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The Gospel of St. John
in Relation to the Other Three Gospels
GA 112

1 July 1909, Kassel

8. The Initiation Mysteries

As the fruit of yesterday's enquiries we learned that the Christ-Impulse, once it had worked through the person of Jesus of Nazareth, united with the evolution of the earth; and now its power within the earthly development of mankind is such that in our time it affects man in the same way as did formerly the procedure which is becoming ever more dangerous for human life—that of withdrawing the etheric from the physical body during the three and a half days of initiation. The Christ-Impulse actually affects human consciousness as powerfully as does an abnormal process of the above sort.

But you must realize that such a radical change needed time to take root in human evolution, that it could not appear from the start with such intensity; and it was therefore necessary to create a sort of transition in the resurrection of Lazarus. The deathlike state lasting three and a half days was still retained in the case of Lazarus, but you should clearly understand that this state differed from the one passed through by the old initiates. Lazarus' condition was not brought about artificially by the initiator, as was the case in former times, by withdrawing the etheric from the physical body through processes I am not at liberty to describe here. We may say that it came about in a more natural way. From the Gospel itself you can gather that Christ had associated with Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary before, for we read, “The Lord loved him”. This means that for a long time Christ Jesus had been exercizing a great and powerful influence on Lazarus, who had thereby been adequately prepared and developed. And the consequence was that in his case the initiation did not call for the artificial inducing of a three-anda-half-day trance, but that this came about of itself under the mighty impression of the Christ-Impulse. So for the outer world Lazarus was as though dead, so to speak, for three and a half days, even though during this time he experienced what was of the utmost importance; and thus only the last act, the resurrection, was undertaken by Christ.

And anyone who is familiar with what there occurred recognizes an echo of the old initiation process in the words employed by Christ Jesus: Lazarus, come forth.

The resurrected Lazarus, as we have seen, was John—or better, the writer of the John Gospel. It was he who could introduce the Gospel of the Christ Being into the world because he was, so to say, the first initiate in the Christian sense. For this reason we may safely assume that this Gospel of St. John, so badly abused by present-day research of a purely historical, critical, theological nature, and represented as a mere lyrical hymn, as a subjective expression of this author, will prove the means of insight into the profoundest mysteries of the Christ-Impulse.

Nowadays this Gospel of St. John constitutes a stumbling block for the materialists who carry on Bible research when they compare it with the other three, the so-called synoptic Gospels. The picture of Christ that arises before them out of the first three is so flattering to the learned gentlemen of our time! The pronouncement has gone forth, even from theological quarters, that what we are dealing with is the “simple man of Nazareth”. Again and again it is emphasized that one can gain a picture of Christ as perhaps one of the noblest of men who have walked the earth; but the picture remains merely that of a human being. There is even a tendency to simplify this picture as far as possible; and in this connection one hears it mentioned that after all, there have been other great ones as well, such as Plato and Socrates. The most that is admitted are differences in degree.

The picture of Christ yielded by the John Gospel is indeed a very different one. At the very beginning it is stated that what lived in the body of Jesus of Nazareth for three years was the Logos, the primordial, eternal Word, for which we have also the term “eternal creative wisdom”. Our epoch cannot understand that in the thirtieth year of his life a man could be sufficiently developed to be able to sacrifice his own ego and receive into himself another being, a Being of wholly superhuman nature: the Christ, Whom Zarathustra addressed as Ahura Mazdao. That is why theological critics of this type imagine that the writer of the John Gospel had set out merely to describe his attitude to his Christ in a sort of lyrical hymn—nothing more. On the one hand, so they maintain, we have the John Gospel, and on the other, the other three; but by taking the average one can compound a picture of Christ as the “simple man”, while granting His historical eminence. Modern Bible critics resent the idea of a divine being dwelling in Jesus of Nazareth.

The akashic record discloses the fact that in His thirtieth year the personality we know as Jesus of Nazareth had, as a result of all He had experienced in former incarnations, achieved a degree of maturity that enabled Him to sacrifice His own ego; for that is what took place when, at the Baptism by John, this Jesus of Nazareth could make the resolution to withdraw—as an ego, the fourth principle of the human being—from His physical, etheric, and astral bodies. And what remained was a noble sheath, a lofty physical, etheric, and astral body which had been saturated with the purest, most highly developed ego. This was in the nature of a pure vessel which at the Baptism could receive the Christ, the primordial, eternal Logos, the “creative wisdom”. That is what the akashic record reveals to us; and we can recognize it, if we only will, in the narrative of the John Gospel.

