He was born in 1510 in Ioannina, where he mastered shoemaker's craft. After the death of his parents, he settled in Sofia, created his own family, but soon he left the city and entered the guards of Vlachs leader Mircea.
After a while he returned to Sofia and soon his fellow craftsmen - cobblers forced him to deny his faith in Christ. Despite this brutal act, Nikola did not deny the Christian faith. Therefore, he is captured, tortured, tried and brutally killed on May 17, 1555.
His body was burned, but Christians succeeded to collect small particles of skull and bones, which were placed in the coffin with relics of St. King Milutin. Right after his death Nichola was canonized as a saint. The cleric Deacon Matthew the Grammatic, who was an eyewitness to the incident, prepared service and extensive hagiography of the saint.
Several decades later, in 1596 Nikola`s first depiction was created in the Kurilo monastery. He was pictured as a young man, although he was 45 years old when he died for his faith. His image appears in church buildings in Macedonia and Serbia, in Arbanassi monastery, in Rila, Troqn and Preobrajenie monasteries and in many other churches and monasteries.
From the beginning of the 20th century in Sofia exists a temple with its patron “St. Nikola New from Sofia”. In this temple are kept an icon and a box, containing the relics of Saint Nikola the New.
