In his spiritual work we may find inner evidence for this point of view. According to Rudolf Steiner Master Jesus prepared the Christian-esoteric path of initiation, on which in the Middle Ages people meditated on the Stations of the Cross. He guides humanity from the present 5th post-Atlantic culture into the next, Slavic culture. He represents the principle of brotherly love and paves the way for Christ.3 Master Jesus was incarnated in Switzerland as the leader of a circle of ‘Friends of God’ in the 14th century, inspiring people who wanted to understand and cultivate the teachings of Christ. These qualities also permeated the work of Peter Deunov, who adopted in 1898, as we shall see, as a Teacher of Love, the mission to prepare the Slavic culture of love and brotherhood. Peter Deunov became a Methodist preacher in Bulgaria (1887-1888) and studied at Drew Seminary in Madison, New Jersey, and the Methodist School of Theology in Boston (1888-1895). Back in Bulgaria, various Methodist congregations invited him to become their pastor, but he declined. He made it clear that he could only accept a position as a pastor if it would be without payment. Also the Theosophical Society of Bulgaria invited him to give lectures, but he declined as well. Peter Deunov had meetings with Protestant pastors, spiritists and theosophists, he wrote his book Science and Education in 1896, and he began to give lectures, sometimes of a scientific nature, but also of a mystical-spiritual kind.
The initiation (1897) In the archives of Boyan Boev we find the following text about an event that took place when Peter Deunov was 32 years old, of which he said to a disciple:
I have been inspired and this happened on March 7, 1897 (in the Gregorian calendar on March 19). Then I received a mission from heavens, I was told that I am a teacher for the whole humanity. The mission assigned to me is connected with the new path of the Slavs and with the coming of the Sixth race [the new cycle of cultures that according to Rudolf Steiner will begin in 7894 AD, Harrie Salman]. 4
This initiation took place in the presence of his father. A biographer wrote about this: “They were just about to take some rest when Peter was suddenly illuminated by a strange bright light. Reverend Deunovski saw Christ standing by his son and he heard a voice inside ‘I will make him My sound rock and will build My Kingdom upon it.’’’5
This was the beginning of God’s Mission, as Peter Deunov called it. Beings of Light, including Christ himself, used to visit him and talk with him. A first mystical message from the Spirit was written down by Peter Deunov in 1897. It was the ‘Voice of God’ speaking: “Wake up, you who is sleeping, the time has come. … I am waiting for an answer at the secret door of your heart.”6 In this year he founded the Society for the Uplifting of the Religious Spirit of the Bulgarian People, which developed in 1906 into the Chain of Divine Love and in 1920 into the School of the White Brotherhood. His work started with three people who became his disciples. On 8 October 1898 the angel Elohil communicated an important message to Peter Deunov. The angel made himself known as the protector and guardian of the Bulgarian nation, and as the angel of God’s Covenant. In the same month Peter Deunov delivered this message as A call to my people – Bulgarian sons of the Slavic family to the Spiritistic Society Miloserdie in Varna. According to Peter Deunov, God
3 Rudolf Steiner, Zur Geschichte und aus den Inhalten der ersten Abteilung der Esoterischen Schule 1904 bis 1914, GA 264/1984, p. 215, 231, 238 and 328—English translations of these quotes are given by Robert Powell in this article (see his footnote 4 at the end of the article)
4 The Master Peter Deunov, Harmonizing of the Human Soul, Sofia, 2013, p 386.
5 Milka Kraleva, The Master Peter Deunov – His Life and Teaching, Sofia, 2001, p. 22.
6 Peter Deunov, Chio-Eli-Meli-Mesail, Sofia, 2003, p. 23.