But clearly it behooves us to consider what our materialistic age believes. Some of you may be surprised to hear me speak of theologians as materialistic thinkers, for after all, they are occupied with spiritual matters. But it is not a question of what a man believes or what he studies, but rather, of the method of his research, regardless of its content. Anyone who rejects our present subject or repudiates a spiritual world, who considers only what exists in the outer world in the way of documents and the like, is a materialist. The means of research is the important thing. But at the same time we must come to terms with the opinions of our age.

In reading the Gospels you will find certain contradictions. As to the essentials, to be sure—that is, as to what the akashic record discloses as essential—it can be said that the agreement among them is striking. They agree, first of all, in the matter of the Baptism itself; and it is made clear in all four Gospels that their authors saw in this Baptism the greatest imaginable import for Jesus of Nazareth. The four Gospels further agree on the fact of the crucifixion and the fact of the Resurrection. Now, these are precisely the facts that seem most miraculous to the materialistic thinker of today—and no contradiction exists here.

But in the other cases, how are we to come to terms with the seeming contradictions? Taking first the Evangelists Mark and John, we find their narratives commencing with the Baptism: they describe the last three years of Christ Jesus' activity—that is, only what occurred after the Christ Spirit had taken possession of His threefold sheath, His physical, etheric, and astral bodies. Then consider the Gospels according to St. Matthew and St. Luke. In a certain respect these trace the earlier history as well, the section which, within our meaning, the akashic record discloses as the story of Jesus of Nazareth before sacrificing Himself for the Christ. But at this point the contradiction seekers notice at once that Matthew tells of a genealogy reaching to Abraham, whereas Luke traces the line of descent back to Adam, and from Adam to Adam's Father: to God Himself. A further contradiction could be found in the following: According to Matthew, three Wise Men, or Magi, guided by a star, come to do homage at the birth of Jesus; while Luke relates the vision of the shepherds, their adoration of the Child, the presentation in the Temple—in contrast with which Matthew narrates the persecution by Herod, the flight into Egypt, and the return. These points and many others could be considered individual contradictions; but by examining more closely the facts gleaned from the akashic record, without reference to the Gospels, we can come to terms with them.

The akashic record informs us that at about the time stated in the Bible—the difference of a few years is immaterial—Jesus of Nazareth was born, and that in the body of Jesus of Nazareth there dwelt an individuality that in former incarnations had experienced lofty stages of initiation, had gained deep insight into the spiritual world. And it tells us something more, with which for the present I shall deal only in outline. The akashic record, which provides the only true history, reveals the circumstance that he who appeared in this Jesus of Nazareth had, in former incarnations, passed through manifold initiations, in all sorts of localities; and it leads us back to the fact that this later bearer of the name of Jesus of Nazareth had originally attained to a lofty and significant stage of initiation in the Persian world and had exercized an exalted, far-reaching activity. This individuality dwelling in the body of Jesus of Nazareth had already been active in the spiritual life of ancient Persia, had gazed up at the sun, and had addressed the great Sun Spirit as “Ahura Mazdao”.

We must thoroughly understand that the Christ entered the bodies of this individuality which had passed through the sort of incarnations mentioned. What does that mean? It simply means that the Christ made use of these three bodies—the astral, etheric, and physical bodies of Jesus of Nazareth—for fulfilling His mission. Everything we think, all that we express in words, that we feel or sense, is connected with our astral body: the astral body is the vehicle of all this. Jesus of Nazareth, as an ego, had lived for thirty years in this astral body, had communicated to it all that He had experienced within Himself and assimilated during former incarnations. In what way, then, did this astral body form its thoughts? It had to conform and amalgamate with the individuality that lived in it for thirty years.

