Grail Movement

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The Grail Movement is a millenarian new religious movement which originated in central Europe in the early 1920s, revolving around the teachings of self-proclaimed messiah figure Oskar Ernst Bernhardt (also known by his pen name Abd-ru-shin 1875–1941), principally In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message. After gathering followers and publishing his lectures in the 1920s, Bernhardt taught that the Day of Judgement, the coming of Paradise and the vanquishing of evil was imminent within his followers lifetimes, with Bernhardt and his followers constructing a communal settlement at Vomperberg in Tyrol in Austria in the late 1920s and 1930s to await the Day of Judgement. Following the failure of the Day of Judgement to materialise and Bernhardt's death, the movement declined, though it began to grow again following missionary activities in the post-WWII (World War II) period. The movement has experienced a number of schisms. The movement is organised around groups called "Grail Circles" with initiated members known as "sealed". Although during Bernhardt's lifetime the movement never had more than a few thousand followers primarily concentrated in central Europe (Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and Germany) as well as France and Brazil, as of 2021 there are an estimated 40,000 "sealed" adherents. Although the movement started in Europe, there are today probably more followers in Africa, especially Nigeria than in Europe.