PREZICEREA DECESULUI ÎN HAGIOGRAFIA BIZANTINĂ

Abstract

The Byzantines believed that the righteous Christians, at the end of life, could predict the day of their own departure or other person’s death. The hagiographical sources stressed that such foreknowledge was due to divine revelations sent to the saints, acknowledging thus their high moral virtues.The ancient authors and several Byzantine writers considered that, while entering the eternity, souls could see things that were hidden from the rest of the mortals. Learning about the moment of their death, saints keenly prepared themselves to pass to another world, the gift of prophecy being a token of the divine care, a spiritual guide for the living ones and an insight into the mysteries of Providence.