Miracle in the context of "Great martyr"

A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. Legend, for its active and passive participants, may include miracles. Legends may be transformed over time to keep them fresh and vital.

Many legends operate within the realm of uncertainty, never being entirely believed by the participants, but also never being resolutely doubted. Legends are sometimes distinguished from myths in that they concern human beings as the main characters and do not necessarily have supernatural origins, and sometimes in that they have some sort of historical basis whereas myths generally do not. The Brothers Grimm defined legend as "folktale historically grounded". A by-product of the "concern with human beings" is the long list of legendary creatures, leaving no "resolute doubt" that legends are "historically grounded."

Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle or Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle (c. 5 – c. 64/65 AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century AD. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally regarded as one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age, and he also founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe from the mid-40s to the mid-50s AD.

The main sources of information on Paul's life and works are Paul's letters and the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament. Approximately half of its content documents his travels, preaching, and miracles. Paul was not one of the Twelve Apostles, and he did not know Jesus during his lifetime. Nonetheless, Paul was a contemporary of Jesus and personally knew eyewitnesses of Jesus such as his closest disciples (Peter and John) and brother James since the mid 30s AD, within a few years of the crucifixion (ca. 30–33 AD). He had knowledge of the life of Jesus and his teachings. According to the Acts, Paul lived as a Pharisee and participated in the persecution of early disciples of Jesus before his conversion. On his way to arrest Christians in Damascus, Paul saw a bright light, heard Christ speak, was blinded, and later healed by Ananias. After these events, Paul was baptized, beginning immediately to proclaim that Jesus of Nazareth was the Jewish messiah and the Son of God. He made three missionary journeys to spread the Christian message to non-Jewish communities.

In Christian tradition, the True Cross is the original wooden cross on which Jesus of Nazareth was crucified.

It is related by numerous historical accounts and legends that Helen, the mother of Roman emperor Constantine the Great, recovered the True Cross at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, when she travelled to the Holy Land in the years 326–328. The late fourth-century historians Gelasius of Caesarea and Tyrannius Rufinus wrote that while Helen was there, she discovered the hiding place of three crosses that were believed to have been used at the crucifixion of Jesus and the two thieves, Dismas and Gestas, who were executed with him. To one cross was affixed the titulus bearing Jesus' name, but according to Rufinus, Helen was unsure of its legitimacy until a miracle revealed that it was the True Cross. This event is celebrated on the liturgical calendar as the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (Roodmas) by the Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Persian, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican churches.

A hagiography (/ˌhæɡiˈɒɡrəfi/; from Ancient Greek ἅγιος (hágios) 'holy' and -γραφία (-graphía) 'writing') is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might consist of a biography or vita (Latin for 'life', which begins the title of most medieval biographies), a description of the saint's deeds or miracles, an account of the saint's martyrdom (called a passio), or be a combination of these.

Christian hagiographies focus on the lives, and notably the miracles, ascribed to men and women canonized by the Roman Catholic church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Church of the East. Other religious traditions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, Sikhism and Jainism also create and maintain hagiographical texts (such as the Sikh Janamsakhis) concerning saints, gurus and other individuals believed to be imbued with sacred power.

Christianity has a strong tradition of pilgrimages, both to sites relevant to the New Testament narrative (especially in the Holy Land) and to sites associated with later saints or miracles.

In theology, divine providence, or simply providence, is God's intervention in the universe. The term Divine Providence (usually capitalized) is also used as a title of God. A distinction is usually made between "general providence", which refers to God's continuous upholding of the existence and natural order of the universe, and "special providence", which refers to God's extraordinary intervention in the life of people. Miracles and even retribution generally fall in the latter category.

In Christian eschatology, Antichrist, or in broader eschatology, Anti-Messiah, refers to a kind of entity prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and falsely substitute himself as a savior in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form) is found four times in the New Testament, solely in the First and Second Epistle of John. Antichrist is announced as one "who denies the Father and the Son."

The similar term pseudokhristos or "false Christ" is also found in the Gospels. In Matthew (chapter 24) and Mark (chapter 13), Jesus alerts his disciples not to be deceived by the false prophets, who will claim themselves to be the Christ, performing "great signs and wonders". Three other images often associated with Antichrist are the "little horn" in Daniel's final vision, the "man of sin" in Paul the Apostle's Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, and the Beast of the Sea in the Book of Revelation.