Peter Deunov is a philosopher, writer and the spiritual figure who created an influential teaching named Universal White Brotherhood. This new religious movement is described as among others as theosophy or esoteric Christianity. A child of an Orthodox priest, Deunov first attended a Methodist school in Bulgaria and between 1888 and 1893 studied theology and then for one year followed a course in medicine in the United States. After his return to Bulgaria he started to travel, give lectures, write and around 1900 he started to form a spiritual community. In the 1920s the movement gained significant popularity and the community at the area Izgrev, at the outskirts of the capital Sofia a that time, reached thousands of followers. In addition to more than four thousand of lectures which Deunov gave at various places around the country, combining variety of subjects like religion, esotery, astrology, philosophy and others, he developed the Paneurhythmy physical exercises which are performed combined with a composed on the purpose music. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church does not accept many of Deunov’s concepts and treats his teaching as a heresy being in contradiction with the Nicene Creed among others.
Peter Deunov is a philosopher, writer and the spiritual figure who created an influential teaching named Universal White Brotherhood. This new religious movement is described as among others as theosophy or esoteric Christianity. A child of an Orthodox priest, Deunov first attended a Methodist school in Bulgaria and between 1888 and 1893 studied theology and then for one year followed a course in medicine in the United States. After his return to Bulgaria he started to travel, give lectures, write and around 1900 he started to form a spiritual community. In the 1920s the movement gained significant popularity and the community at the area Izgrev, at the outskirts of the capital Sofia a that time, reached thousands of followers. In addition to more than four thousand of lectures which Deunov gave at various places around the country, combining variety of subjects like religion, esotery, astrology, philosophy and others, he developed the Paneurhythmy physical exercises which are performed combined with a composed on the purpose music. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church does not accept many of Deunov’s concepts and treats his teaching as a heresy being in contradiction with the Nicene Creed among others.
