What is Coptic Fathers’ View on Miracles?

Some heretical monks heard about Abba Pachomius, the Father of the Cenobites, and sent a group of their own, dressed in coarse, hair-made monastic garments, to his disciples. They said to them, “Our leader Macedonius sent us to your father, saying: ‘If you are truly a man of God, and if what I have heard about you is true, and if you trust in God that He listens to you, come with us to walk across the river on the surface of the water, so we may know who among us has more favor with God.'” When the brothers reported this to Abba Pachomius, he said to them, “Why did you allow yourselves to listen to such talk? Do you not know that these things are foreign to God and are not accepted by our way of life? They do not even align with the thinking of reasonable secular people. Which of God’s laws compels us to do such things? There is nothing more foolish than neglecting to mourn for my sins to be saved from eternal torment and turning with childish mind to these fables.” The brothers then asked, “How then did this heretical stranger dare to challenge you in this way?” He replied, “A heretic might be able to walk across the river as if on dry land—with the help of the devil and by God’s permission—thus planting his corrupt faith in those he misleads. Tell them this: Thus says the servant of God, Pachomius: ‘My concern is not to walk across the river, but to pass through the dreadful judgment of God, to cross the river of fire that flows before the coming of the Lord Christ, and to escape these satanic deceptions by the power of God.'” When he said this, he persuaded the brothers not to boast about their works, not to desire to perform miracles, nor to crave visions and appearances, and never to test God as it is written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’ (Matthew 4:7).”