When in ancient Persia Zarathustra lifted his gaze to the sun and told of Ahura Mazdao, this stamped itself into his astral body; and into this astral body there entered the Christ. Was it not natural, then, that Christ, when choosing a metaphor or an expression of feeling, should turn to what His astral body offered—of whatever nature? When you wear a grey coat you appear to the outer world in a grey coat; and Christ appeared to the outer world in the body of Jesus of Nazareth—in His physical, etheric, and astral bodies—and consequently His thoughts and feelings were colored by the images of the thoughts and feelings living in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. No wonder, then, that many an old Persian expression is reflected in His utterances, or that in John's Gospel we find an echo of terms used in the ancient Persian initiation; for the impulse that dwelt in the Christ passed over, of course, into His disciple, into the resurrected Lazarus. So it can be said that the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth speaks to us through John, in his Gospel.

No, it is not surprising that expressions should appear which recall the ancient Persian initiation and the form in which its ideas were presented. In Persia, “Ahura Mazdao” was not the only name for the spirits united in the sun: in a certain connection the term “vohumanu” was used, meaning the “creative Word”, or the “creative spirit”. The Logos, in its meaning of “creative force”, was first employed in the Persian initiation, and we meet it again in the very first verse of the John Gospel. There is much besides in this Gospel which we may understand through knowing that the Christ Himself spoke through an astral body which for thirty years had served Jesus of Nazareth, and that this individuality was the re-embodiment of an ancient Persian initiate. Similarly I could point to a great deal more in the John Gospel that would show how this most intimate of the Gospels, when using words associated with the mysteries of initiation, employs phrases reminiscent of Persia, and how this old mode of expression has persisted into later times.

If we now wish to understand the position of the other Evangelists in this matter we must recall various points that have already been established in the previous lectures. We learned, for example, that there existed certain lofty spiritual beings who transferred their sphere of action to the sun when the latter detached itself from the earth; and it was pointed out that their outer astral form was in a sense the counterpart of certain animal forms here on earth. There was first, the form of the Bull spirit, the spiritual counterpart of those animal natures the essence of whose development lies in what could be called the nutritional and digestive organization. The spiritual counterpart is naturally of a lofty spiritual nature, however inferior the earthly image may appear. So we have certain exalted spiritual beings who transferred their sphere to the sun whence they influenced the earth sphere, appearing there as the Bull spirits. Others appear as the Lion spirits, whose counterpart lives in animal natures pre-eminently developed as to their heart and organs of circulation. Then we have spiritual beings who are the counterparts of what we meet in the animal kingdom as eagle natures, the Eagle spirits. And finally there are those that harmoniously unite, as it were, the other natures as in a great synthesis, the Man spirits. These were in a sense the most advanced.

Passing now to the old initiation, we find that this offered the possibility of beholding, face to face, the exalted spiritual beings that had outstripped man. But the manner in which primitive men had to be initiated, in accord with the demands of those ancient times, depended upon the origin of their descent—that is, whether from Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus. Even in Atlantis, therefore, there existed oracles in manifold variety. Some had adjusted their spiritual vision primarily to the beholding of what we have described as the Eagle spirits, while others saw the Lion spirits, the Bull spirits, or the Man spirits: the initiation accorded with the specific traits of the candidate. This differentiation was one of the characteristics of the Atlantean age, and certain echos of it have persisted into our own post-Atlantean time. Thus you could find Mystery temples in Asia Minor, or in Egypt, where the initiation took a form that brought about the vision of the lofty spiritual beings as Bull spirits, or as Eagle spirits. And it was in the Mysteries that outer culture had its source.

The initiates who saw the lion form in the exalted spiritual beings conjured up in the lion body a sort of image of what they had beheld; but they saw as well that these spirits take part in the evolution of man. That is why they assigned a human head to the lion body, a concept that later became the sphinx.—Those who saw the spiritual counterparts as Bull spirits bore testimony to the spiritual world by introducing a Bull worship, which led on the one hand to the Apis Bull worship in Egypt, and on the other, to the worship of the Persian Mithras Bull; for everything we find in the way of outer cult usages among the different peoples derived from the initiation rites. There were initiates everywhere whose spiritual vision was focussed principally on the Bull spirits, others attuned primarily to the Eagle spirits, and so on. To a certain extent we can even indicate the differences in the various modes of initiation. Those initiated, for example, in such a way that the spiritual beings appeared to them in the form of Bull spirits were informed principally concerning the secrets connected with man's glandular system, with what pertains to the etheric principle. And there is still another branch of the nature of man into which they were initiated: the human properties that are firmly attached to the earth—welded to it, as it were. All this was grasped by those initiated in the Bull Mysteries.

