"The Svetok" /"The Great Father"

One of the most complex issues of Nestinarstvo is the image of nestinars' God. The nestinars are vehemently pious Orthodox Christians, but for them Jesus Christ is not a living presence. The personification of the real divine power, which rules people's existence, is the mediator of God - St.Constantine; also called "The Svetok" and "The Great Father". Very often in the nestinar system of beliefs the images of God and St.Constantine overlap. The explanation of St.Constantine's supreme position is in the idea, that it was God who chose the saint for his vicar on earth. The same concept is expressed in the legend told by the chief nestinar priestess of the village of Bulgari in 1924:

" In past times when the number of the inhabitants of the earth grew immensely, absolute dominance became difficult for God. So he thought of finding his vicars on earth with the aim to rule better. In order to find the best person, God built a big fire in the center of the Village of Pripor, and announced that the lad who could jump over it, would be his mediator on earth. Then, a youth not only did manage to cope with the task, but he also started to dance in the fire. After that God said: "Let his name be Constantine." But the lad said that without a sister he would not be able to rule justly. A lass from the audience performed a dance, and they called her Helena. Since then, women started dancing in the fire."

In another version of the legend, Helena is St.Constantine's wife. "The Greek king and his wife" died in the land of "The Big Ayasma". Their bodies were found by the people of the village of Kosti. According to another version, before his canonization St.Constantine was the ruler of Yurta ("The Big Ayasma").