The Rudolf Steiner Archive

4. The Inauguration of the Franz von Assisi Branch

[ 1 ] We are gathered here today to inaugurate our anthroposophical branch in Malsch. Although this branch has been fully active for some time, we are only now able to hold the opening ceremony.

[ 2 ] Our dear anthroposophical friends from various regions of our anthroposophical endeavour have come together for this celebration, thereby demonstrating their desire to unite their anthroposophical feelings and thoughts with those of the serious, hard-working group of people who have gathered here – one might say, tucked away in the mountains, yet surrounded by all the beautiful, great, and noble forces of nature. Those of you who have looked around the surroundings of this hospitable house in Malsch will have seen that a great deal of work has been done on the exterior as well, in order to show in the outward appearance that the spiritual life which animates us all is to find its particular expression here in this spot on earth.

[ 3 ] And when we look back on the beginnings of our anthroposophical life with the founding of our German Section, of which Malsch is a part, when we look back on the humble beginnings of our life in the German Section, where we started with a small group of people enthusiastic about spiritual science, and then let our gaze wander to events such as today's and see how numerous are the souls who unite with us in spiritual scientific feelings and sensibilities, we can look back with satisfaction on the last years of our striving.

[ 4 ] And the Stockmeyer family, who have made such great efforts here in this corner of the earth to develop this spiritual life, albeit within the very supportive spirits of nature, this family can in turn look back with satisfaction at how so many genuine, true friends have flocked to their hospitable corner of the earth; for all anthroposophical friends can be called genuine, true friends. For anthroposophy must above all be truth in our hearts. And truth is sincerity. Anthroposophy must therefore be sincerity and anthroposophical friendship, which is expressed in the celebration of such a festival, such a dedication festival. All of this must be steeped in sincerity. Friendship in sincerity connects us with those who have worked so diligently here to make this a field of anthroposophical activity. And all those who have come here will be filled with gratitude for what the Stockmeyer family has accomplished here, and they can be assured of these feelings of gratitude, which are truly sincere and anthroposophical.

[ 5 ] On the other hand, the success of such a dedication ceremony with so many souls shows that spiritual science is a powerful magnet for human striving in our time. And perhaps it is worth mentioning at such a dedication ceremony that we can also look beyond the spaces that surround us today, so beautifully enclosed by the spirits of a magnificent nature, that we can look out into the rest of the world. It can be said that spiritual scientific life and striving are truly something that today appear to be imbued with an inner necessity. It is really as if some of the leaves of the ancient cultures that have sustained European and Western humanity for thousands of years, that have given this humanity security and strength for life, are now beginning to wither, appearing cold and sober to human hearts. That is why we see a longing for spiritual science living on in many areas of life today. And truly, it is something like a power for the future that has been unfolding around me in recent days, which I am privileged to share with you here today.

[ 6 ] Now I am allowed to convey the words of our great proclaimers of the new wisdom, the words of our masters of wisdom and harmony of feelings, here in this place, surrounded by green trees and the sprouting life of nature, by the glorious, life-giving and spirit-filled sunlight that shines so favorably today on our dear celebration. Today this is allowed to happen.

[ 7 ] And just a few days ago, I was able to speak in the same spirit in a series of lectures far away from here. I was able to speak in a series that I held in Rome. And this fact alone symbolizes for me the magnet that is the pursuit of spiritual science. The place where I was to speak looked very different to those who also have a longing for spiritual science in their hearts, even if this longing is sometimes still quite unclear. On ground that had actually only been trodden by cardinals, only those who work from the most positive and orthodox Catholicism, on this ground, the free breath of spiritual scientific worldview was allowed to be proclaimed in recent days. The same word was allowed to resound through the air of those rooms where only the message from the orthodox center of Rome had actually been proclaimed.