Let us try to experience the soul mood of such initiates. From their great teachers they had learned, in effect, that man had descended from divine heights, that the primordial human beings were the descendants of divine-spiritual beings and that therefore they traced the first man back to his Father-God. Thus man came down to earth and passed from one earth form to another. These men were primarily interested in what was bound to the earth, as well as in all that men had experienced when they had thought of divine-spiritual beings as their ancestors.—That was the attitude of the Bull initiates. The Eagle initiates constituted a different case. These envisioned those spiritual beings who bear a most peculiar relation to the human being; but in order to understand this a few words must be said concerning the spiritual character of the bird nature.

Animals rank below human beings by reason of their inferior functions, and they represent, as you know, beings that solidified too early, having failed to retain the softness and flexibility of their body substance until such time as they might have been able to embody in human form. But in the bird nature we have beings that did not assume the lowest functions: instead they overshot the mark in the opposite direction. They failed to descend far enough, as it were; they remained in unduly soft substances, while the others lived in substances that were too hard. But as evolution continued, outer conditions compelled them to solidify; hence they hardened in a manner incompatible with a nature that had descended to the earth, being too soft. That is a rough description in untechnical terms, but it gives the facts. The archetypes of these bird natures are those spiritual beings who likewise overshot the mark, who remained in a substance too soft, and who consequently were carried, as it were, beyond what they might have become at a certain point of their development. They deviated from the normal development in an upward direction, while the rest diverged downwards. The middle position is in a certain sense occupied by the Lion spirits, as well as by the harmonious ones, the Man spirits, who grasped the right moment to incorporate.

We have already seen how the Christ event was received by those in whom there lived something of the old initiation. According to the nature of their specific initiation they had been able in the past to see into the spiritual world; and those who had received the Bull initiation—throughout a great part of Egypt, for example—were aware of the following: We can gaze up into the spiritual world, and therefore the lofty spiritual beings appear to us as the counterparts of the Bull nature in man. But now—so said those who had come in contact with the Christ impulse—now there has appeared to us in His true form the Ruler of the spiritual realm. That which we had always seen, that to which we had attained through the stages of our initiation, showed us a prefatory form of the Christ. In what was formerly revealed to us we must now see the Christ. Remembering all that we beheld, all that the spiritual worlds gradually disclosed to us, we can ask, Whither would it all have led us if at that time we had already attained to the requisite heights? It would have led us to the Christ.—An initiate of that type described the journey into the spiritual world in line with the Bull initiation; but he added. The truth it harbors is the Christ.—And a Lion or an Eagle initiate would have spoken similarly.

It was definitely prescribed in each of these initiation Mysteries how the candidate should be led up into the spiritual world, and the rites varied according to the manner in which he was to enter it. There were Mysteries of many different shades, especially in Asia Minor and in Egypt, where it was customary to guide the initiates in such a way as to bring them eventually to the Bull nature, or to a vision of the Lion spirits, as the case might have been. With this in mind let us now consider those who, as a result of many different kinds of initiations in the past, had become capable of sensing the Christ impulse, of comprehending Christ in the right way. Let us observe an initiate who had passed through the stages enabling him to behold the Man spirit. Such a one could say, The true Ruler in the spiritual world has appeared to me, Christ, Who lived in Jesus of Nazareth. And to what am I indebted for this? To my ancient initiation.—He knew the procedure that led to the vision of the Man spirit; so he describes what a man experiences in order to attain to initiation, or to understand the Christ nature at all. He knew initiation in the form prescribed in those Mysteries that led to the Man initiation. That is why the lofty initiate who dwelt in the body of Jesus of Nazareth appeared to him in the image of the Mysteries he had gone through and knew, and he described Him as he himself saw Him.

