Pekka Ervast (b. 1875, d. 1934) was a towering and influential figure in the theosophical movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He joined the Swedish Theosophical Society in 1895 and founded the Finnish Theosophical Society in 1907. On November 14, 1920, Ervast founded a new society, The Finnish Rosy Cross (Ruusu-Risti) in the tradition of Rosicrucianism. The society has its roots both in Theosophy and esoteric Christianity, in which the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount are crucial in the spiritual path. Ervast was one of a long and illustrious line of spiritual pioneers whose role was to re-interpret the timeless truths of the Perennial Philosophy down the ages. His key messages continue to reverberate a century after they were first imparted.