**Are there examples of Marian Apparitions to Orthodox faithful, Protestants or non-christians?** After reading this [question](https://christianity.stackexchange.com/q/106340/25495) (**Best arguments against Marian apparitions?**), it got me wondering if there are examples of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, appearing to the Orthodox, Protestants (or other denominations) or non-christians? I am desiring an answer that has examples of all three fields if possible.

I’m very curious to hear the Protestant view of Fatima, considering that it involves the Virgin Mary appearing before witnesses, many of whom were skeptics.

Over the last thousand years there have been many reported apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, most famously (as far as I can tell) in Fatima, Portugal and in Guadeloupe, Mexico. These apparitions would seem to prove the Roman Church to be the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church given the contents of the messages seeming to come directly from Heaven from the mouth of the Mother of God. Additionally, the evidence for these apparitions seems to be high, including miraculous and unexplainable portraits on the tilma of Juan Diego and thousands of eye witnesses to the miracle of the sun at Fatima, making it the most attested to miracle of all time. If these apparitions had overwhelming evidence to their validity, I would think the whole Christian world would come under the Roman Church, yet no such thing has occurred, leading me to wonder if there is reason to doubt the validity of these apparitions. What are the chief arguments against the validity of these Marian apparitions, specifically those of Fatima and Guadeloupe?

Summary from [Wikipedia - Our Lady of Zeitoun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Zeitoun) : > Our Lady of Zeitoun, also known simply as El-Zeitoun, Zeitun or rarely Our Lady of Light, was a mass Marian apparition that was reported to have occurred in the Zeitoun district of Cairo, Egypt, during a period of about 3 years beginning on 2 April 1968. Summary from [The Marian Apparitions: An Evidential Inquiry](https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Travis-Dumsday-ebook/dp/B0DFDRGRZT) by Travis Dumsday: > Religious experiences are usually private though occasionally they are intersubjective, involving multiple individuals at the same time. These group experiences carry extra evidential weight. But what of mass religious experiences, in which hundreds or even thousands of people apparently experience the same supernatural occurrence at the same time? Such events are rare historically, but of great interest in evidential terms, since they are more difficult to explain scientifically. **The largest mass religious experiences in recorded history (outside Scripture) occurred over the course of several years in Zeitoun, Egypt. Beginning in 1968, the Virgin Mary began to appear above a Coptic Orthodox Church. These apparitions soon attracted massive crowds and sparked official inquiries by both the Egyptian government and the Coptic hierarchy**. This book explores the history of these fascinating events and critically examines every scientific explanation thus far put forward in an attempt to account for them in naturalistic terms. The author argues that, so far, these attempts have failed, and thus the Marian apparitions at Zeitoun constitute powerful evidence for the reality of the supernatural. The YouTube channel *Capturing Christianity* recently released the video *[The Best Evidence for Christianity… Isn’t in the Bible?!](https://youtu.be/n5wxSrxFzz0?t=164)* : > First, what do we have for Zeitoun? > > Well, we have: > > - **Thousands of firsthand eyewitnesses**, including Muslims, skeptics, journalists, and even government officials. > - **Photographs**—something we don't have for the resurrection. > - **Immediate written reports**, with no decades-long gap. > - **Public and repeatable events**—the apparitions occurred countless times spanning three years to massive crowds. > - **Multiple sensory experiences**—people didn’t just see it; they also smelled incense and documented miraculous healings. > - **A government investigation**—and it didn’t debunk it. In fact, the secular Egyptian government officially declared it supernatural. > > This is very serious evidence. If you're thinking, *"Wait, this > actually does sound stronger than our evidence for biblical > miracles,"* you would be right. > > Now, compare the evidence at Zeitoun for what we have for the Resurrection: > > - **Eyewitness testimony**—but from a small number of people. > - **Some hearsay accounts**—written two or so decades (or thereabouts) after the event. > - **No photographs**—the camera wasn’t even invented yet. > - **No secular confirmation**—for example, we have no formal, contemporaneous, say, Roman investigation concluding that anything mysterious or supernatural happened, like we do in Zeitoun. What do Protestants think about the Marian apparitions at Zeitoun, Egypt?

At Fatima, in a vision, Our Lady told Lucia Dos Santos that "Russia will spread its errors throughout the world, raising up wars and persecutions against the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be annihilated". After the assimilation of several countries into the USSR, the atheism inherent in Marixist Communism, the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. I'd imagine most people thought this was "all she wrote" as my grandpa would say. But if you read the news today, you might think we're just getting started. It starts with spreading lies, turn to wars, wars to persecutions, persecutions will result in martyrdom, etc... Are there any reasons to believe that the visions definitively were for the 20th century and not perpetually until Russia is actually consecrated? What do the modern mystagogues and interpreters of visions say about the vision's relevance in the 21st century? What notions do they have about how we actually get to the end of this?

How common are apparitions of Mary and/or other Saints amongst non-Catholics? There are many testimonies about these sorts of apparitions published on the web, but people who report these experiences typically had some connection with the Catholic faith prior to the apparition. But what about non-Catholics? What about Protestant Christians? What about Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, etc.? For the purposes of comparison, stories of dreams, visions and encounters with Jesus among Muslims are [not](https://christianity.stackexchange.com/a/83548/50422) [uncommon](https://christianity.stackexchange.com/q/79535/50422) , but what about Mary and other Saints who passed away?

Adherents of the 'soul sleep' doctrine believe that human beings become unconscious upon death, and that they will only recover their consciousness at the time of the resurrection. Therefore, a corollary of the 'soul sleep' doctrine is that communication with deceased people who have not yet experienced the resurrection should be an impossibility. If someone died in the past and is still awaiting the resurrection, their soul is in deep sleep, the person is deeply unconscious, and in that state it would be impossible for them to hear prayers, let alone answer them and pay visits to the living. However, testimonial evidence of Catholics and other Christians praying to deceased saints, friends and relatives abounds, and many times people have reported having their prayers answered, and even actual communication with and visitations by those they were praying to. [Marian apparitions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marian_apparitions) are illustrative examples of this. Other testimonies can be found in the related question [Do Catholics believe in other apparitions like Mary? Or is she unique in this respect?](https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/71378/do-catholics-believe-in-other-apparitions-like-mary-or-is-she-unique-in-this-re/71382) and in the book [Apparitions of Modern Saints : Appearances of Therese of Lisieux, Padre Pio, Don Bosco, and Others](https://www.amazon.com/Apparitions-Modern-Saints-Appearances-Therese/dp/1569553033) . How do adherents of 'soul sleep' explain the cumulative testimonial evidence from Catholics and other Christians who report having rich interactions with those who have passed away? ______ A similarly formatted question: [How do Protestants explain the incorruptibility of Catholic and Orthodox saints?](https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/27928/how-do-protestants-explain-the-incorruptibility-of-catholic-and-orthodox-saints)

We see Jesus making his post-resurrection apparition before the disciples on various occasions: first, to the disciples on their way to Emmaus (Lk 24: 13-35), second, to the disciples in the absence of Thomas (Jn 20:19) then in the presence of Thomas (Jn 20:26) followed by the apparition at Tiberius (Jn 21:1). John specifies the Tiberius apparition as the third one (Jn 21:14), whereas it should have stood at 4th place, counting from the Emmaus apparition. My question therefore is: **Did John the Evangelist make a mistake in counting in order, the post-resurrection apparitions of Jesus? What does the Catholic Church say about such a prospect?**