That is the case in the narrative according to Matthew; and an old tradition hit upon the truth in connecting the Matthew Gospel with that one of the four symbols forming the capitals of the columns you see in this hall1These two columns decorated the lecture hall in Kassel, together with a statue representing the Archangel Michael, by Professor Bernewitz. and which we connote the symbol of the Man spirit. An ancient tradition associates the writer of the Gospel according to St. Matthew with the Man spirit, and that is because this writer knew, so to speak, the Man Mystery initiation as his own point of departure. You see, in the time when the Gospels were written it was not customary to write biographies as they are written today. What seemed essential to those people was the appearance of an exalted initiate Who had received the Christ into himself. The manner of becoming an initiate, the experiences he was destined to undergo, that was what they considered important; and that is why they ignored the external every-day happenings that appear so important to biographers of today. The modern biographer will go to any lengths to collect enough material. Once when Friedrich Theodor Vischer (”Schwaben-Vischer”) was indulging in a bit of sarcasm at the expense of modern biographies he hit on an excellent illustration. A young scholar set about writing his doctor's thesis, which was to be on Goethe. As a preparation he first assembled all the material he could use; but as there was not enough to satisfy him, he poked about in all the rooms and attics of the various towns where Goethe had lived, swept out all the corners, and even emptied the dustbins in an effort to find whatever might chance to be there, which would then enable him to write a thesis on The Connection between Frau Christiane von Goethe's Chilblains and the Mythologico-allegorico-symbolical Figures in the Second Part of Faust. Well, that is laying it on rather thick, but it is after all quite in the spirit of modern biographers. People planning to write on Goethe sniff about in all sorts of rubbish hunting material. The meaning of the word “discretion” is no longer known to them today.

But those who portrayed Jesus of Nazareth in their Gospels went about their descriptions quite differently. Everything in the way of external occurrences appeared to them negligible as compared with the various stages which Jesus of Nazareth, as an initiate, had to pass through. That is what they described; but each one did so in his own way, as he himself saw the matter. Matthew described in the manner of those initiated in the Man spirit. This initiation was closely akin to the wisdom of Egypt.

And now we can understand, too, how the writer of the Luke Gospel had arrived at his unusual representation. He was one of those who in former incarnations had achieved initiations leading to the Bull spirit, and he could describe what accorded with such an initiation. He could say, A great initiate must have passed through such and such stages—and he portrayed Him in the colors he knew. He was one of those who formerly had lived principally within the Egyptian Mysteries, so it is not surprising that he should stress the trait which represents, let us say, primarily the Egyptian character of initiation. Let us consider the author of the Luke Gospel in the light of what we have thus learned. He reasoned as follows: A lofty initiate lived in the individuality that dwelt in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. I have learned how one penetrates to the Bull initiation through the Egyptian Mysteries. That I know.—This special form of initiation was vividly before him. And now he continues: He Who has become so exalted an initiate as Jesus of Nazareth must have passed through an Egyptian initiation, as well as through all the others. So in Jesus of Nazareth we have an initiate who had undergone the Egyptian initiation.—Naturally the other Evangelists knew that, too; but it did not appear to them as of any special importance, because they had not known initiation from this aspect so intimately.

For this reason a certain journey undertaken by Jesus of Nazareth did not strike them as in any way noteworthy. I said in one of the first lectures that if a man had undergone an initiation in the past, something special happens to him when he reappears. Definite events occur resembling, in the outer world, repetitions of former experiences. Let us assume a man had been initiated in ancient Ireland: he would now have to be reminded, by some experience in his life, of this old Irish initiation. This could come about, for instance, by some outer event impelling him to travel to Ireland. Now, anyone familiar with the Irish initiation would be struck by the fact that it was Ireland and not some other country that the man visited; but no one else would see anything unusual in this journey. The individuality that dwelt in Jesus of Nazareth was an initiate of the Egyptian Mysteries, among others—hence the journey to Egypt. Who would be particularly struck by this Flight into Egypt? One who knew it from his own life; and such a one did describe this particular journey because he knew its significance. It is narrated in the Matthew Gospel because the writer knew from his own initiation what a journey to Egypt meant to a great many initiates of former times.

And when we know that in the writer of the Luke Gospel we are dealing with a man who was specifically conversant, through his knowledge of the Egyptian Mysteries, with the initiation that led to the Bull cult, we shall find truth in the old tradition that couples him with the Bull symbol. For good reasons—to explain which would require more time than is available at the moment—the Luke Gospel does not mention the journey to Egypt; but typical events are cited whose significance can be rightly judged only by one in close contact with the Egyptian initiation. The author of the Matthew Gospel indicates this connection of Jesus of Nazareth with the Egyptian Mysteries in a more external way, by means of the journey to Egypt; whereas the writer of the Luke Gospel sees all the events he describes in the spirit provided by an Egyptian initiation.