[ 8 ] Thus we see that the free spirits of the present, who feel more drawn to anthroposophy here in the north, can also look with a certain satisfaction upon those souls who long to break free from an old tradition that holds them in iron bonds, from an old orthodoxy. And it is, after all, a sign of the times that it was possible to speak as freely and impartially about anthroposophical truths on the ground where previously only cardinals have spoken, as here on the free soil of the North.

[ 9 ] For what was said earlier is true: anthroposophy is sincerity. And where it is called for, where souls need it, there it goes. But at no moment will it, out of any consideration for the ground on which it is proclaimed, depart in the slightest from what is the great guiding principle that inspires us in our proclamation.

[ 10 ] Wherever the anthroposophical truth is proclaimed, wherever the spiritual that pulsates through us is cultivated, this message should be proclaimed in the light of sincerity, even where it is still surrounded by the thoughts of those who hate anthroposophy. But even among those who hate anthroposophy, there live souls who, more or less consciously, long for the light of anthroposophy. And so it is precisely a contrast such as I have experienced over the past fortnight that shows us how powerful a magnet anthroposophical life is.

[ 11 ] If consideration of the immediate present teaches us that this anthroposophical force is a strong one in the present, consideration of the ages teaches us even more that we may hope with joyful and satisfying confidence that what we plant today with small seeds will develop into a mighty tree in the future. As theosophists today, we are in a situation that we can only compare to the situation in which humanity found itself in the ancient Atlantean epoch. And just as life has changed since that time, so will life change again in the future, until a catastrophe occurs. But this great perspective should come before our souls.

[ 12 ] Let us recall a similar movement that began small, like ours, in the last third of the Atlantean epoch. At that time, the Atlantean soul life had reached a high point. In many respects, this soul life was still clairvoyant. What humanity has conquered is self-awareness, a strong sense of self. The Atlantean humanity did not yet have this sense of self, this self-awareness. Instead, the Atlantean humanity had a certain clairvoyance and certain magical powers. The Atlanteans could look into the spiritual world. And these were the ones who had advanced to the forefront of civilization, who were best able to see into the spiritual world in the old way, those who were best able to bring knowledge out of the astral realm. For little by little, this clairvoyance faded away. Humanity had to lose it as a whole in order to gain self-consciousness in the physical outer world. But clairvoyant knowledge had risen to a special height in the last third of the Atlantean era.

[ 13 ] You remember what the actual technology of the Atlanteans was like. The Atlanteans traveled across the earth in small airships, close to the earth, because the air was filled with dense fog. And for this sea of air and water they had their small vehicles, which they propelled with the power of sprouting plants. Those who achieved the most in terms of such technology were people who can be compared to our great industrialists of today, to those who build elaborate machines out of dead forces. And those who were able to proclaim the most from the spiritual world were those who can be compared to our scholars and natural scientists of today, who march at the forefront of education.

[ 14 ] But within this humanity, another humanity was preparing itself, a humanity that had only limited powers of clairvoyance, but in return had the ability to observe the outer world with love. The first elements of arithmetic and counting were being prepared. But they could only participate to a limited extent in the great advances of Atlantean industry, in the construction of the powerful and increasingly powerful vehicles that traversed the sea of water and air. And so, in the last third of the Atlantean period, a small, inconspicuous group of people emerged who were despised in a certain sense because they had little clairvoyance and were unable to participate in this great industry. However, they prepared the way for the knowledge that is ours today, of which the outer world is so proud in our time because it has developed it in a one-sided manner.

[ 15 ] Among those people who stood at the forefront of Atlantean civilization, who mastered everything that could be learned from Atlantean knowledge, who were most advanced in the mastery of Atlantean technology, a technical idea first emerged toward the end of the Atlantean era, which then became fruitful for our time. We can compare it to another advance in our time, an advance that will transcend the next catastrophe. During their heyday, the Atlanteans had vehicles that traveled through the water-saturated air. But later, when the Atlantean culture was already in decline, the need arose to navigate the water as well. And among the later cultural races of the Atlantean era, the idea of shipping, of conquering the water, arose. This was a powerful idea that had a profound impact in the ancient Atlantean era. And it caused a tremendous sensation in Atlantean life when, for the first time, a vehicle not only rose into the air and traversed the air, but also sailed on the surface of the water. It was an idea that had an enormous impact and was put into practice by the last Atlantean races. Long attempts were made to sail on the water. Then they succeeded. This happened at a time when Atlantean culture was in decline.

