Peter Deunov
29 June] in the village of Hadarcha (now Nikolaevka in Suvorovo Municipality) near Varna, Bulgaria (at that time in the Ottoman Empire), the third child of Konstantin Dunoffsky and Dobra Atanasova Georgieva.
After graduating from Drew, he enrolled in the Boston University School of Theology and obtained his degree in June 1893 with a thesis on "The Migration of the Germanic Tribes and Their Christianisation" (published in 2007[5]).
In 1896 he published Science and Education, in which he analyzed the development of mankind into a new culture, which he thought was bound to take place during the forthcoming century.
This spiritual obligation, combined with a civic position, Dunov followed steadfastly until the end of his life, working among the Bulgarian people "for their acceptance of Divine Love, Wisdom and Truth, as the highest ideal for man".
[7] Later that year, Petar Dunov founded in Varna Society for Raising the Religious Spirit of the Bulgarian People.
[8] In 1898, he recorded and delivered the speech A call to my people – Bulgarian sons of the Slavic family, which was an appeal to social and spiritual self-affirmation.
[7] His first three disciples belonged to different branches of Christianity – Todor Stoimenov (Eastern Orthodox), Dr. Mirkovich (Catholic) and Penyu Kirov (Protestant).
In 1900, he extended invitations to all three to participate in a meeting in Varna, regarded as the first annual convention of what later evolved into a spiritual community enduring until the end of Dunov's life.
Since 1900, Petar Dunov has convened annual assemblies held in various places: in Varna (1900, 1903, 1905–1909), Burgas (1901, 1902 and 1904), Tarnovo (1910–1925), in Sofia (1926–1941), on the Rila and Vitosha mountains.
From 1904, he resided for long periods of time in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, and began to give public talks on Sundays.
On the title page is written the motto: "I will always be a devoted servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, August 15, Tarnovo, 1912".
It is also the beginning of the Sunday sermons series published under the title Power and Life, in which he sets out the main principles of his teaching.
[14] On February 8, 1917 in Sofia, he began another series of special lectures for married women, known as the Great Mother cycle, which would last every Thursday until June 30, 1932.
On July 7, 1922, the Synod of Bishops of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church declared Peter Deunov to have excommunicated himself, and his teachings to be heretical.
The themes of the different lecture streams were wide-ranging and encompassed, among others: religion, music, geometry, astrology, philosophy and esoteric science.
[22] At that time, he began working on the Paneurhythmy – a cycle of exercises composed of melody, text and plastic movements, with the aim being to improve and maintain human health and stimulate the harmonious development of availability, abilities, emotions and attitudes towards life by achieving harmony with nature (the universe).
In 1921, his adherents from Ruse, without his approval, drew up a statute to register as an organization, elected a Board, made membership cards, etc.
Several thousand of Dunov's lectures were recorded by stenographers and are documented in the form of deciphered stenograms (some modified by editing and others left intact [34]).
In his first book, Science and Education – the Beginnings of Human Life (1896), one can see the directions of his further activities and the basic principles that he subsequently developed in detail in his teaching: the relationship between religion and science and the need for their interaction, the need for modernization and scientific understanding of religious worldview, development of the abilities of a higher nature (the Divine principle in man) through correct scientific and pedagogical methods, the idea of the Integrity of the Universe and man as part of a collective organism.
It is compiled based on Bible verses, grouped by color symbolism and intended to be read on different days of the week.
