Св. Никола – застъпник на душите пред Страшния съд
St. Nicholas – Intercessor for the Human Souls on the Day of Judgment

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the notion of the St. Nicholas as an intercessor for the human souls on the Judgment Day. In her monograph The Life of Saint Nicholas in Byzantine Art N. Р. Ševčenko analyses the frequent choice of St. Nicholas as a patron saint, especially of the burial churches and church spaces, as well as some special arrangements of his painted portraits, including a modified Deesis composition in which St. Nicholas has replaced John the Baptist. It does seem possible that this notion originated from two hagiographical texts about the saint – (1) a fragment from the Vita Nicolai Sinaitae, containing a Vision of St. Nicholas about the Last Day and its explanation in another vision; and (2) a Prayer of the saint “when an angel comes for his soul” from the Povest o pogrebenii/Story about the burial of the St. Nicholas/. The article seeks to explain the dissimilarity between the medieval Greek and the South-Slavic practices noted by N.Р. Ševčenko with the differences in the popularity and the dissemination of the medieval texts dedicated to the saint.

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