[ 16 ] Those who were involved in this mighty advance could not be recruited from among the simple people who were initially equipped with the skills for the physical world and who were to carry over the actual spiritual life from the Atlantean era into our time, the spiritual life: simple, unassuming people who had retained the least remnants of clairvoyance, but still enough for those who were messengers from the spiritual world. People with this spiritual ability were gathered around a great initiate whom we call the great initiate of the Sun Oracle. These were the people who had retained the least technical skills, who were looked down upon with scorn by those at the top. All the great researchers and discoverers looked down contemptuously on this small group. But it was they whom the great initiate of the Sun Oracle led from west to east, through Europe to Asia. And it was this small group that then provided the opportunity for the post-Atlantean cultures to be founded.

[ 17 ] For the best that the various cultures then developed, the mighty tree of post-Atlantean education, sprang from the descendants of the despised, simple people of the Atlantean era. Above all, something else emerged from the midst of those who were the descendants of this simple little group. Let us place the external events alongside the internal events of our education.

[ 18 ] Let us look at the great sensation of the Atlantean era, when the invention was made by the subrace whose descendants were the Phoenicians: let us look at seafaring. What did this seafaring create?

[ 19 ] We need only remember the great events of the beginning of the new era, what Columbus and the other navigators did, the great discoveries that could not have been made without navigation, and we will see that this sensation led to the gradual conquest of the physical plane of the earth. The earth closed itself, so to speak. The post-Atlanteans were confined to small circles. But the invention of ships rounded off the Earth into a closed physical structure. Thus, the sensational invention of the Atlantean world has entered our time and is helping to bring about great progress on the physical plane.

[ 20 ] The greatest conquest, however, emerged in the post-Atlantean era from those who were the successors of that simple band around the great initiate of the Sun Oracle. And after they had prepared what needed to be done, these simple people, through their own development of the Indian, Persian, Egyptian, Greek-Latin, and our culture, it was possible for the Earth to provide the material into which Christ could be born. And so the greatest spiritual event, the greatest spiritual deed of the post-Atlantean era, emerged from the people who belonged to the most despised classes of humanity among those who marched at the forefront of civilization in Atlantis. From this emerged the great spiritual progress that sustains, nourishes, and permeates all spiritual life in our time.

[ 21 ] We see something similar happening in our time. We see how those abilities that were contained in their first seeds in Atlantis, arithmetic, counting, how these skills are all being developed today into a wonderful conquest of the physical plane through all kinds of technical advances. Today we see the great inventors and discoverers applying, in a certain sense, those forces that first sprouted among a despised handful of people in the Atlantean era. And what was clairvoyant knowledge in the Atlantean era is now knowledge of nature, knowledge of the physical world. Our present-day natural scientists and scholars can be compared with the pinnacles of the Atlantean civilization. But today there is again a simple class of people, without distinction of position in the world, spread everywhere, and they have in their hearts that powerful magnet that draws them toward spiritual life, just as in those days they were drawn toward life in the outer faculties for the physical plane.

[ 22 ] There is only one difference. While the last remnants of clairvoyance still existed at that time, they were able to recognize the great initiates. Today, people have a more difficult time in a certain sense. Today, a call from the spiritual world resounds to a similar small group, which we call the call of the masters of wisdom and harmony of feelings. But because people today are focused on the physical plane, the masters of wisdom and harmony of feelings remain, at first, something unknown to the small core of people who are crystallizing out of the great mass. But in their hearts, these people feel, as we can see from the facts of the present, that there is such a thing as a new spiritual message that will have the same effect on the future as the message of that time had on our present. These people, who today come from all strata of our population, with a longing in their hearts for a spiritual life that will form the basis of future cultures, these people, whom we find everywhere, are the true theosophists.

