THE EAST AND “THE LAST JUDGMENT” IN THE BULGARIAN ORTHODOX ART

Abstract

e paper deals with two similar symbols – “The Judgment of the Soul” in the art of Ancient Egypt and “Weighing the Souls” from the scene “The Last Judgment” in the Bulgarian Orthodox art. They are part of the eschatological understanding of the afterlife. These symbols were analyzed and the paths of their movement were traced. The visual image of the supreme check of every deceased is the weighing of the heart and the judgment of God Osiris. It is related to spell 125 of the Book of the Dead. The article analyzes the iconography of this scene, which was widely used during the New Kingdom in Ancient Egypt. The “Judgment of the soul” of Ancient Egypt was probably transmitted by the Jews in Asia, and later entered the Christian iconography of the composition “The Last Judgment”. The formation of the iconographic image type in Byzantine and Western European art was traced. During the Bulgarian Renaissance, “Weighing of Souls” became a major motif and was interpreted by a number of painters in Southwestern Bulgaria. Images in the temples of Blagoevgrad, Rila, Bistritsa, Selishte, Dobarsko, Teshovo, Zlatolist, Dolen and others have been preserved. The analysis of the iconographic images makes it possible to summarize the results which show a number of similar elements in the two scenes. Such are the holy characters God Anubis and Archangel Michael, the two exits for the soul of man - eternal life or eternal torment. The long life of the symbol under consideration leads to the conclusion about the continuity of the moral evaluation of human earthly affairs.