«The Last Judgement» as a motif of the literature and culture of Ancient Russia

The plot of «The Last Judgment» is one of the most widespread motifs in the European literature and culture. The origins of the plot have been presented in the New Testament and in the church liturgical texts. In the Russian literature of the 11th–17th was spread and recorded in a whole series of literary texts. Note is made of a special role of the plot in forming one of the features of the Russian people's national consciousness, centered on the eschatological perception of history. The paper discusses the evolution of «The Last Judgment» story in Russian literature.