[ 23 ] And the true theosophists are appearing in our time, just as a sensation similar to that of the Atlantean era is emerging in our time.

[ 24 ] At that time, water was conquered through the highest advances in technology. In our time, the air is being conquered. Of course, this conquest will extend into a later epoch. But just as in our time ships have only brought about the conquest of the physical plane, so the airship will carry human beings into the air, but in the air the airship pilots will find only matter, only material things. And even if new areas of the physical plane are conquered, and even if what happens in external technology has a beneficial effect on the external world, the inner, spiritual life is carried in the hearts of those who feel spiritual, who feel fulfilled by what will lead in the future to a self-conscious insight into the spiritual world.

[ 25 ] And those who march at the forefront of civilization today, who can be compared to the Atlantean sages and technicians—look outside, they are working as inventors and discoverers and scholars and naturalists. Such a small group, which today is recruiting itself as a new bearer of culture, as it sits here, as it unites in our spiritual scientific associations, is looked down upon with contempt and scorn by these great researchers and scholars who carry the outer culture. The phenomena of the ancient Atlantean era are repeating themselves.

[ 26 ] But if spiritual life grips your hearts so strongly that you can compare yourselves with dignity to those who gathered around the great sun initiate, if the same power of confidence lives in you, then in later times you will be the bearers of spiritual life, that life which gives humanity, through its outer, material physicality, the ability to penetrate back into the spiritual world. At that time, it was the great initiate who gathered people around him in a similar way; today it is the masters of wisdom and harmony of feelings. Their call goes out to you. And if you feel this way, if you feel your mission arising from history, then your hearts will become strong enough to endure what is poured out from outside as mockery and scorn by those who call themselves bearers of culture. And if you understand your mission in this way, then your thoughts will be strong, and no doubt coming from outside will be able to shake your conviction. For your thoughts themselves will be imbued with spirit through the power that can flow from such an understanding of our mission. And even if we have to look thousands of years ahead and set ideals that reach far into the future: where such ideals are not set, life is dead; where they are set, life is transformed. Ideals that are taken from great periods of time and may seem small-minded to some are transformed into a power of the moment. You will be strong for the smallest deed if you are able to take your ideal from the highest heights. You will stand firm when those who rule the world with their education speak with scorn and contempt of the small spiritual-scientific associations in which sit those who “do not want to go along with today's culture.” Oh, they want to go along, they appreciate just as much what is gained in the outer, physical world, but they also know that just as a body cannot exist without a soul, so an outer culture cannot exist without spiritual life.

[ 27 ] Just as the humanity that has been characterized, which gathered around the great initiate as a despised handful at that time, provided the material over generations to make Christ possible on earth, so must today's anthroposophical humanity make it possible again to understand Christ completely. Christ descended in the fourth epoch. To understand Christ completely will be given to those who want to understand him through anthroposophy.

[ 28 ] Why do those who have been nourished by the positive religions, by the orthodox religions, come from an undefined consciousness to spiritual science? Why do they listen to the anthroposophical word when they have only listened to the Vatican until now? Why? Can we still say today that anthroposophy is something that is only there for those who view the greatest spiritual fact of our age, the fact of the Christ impulse, with indifference? What do these people want from us? They want us to tell them who Christ was and what Christ did! They come because those who today call themselves the privileged bearers of the name of Christ cannot tell them who Christ was. That is why they come to anthroposophy, because it can tell them what Christ is. It is not today's cultural leaders, who oppose the denial of Christ with the external traditions associated with this or that religion, who can harm the positive, dying spiritual currents. Those who do not know how to say what the great Christ is, who deny Christ in their spirituality, will find that the old religious currents will prove even stronger against them. Only the spiritual movements that place themselves in the midst of those who claim the privilege of the name of Christ, who know how to say what the true essence of Christ is, who demand it in the other sense, will gather around themselves a humanity that carries the future within itself. In contrast to all religious nihilism, the traditional religious currents will prove stronger.

