Уточнения и разкрития в средновековната живопис по българските земи
A Note by Way of Correction and a Discovery in Bulgarian Mediaeval Art

Summary/Abstract: On the basis of an analysis of the established iconography of soldier-saints in Eastern Christian Art the author corrects a mistake made by A. Grabar in his early monograph on the church at Boyana. The saint depicted on the northern wall of the nave (1259 A. D.), who had earlier been identified as St. Eustratius, in is in fact St. Eustathius Placidus. The mistake had been accepted by other scholars. A scene painted in the 12th century and known as "The Vision of St. Eustathius Placidus" was discovered recently in the nave of the mediaeval church in the Kolusha quarter in the town of Kyustendil. Until then the scene had not been met with in mediaeval art in the Bulgarian lands. The author traces earlier murals of the scene in countries in the South-East of Christendom: Georgia, Cappadocia, the Aegean islands and as far as Southern Italy. The scene has a proven protective (apotropaic) function against evil forces and the practice is for it to be depicted at the entrance of the church or before the sanctuary. The group of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste discovered on the same wall in the church has a similar significance.

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