It's not the first time an inanimate statue or painting of a religious figure was reported to have displayed lifelike actions, but when a painting of the Virgin Mary apparently began shedding tears at the Church of the Holy Archangel Michael near Skopje, Macedonia, people are calling it a miracle.
Worshippers have been flocking to the church to witness what people say is a miraculous act, according to The Sun, and some even claim that the Virgin Mary's tear smells like myrrh, one of the gifts the Three Wise Men gave to baby Jesus in the barn.
Risto Setinov, the president of the local church board, said a church attendee first spotted the "crying painting" after the priest finished his Sunday morning service.
"One believer noticed a few drops coming from the left eye of the Virgin," he said. "Father Boban took some wool and wiped it, smelt it and said it smelled of holy myrrh. After that, a few more drops came down the face of the icon. We remained in the church all day and the drops kept appearing."
People have taken several photos of the image which can be seen here.
Many believers are saying that tears coming from the Virgin Mary usually signify a warning before a catastrophic event.
Head of Macedonia's Church Archbishop Veljanovski even reportedly prayed in front of the icon and said that he believed the tears were a sign from God.
While many churches have reported numerous weeping statues and paintings of the Virgin Mary, the Roman Catholic Church has only accepted one miracle: the crying statue of the Madonna that began crying in 1952 in Sicily. The Vatican deemed her tears as a miracle.
On the other hand, scientists have openly refuted these acts of miracle as normal occurrences. They said the tears were simply caused when water ran down tiny scratches underneath the eye of the statue.