[ 29 ] We do not understand anthroposophical life in a narrow, dogmatic sense. We do not want to encompass this anthroposophical life with individual dogmas or individual statements of knowledge, but rather in such a way that we recognize the mission and task of our time. We want to embrace it in such a way that the true spirit of our time speaks through us, that the greatest fact of our post-Atlantean time can be expressed through the words of anthroposophy. Then these words will be living life and living power in our souls. Then people will understand what anthroposophical life is. This cannot be declaimed, but only lived out of the spirit of our time.

[ 30 ] When we feel this way, our powers grow greater and greater. When we feel this way, we gain the strength to cling firmly to our ideal. And then we will know how to represent this ideal, regardless of whether it is on this or that soil, where an old culture longs for new content, or on this soil here, where we are surrounded by what has been brought about by the daily work of anthroposophy, by nature and the wonderful, spirit-filled rays of the sun that now shine around us. For whatever external research may tell us, we will again recognize the spirit of these rays in the sunbeams that shine around us here. And we will know that when the sun has set, the spirit that lives in the sun shines into our hearts. We will learn what it means to look at the sun at midnight, to look at the spirit of the sun. And when we understand the spirit of the sun, we will see how it has descended and united itself as spiritual life with what lives as the best in our time. It is necessary that the Christ impulse be understood, that we know how to say who Christ was. In this respect, humanity is only at the beginning. To the same extent that spiritual insight grows, humanity will recognize how the Christ impulse has entered into the structure of the world.

[ 31 ] One feels this rightly when a branch comes into being that one has to consecrate, as we are doing here today, and which, out of a deep need of those united in this branch, has given itself a name that is so deeply connected with the whole development of Christianity. Out of a deep need of those united in this branch, this branch calls itself the Francis of Assisi Branch. Oh, there is a deep, spiritual mystery surrounding Francis of Assisi.

[ 32 ] When Christ descended to earth, he enveloped himself in the threefold body of Jesus of Nazareth, with the physical, etheric, and astral bodies of Jesus of Nazareth. Christ, the Sun Spirit, lived for three years in the shell of Jesus of Nazareth. And when the mystery of Golgotha took place, many things happened. Christ descended from the heights to earth. But apart from what you know, something else also happened. Through Christ's dwelling in Jesus of Nazareth, something very special happened to the three bodies of Jesus of Nazareth, namely to the astral body and the etheric body. When Christ laid aside the bodies of Jesus of Nazareth, they remained spiritually present in the spiritual world, but multiplied into many, many images. They did not perish in the world ether or in the astral world, but lived on in the spiritual world in images. Just as the seed of a plant that we sink into the earth appears in many grains according to the mystery of numbers, so the etheric body and the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth were present in the spiritual world in images. And what were they there for in the great context of spiritual economy? To be preserved and to do their service in the great progress of the human race.

[ 33 ] One of the first to receive the great blessing that became possible for humanity through the presence of the etheric body of Jesus in many, many images in the spiritual world was the man known as Augustine. When Augustine descended back to earth after his previous incarnation, he was not woven into just any etheric body, but an image of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into his etheric body. He had his astral body and his ego for himself. In his etheric body he had an image of Jesus of Nazareth. He had to work his way through the culture of his ego and astral body. When he reached the etheric body, the great truths that confront us in his mysticism came to him. And many people of the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries had afterimages of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth woven into their own etheric bodies. Some of those who, at that time, conceived the great Christian conception of those images that art then glorified so much—the Madonna, Christ on the cross—all those who worked in such a way that they created the images carried woven into their etheric bodies an image of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth. Therefore, they experienced again within themselves what people had experienced at the time of the events on Golgotha.

