Petar Dinev graduated from the Ecclesiastical Seminary in Istanbul. He studied at the Conservatoire in Saint-Petersburg majoring in Composition under Sokolov, Petrov and Glazunov, and Oriental Music under Professor Saketi (1911-15), as well as in Law at the University of Saint-Petersburg. He taught Oriental Music at the Conservatoire in Kazan (1919-22). He returned to Bulgaria in 1922 and worked as a teacher of music (1923-24), lecturer in Church Music at the State Academy of Music (1925-36), teacher at the Ecclesiastical Seminary and associate professor at the Ecclesiastical Seminary (1926-46). From 1944 to 1951 he served as music inspector and deputy director of the Cultural and Educational Department of the Bulgarian Holy Synod.

He wrote theoretical articles and studies, dedicated to the Bulgarian church music such as Similarity between Traditional and Sacred Melodies (1955); The Rila Church Vocal School at the Beginning of the 19th Century And Its Representatives (1957); Folklore Vocal Elements in Bulgarian Church Melody (1959), etc. He made arrangements of Orthodox and old Bulgarian tunes and composed chants in their style. He re-noted the spiritual music compositions of Joan Kukuzel from old Orthodox to modern notation. He harmonised and arranged for choir over 60 Macedonian folksongs.

For mixed choir:

St. John Chrysostom Liturgy based on Orthodox Melodies (1926);
Easter Concerto “Na rekah Vavilonskih” (On Babylon River) (1927).

For two and three-voiced choir:

St. John Chrysostom People’s Liturgy (1929);
St. John Chrysostom People’s Liturgy (1929, 1936, 1974).

Collections:
Collection of Songs and Prayers for the Orthodox Christian Communities (1933);
Collection of Church Chants for Vespers and Liturgy (1941);
Collection including the People’s St. John Chrysostom Liturgy and Fifty Selected Church Songs (1947).