Great White Brotherhood

Esoteric Christianity

In the teaching of the Master Beinsa Douno (Peter Deunov), the Universal White Brotherhood is the equivalent of the Angelic hierarchy in traditional Christianity: Seraphims - Brothers of Love; Cherubims - Brothers of Harmony; Thrones - Brothers of Will; Dominions - Brothers of intelligence and joy; Virtues - Brothers of movement and growth; Powers - Brothers of outer forms and the arts; Principalities - Brothers of time, state and tact; Archangels - Brothers of fire and heat; and Angels, bearers of life and vegetation. The color white here signifies the celestial color of light; it has no reference to anything else. In the words of the Master Beinsa Douno, the Universal White Brotherhood is “not visible, not a sect, not a church… It is something alive, beyond the corruption in which people live”.

The Society Universal White Brotherhood, or simply Society White Brotherhood, is a collection of people seeking to fulfil the ideals of the teaching of the Master Beinsa Douno (Peter Deunov). It originated in Bulgaria in the first half of the 20th century, but now consists of people from all over the world, of all races, all ethnic backgrounds, all nationalities, but one creed. It has nothing to do with any sort of sects made before, or after, using the same name.

Ancient Occultism

The term Great White Brotherhood or White Brotherhood as frequently found in older occult literature is thought by its followers to be a collegiate body of enlightened spiritual beings, once mortals, who continue to take an interest in the spiritual development of the human race. The Ascended Masters are believed by some to form such a college.

The Great White Brotherhood is the name given in metaphysical/occult circles to those adepts of wisdom who have finished their earthly pilgrimages (the cycles of reincarnation and karma) and, while ascending to a higher state of existence as masters of space, time and material existence, have assumed responsibility for the cosmic destiny of the human race, both individually and collectively. Most occult groups assign a high level of importance to the Brotherhood, but some make interaction with the Ascended Masters of the Brotherhood a major focus of their existence. Of these several, two stand out as most prominent: the "I Am" Activity, the original Ascended Masters group founded in the 1930s, and the Church Universal and Triumphant, founded in the 1960s. The two organizations, though frequently confused in the public media, were never connected and vary widely in their teachings.

Eastern Esotericism and Theosophy

Nicholas Roerich and his wife, Helena Roerich, inspired by the Theosophical writings of H.P. Blavatsky published the "Agni Yoga" series of books, with contents inspired by the Mahatmas, or Masters of the Great White Brotherhood from their stronghold in the Himalayas Shambhala.

Russian sect

Great White Brotherhood (Великое белое братство, commonly referred to as White Brotherhood - Белое Братство was a small apocalyptic sect in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus in the 1990s, led by Yuoann Svami and Maria Devi Christos. Several members of this group, along with Christos, were arrested for breaking into and vandalizing the Saint Sophia Cathedral in 1993.

Since it was the first encounter of new CIS states with the occultish New Age religions and religious scam, the term White Brotherhood enter the language as a description of any religious sect aimed at immediate financial gain. A lot of the members donated their apartments to the group.