and not necessarily because miracles are wrought there; yet, popular devotion associates miracles with many of these holy sites.
Miracles in the religions of the world
It has already been suggested that the mythologies of primitive and ancient religions should not be designated miraculous insofar as they deal with mythical origins and ages; frequently they attempt to explain how certain regularities and what is now considered the normal course of things have come into being. The crucial distinction lies between religion on the popular primitive level and the more highly developed forms of religious belief. The tendency of the former is to relate to a concrete, magical presence of the sacred and to envisage the possibility of using this presence for the achievement of such desired ends as healing, blessing, or success in an undertaking. The higher forms of religion—though recognizing miracles or even demanding dogmatic affirmation of belief in them—exhibit a far more differentiated and complex attitude.
Hellenistic religion presents one of the best examples of a civilization in which miracles play a major part. The intervention of the gods in the affairs of the Homeric heroes takes place in a cosmos in which the divine and human spheres still interact. Later Hellenistic syncretism conceived of the sublunar world as a distinct sphere, though higher powers could miraculously irrupt into it. Miraculous cures (e.g., at the sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus), divine manifestations of various kinds (e.g., voices, dreams, and theophanies), and even virgin births and resurrections were widely reported.
Religions of the East
In the great religions of the East the belief in miracles is closely connected with the theory that ascetic practices and the knowledge of mystical formulas, such as the Sanskrit mantras, can give the practitioner unlimited magical powers.
Religions of India
India has become the classic land of wonders not because of the accounts of fantastic actions of divine beings or semidivine heroes and avatars (incarnations of Hindu gods) related in Indian mythology but because both popular religion and philosophical theory set no bounds to the magical powers that can be attained by great ascetics and yogis (adherents of Yoga, the Hindu philosophy teaching the suppression of all activity of mind, body, and will in order that the self may realize its distinction from them and attain liberation). Even if these magical powers are considered insignificant in higher religion and spiritually negligible, their reality is never doubted. The Upaniṣad and the Brāhmaṇa—ancient Sanskrit writings of the Vedic period—may consider the heights of religious insight and mystical experience as man’s supreme aim, but neither the later classical sources nor contemporary Hindu belief ever question the miraculous powers of a holy man. The same attitude is shared by the other religions of Indian origin: Jainism and Buddhism.
The Buddha himself refused to spread his teaching by impressing his audience with miracles. According to the Aṅguttara Nikāya, one of the collections of the Buddha’s sayings, there are three kinds of miracles—the miracle of magic, the miracle of thought reading, and the miracle of instruction—and of these the last is the most wonderful and excellent, whereas the other two are not much better than a conjuror’s tricks. Yet the same text also describes what is implied by the miracle of magic: “there is one who, . . . having been one becomes many, . . . appears and vanishes, unhindered he goes through walls. . . . He dives in and out of the earth as if it were water. Without sinking he walks on water as if on earth. Seated cross-legged he travels through the sky like a winged bird. With his hand he touches and strokes the sun and the moon. . . .” The same text also asserts that not only was Gautama endowed with these powers but so also were hundreds of monks of his order.