[ 34 ] And in the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, the time had come when, during the incarnation of certain souls, an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into the astral body. Many people in the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries did not merely receive the astral body when they descended, but while their astral body was forming during reincarnation, an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into this astral body. That is why these people were able to proclaim the great Christian truths. For they had woven into their astral body, from which their knowledge sprang, that which was the image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth himself. Among those who had woven such an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth into themselves was Francis of Assisi. At that time, there were many, among others Elizabeth of Thuringia, who had woven into their astral bodies an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth. That is why they were able to proclaim the great truths of Christianity as judgment, as logical knowledge, as scientific wisdom. But they could do something else as well: they could experience within themselves what one feels when one carries the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth within oneself.

[ 35 ] Now let all the humility, devotion, and Christian love in Francis of Assisi sink in, and it will be like scales falling from your eyes. And you will understand how you can comprehend Francis of Assisi: in all his errors, because he had his ego for himself; in all his greatness, because he carried within himself an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth.

[ 36 ] All the humble feelings, the deep, deep mysticism, all the spiritual psychic life that lives in Francis of Assisi becomes understandable when we know this secret of his life. And then we can see good prospects for the future of this branch in the spirit, if it really takes root in this great figure of Francis of Assisi. For those who have been called by such grace as Francis of Assisi to lead Western Christian humanity also allow their spiritual light to shine where spiritual work is being done in all ages. And when the Francis of Assisi branch works in a genuine spiritual sense, then in the union of the thoughts and feelings that prevail in this branch, the harmoniously unifying light of Francis of Assisi will prevail, which he received through such grace as has been described, in the permeation of his own astral body with the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth. Something of this light will shine into this branch.

[ 37 ] And we will leave behind us today the right feelings of consecration with which we have gathered to consecrate this branch, this branch that works in a humble place, when we allow ourselves to pass by the contemplation of such perspectives. Let us look up to the light of Francis of Assisi, let us take with us what can be kindled in us at this moment, and let us think back with such feelings to this branch and to this moment, then our feelings and thoughts will invisibly surround this branch of Francis of Assisi, in which work will be done in such a way that what struggles upward from below may prove worthy of the light that enters from without. At such a moment, we become aware that we are here to work for the true, real progress of our post-Atlantean time. And when the need arose to name this branch, something of the awareness of this great progress in our time, this great progress in our post-Atlantean time, must have lived in the souls of its founders.

[ 38 ] When did the deepest turning point in our entire evolution occur? It was when Christ descended. Let us look back six hundred years before this period, and let us look at the Earth six hundred years later, after Christ was here. Twelve hundred years lie between these two periods.

[ 39 ] Let us look at an individuality so great that words of admiration cannot truly be uttered, let us look at the great Buddha who lived six hundred years before Christ. Let us look at that moment when he is led out, when he has not been able to live the life he was meant to live, when he is led out into life. Let us see how he is first met by a clumsy child. And he forms the view: Yes, there is suffering in what man enters into through birth. And then he sees a sick person. And he says to himself: There is suffering, there is illness. Man is exposed to illness on this plane. And he sees an old man who can no longer move his limbs. And he says to himself: It is suffering to grow old. And he sees a corpse. And this evokes in him the view: Death is suffering. And then he forms the view: Being separated from what one loves is suffering. Being united with what one does not love is suffering. Not obtaining what one desires is suffering. And this teaching spread as the teaching of the great Buddha, six hundred years before Christ.

[ 40 ] Let us hold fast to that moment when Buddha steps out into the world and sees a corpse, looks death in the face. That was six hundred years before Christ. And six hundred years after the event at Golgotha, the image first arises to which thousands turn their eyes, the wood of the cross on which hangs the corpse of the Savior. Buddha looked at a corpse, and the corpse personified all earthly suffering for him. The believers of the Christian community look at a corpse, six hundred years after Christ, and in looking at the corpse, the believers see the victory of all spiritual life over death, the promise of bliss. Thus a corpse was viewed by one of the greatest men six hundred years before Christ, and thus it was viewed six hundred years after the event of Golgotha by a community of believers.

