The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Words I would like to say on the Occasion of the Course on the Apocalypse held at the Goetheanum in September

[ 1 ] Among the courses held here at the Goetheanum between September 4 and 23, one was for the priests of the Christian Community. In the strictest sense, it was limited to this circle alone. The members of the Executive Council at the Goetheanum were the sole participants outside this circle.

[ 2 ] The priesthood had expressed the wish some time ago that the Apocalypse should form the basis for the content of this course.

[ 3 ] There is a series of lectures entitled “Theosophy Based on the Apocalypse,” which I gave in Nuremberg in 1908 to the members of what was then the Theosophical Society and which was previously printed for the members of the Anthroposophical Society.

[ 4 ] What was said at that time could not be reconciled with what was presented this time. At that time, our dear friends from among the membership were filled with the expectation of learning above all about the insights that human beings can gain into the development of humanity on earth and of the earth within the star system through the contemplation of the supersensible world. With such a theme, one can tie in with the content of the Apocalypse. For this content is actually a mystery to all those who read the Bible. It is found at the end of this book. And it contains prophetic information about the development of the Earth and humanity. By showing in the Nuremberg lecture series how much of what can be said about the development of humanity and the Earth within the solar system in the imagery of the apocalyptic writer can also be found in the research of anthroposophy, which has been carried forward into the spiritual realm but in the spirit of newer scientific conscientiousness, it was possible to put the relationship between the esoteric truths of Christianity and anthroposophy in the right light. At that time, I was able to convey to my listeners the insight that eternal truths that deeply touch the human soul can be heard from two sides: from the side of esoteric Christianity and from that of Spiritual Science; and that one hears the same thing if one listens properly.

[ 5 ] This time I had a different task. And although I will not report on what, by its very nature, can only be intended for the circle of priests, I nevertheless feel obliged to say here what anthroposophists should know about a process that is taking place within the Anthroposophical Society.

[ 6 ] What flows as spiritual substance through the priesthood of the Christian Community was given to them two years ago from the spiritual world through my mediation within the Goetheanum, which has since burned down. This giving was such that the Christian Community stands completely independent of the Anthroposophical Society. When it was founded, nothing less than such independence could have been sought. For this movement for Christian renewal did not grow out of anthroposophy. It originated with individuals who, based on their experience of Christianity, not their experience of anthroposophy, sought a new religious path. They felt the urge to find the connection between the human soul and its eternal world of being in a living grasp of the supersensible content of Christianity. They firmly believed that such a living grasp must exist. But they felt that the paths currently open to them for attaining the priesthood could not lead them to this grasp. So these students of an honest and spiritually minded priesthood came to me with confidence. They had become acquainted with anthroposophy. They were convinced that anthroposophy could give them what they were looking for. But they were not looking for the anthroposophical path; they were looking for a specifically religious one.

[ 7 ] I pointed out to them that the cult and the teaching on which it is based can indeed be presented through anthroposophy, but that the anthroposophical movement must regard the cultivation of spiritual life from other sides as its task.

[ 8 ] It was then possible to approach Dr. Rittelmeyer with the aspirations of these pupils of a spiritually oriented Christian priesthood. He was a personality who was a Christian priest and an anthroposophist in the truest sense of the word. Although he did not practice the cult, he had lived out Christian renewal in his work in a broad sense, in the spirit of the faith. Offering something for Christian renewal from within the Anthroposophical Society naturally raised the practical question: How would Rittelmeyer receive what was offered? How would he respond to the realization of what was intended? For the anthroposophical movement had to see in Rittelmeyer the model of a personality who had united Christianity and anthroposophy in the inner harmony of the heart and in the outer harmony of action.

[ 9 ] And Rittelmeyer said “yes” with all his heart. This gave the independent movement for Christian renewal a firm starting point. And what was to happen could be inaugurated here at the Goetheanum two years ago.

[ 10 ] Since then, the Priestly Community of Christian Renewal has pursued its path in the most energetic manner. It is developing a beneficial and healing activity.

[ 11 ] After two years – the anniversary of the actual founding fell during the course period – these priests now felt the need to enter into a closer relationship with the Apocalypse.

[ 12 ] I believed I could do something to bring about such a closer relationship. My spiritual path had enabled me to follow in the footsteps of the apocalyptic writer.

[ 13 ] And so I thought that in this course I would be able to present something that could truly convey this “priest's book” to the “priest” as a spiritual guide. The human consecration ceremony is at the center of the priest's work; from it radiates what penetrates from the spiritual world into the human world through the cult. The Apocalypse can stand at the center of the priest's soul; from it can radiate into all priestly thinking and feeling what the sacrificial human soul is to receive graciously from the spiritual world. —

[ 14 ] This is how I thought about the tasks of this course for priests when I was asked to give it. It is in this spirit that I have now given it.

Further guiding principles issued for the Anthroposophical Society from the Goetheanum.

[ 15 ] 100. Thoughts have their actual seat in the etheric body of the human being. But there they are living forces. They imprint themselves on the physical body. And as such “imprinted thoughts,” they have the shadowy nature with which ordinary consciousness is familiar.

[ 16 ] 101. What lives in thoughts as feeling comes from the astral body, what comes as will comes from the “I.” During sleep, the etheric body of the human being shines forth in its world of thoughts; only the human being does not participate in this because it has withdrawn the feeling of thoughts with the astral body and the will of thoughts with the “I” from the etheric and physical bodies.

[ 17 ] 102. At the moment when, during sleep, the astral body and the I detach themselves from the thoughts of the etheric body, they enter into a relationship with “karma,” with the perception of events throughout repeated earthly lives. This view is denied to ordinary consciousness; a supersensible consciousness enters into it.

(Continued in the next issue.)