[ 41 ] And what does the Christ event tell us about the other statements of suffering? Is birth suffering? Buddha said so. In the sight of Christ, humanity that understands him says to itself: Through birth we enter into this existence that was found worthy to bear Christ. We are born into a life in which we can connect with Christ. Illness is not suffering if one understands Christ. From the Christ impulse, we will learn to understand what it is in the spirit that creates health. In a spiritual way, illness will be healed from the innermost, Christianized life. By dying to the outer, we become certain that we carry over into every life what we have in connection with the Christ impulse.

[ 42 ] Through Christ's victory, death appears to us as that which carries us over into a spiritual world. We learn to understand death in its significance for the spiritual world through the Christ impulse.

[ 43 ] And we can no longer say that it is suffering to be separated from what we love. For the power of Christ will bring us together with everything we want to love, soul to soul. The power of Christ will bind together all that loves one another. The suffering that could come from separating what loves one another will be overcome with Christ.

[ 44 ] And when we learn to love everyone, we will no longer look at the world as if being united with what we do not love is suffering. We want to learn to love every creature according to its measure. And our desire will be so purified that we will be able to receive what the soul must receive when the obstacles of the physical world are no longer there, when the spiritual sources flow. They can flow through the Christ impulse. In the spirit, in the Christ spirit, you will attain what you desire. For you will have a purified desire.

[ 45 ] Thus, through the Christ impulse, the new spiritual life has been placed alongside the old. So profound was the progress in spiritual life before and after the Christ impulse.

[ 46 ] This is what one feels when one turns to one of the most joyful, most ardent admirers and messengers of the Christ impulse in order to have a name for the union in which spiritual life is to be cultivated. May this name be a good omen, so that work in this branch may be carried out in accordance with the spirit of our time, with the truly understood spirit of our time, as is necessary for the progress we have set before our souls.

[ 47 ] In the spirit spoken in these words, in this spirit may this branch be inaugurated today by invoking the blessing we invoked yesterday when we laid the foundation stone for the outer temple. Once again, may this spirit be invoked to reign and work in this branch of Francis of Assisi.

[ 48 ] May all the feelings of all of us who have come here today to consecrate this branch unite with this spirit, so that we may unite ourselves in brotherhood with those who work here in the serious anthroposophical sense, so that spiritual life may sprout up in the midst of trees and woods, among sprouting and budding plants, in the midst of sunny nature. And whether the bright rays of the sun proclaim what is beautiful and glorious in nature, whether the snow lies deep outside and thick clouds darken the outer, physical sunlight: At all times, at times when outer nature renews itself or when it dons its dark garment, the spirit of spiritual life should always reign here, which we would like to invoke today with our consecration of this branch by all the spirits who guide this spirituality.

[ 49 ] With this, let the consecration be given from all our hearts to this branch of Francis of Assisi. May it continue to work in the spirit in which it began, through the spiritual power of the masters of wisdom and the harmony of feelings flowing into each branch. May it continue to work through the good spirit it has given itself by invoking the shining bearer of Christ in its name. May it continue to work as it has begun.

[ 50 ] Good spirits will watch over it. It will be one of the places that nurtures the life that, according to so many signs, our time needs in order to sow the seeds of what a distant future will require.

[ 51 ] May those who now have to work here alone again emerge strengthened from today's festivities, where so many like-minded, sincere friends unite their feelings with theirs! Then the spiritual life that is cultivated here on this ground will flow back to all. And may one of the sources also flow here in this place, flowing together into the great harmony of anthroposophical life. The thoughts that arise here will meet ours. Our thoughts will flow here. But this harmony means something like an outer garment of spirituality, which must pass through the evolution of humanity like a spiritual breath of wind if blessing forces are to reign over spiritual humanity.

[ 52 ] And with that, this branch is opened in the fullest sense of the word, consecrated, made into a field of work that we always hope to be able to look upon with the same love and inner satisfaction as we do today in this moment of consecration, when we are so beautifully gathered together.