Now let us turn to the writer of the Mark Gospel. This Evangelist omits all the early history and describes particularly the activity of the Christ in the body of Jesus of Nazareth during three years. In this respect his Gospel tallies completely with that of St. John. This writer passed through an initiation strongly resembling those of Asia Minor, even those of Greece—we can call them EuropeanAsiatic-pagan initiations—and at that time these were the most up-to-date. Reflected in the outer world, they all imply that one who is a lofty personality, initiated in a certain manner, owes his origin not only to a natural but to a supernatural event.

Consider that Plato's followers, those who were anxious to form the right conception of him, did not care particularly who his bodily father was. For them, Plato's spirituality outshone all else. Hence they said, That which lived in the Plato body as the Plato soul, that is the Plato who was born for us as a lofty spiritual being that fructifies the lower nature of man.—That is why they ascribed to the God Apollo the birth of the Plato who meant so much to them, the awakened Plato. In their sight Plato was a son of Apollo. Especially in these Mysteries was it customary to pay no particular attention to the earthly life of the personality in question, but to focus on the moment at which he became what is so often mentioned in the Gospels: a “divine son”, a “son of god”. Plato, a son of god—thus was he described by his noblest devotees, by those who understood him best. And we must realize what significance such a characterization of the Gods bore for the human life of such sons of god on earth. It was in this fourth epoch, as you know, that men adapted themselves to the physical sense world and came to love the earth. The old gods were dear to them because they could symbolize the fact that precisely the leading sons of the earth were “sons of the gods”. Those of them who dwelt on earth were to be thus designated.

One of these was the author of the Gospel of St. Mark, hence he describes only what occurred after the Baptism by John. The initiation this Evangelist had undergone was the one that led to a knowledge of the higher world in the sign of the Lion spirit; and an old tradition links him with the symbol of the Lion.

Now we will turn back to what we already touched on today, the Gospel according to St. John. We said that he who wrote the John Gospel was initiated by Christ Jesus Himself, hence he had something to give which contained the germ, so to say, of the efficacy of the Christ-Impulse, not only for that time, but for the far distant future. He proclaimed something that will remain valid for all time. This Evangelist was one of the Eagle initiates, those who had skipped the normal evolutionary stage. The normal instruction of that time was set down by the author of the Mark Gospel. All that reaches out beyond that period, showing the nature of Christ's activity in the distant future, all that transcends earthbound matters, we find in St. John. That is why tradition connects him with the symbol of the Eagle.

This shows us that a tradition associating the Evangelists with what may be called the essence of their own initiation is by no means based on mere fancy, but is born out of the depths of Christian evolution. One must penetrate in this way deep into the roots of things; then it becomes clear that the greatest, the most transcendent events in the life of Christ are all described in the same way, but that each of the Evangelists portrays Christ Jesus as he understands Him according to the type of his initiation. I indicated this in my book, Christianity as a Mystical Fact, but only in such a way as could be done for readers as yet unprepared; for it was written in the beginning of our spiritual-scientific development. Allowance was made for the lack of understanding, in our time, of occult facts proper.

We now understand that Christ is illuminated for us from four sides, each Evangelist throwing light upon Him from the aspect he knew most intimately; and in view of the mighty impulse He gave, you will readily believe that he had many sides. Now, I said that all the Gospels agreed on the following points: that the Christ-Being Himself descended from divine-spiritual heights at the Baptism by John, that this Christ-Being dwelt in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, that He suffered death on the Cross, and that He vanquished this death. Later we shall have occasion to examine this Mystery more closely. Today let us look at the death on the Cross in the light of the question: What feature of it is characteristic in the case of the Christ-Being? The answer is, we find it to be an event that created no distinction between the life that went before and the life that followed. The most characteristic feature of the death of Christ is that He passed through death unchanged, that He remained the same, that it was He Who exemplified the insignificance of death. For this reason all who could know the true nature of the Christ death have ever clung to the living Christ.

Considered from this point of view, what was the nature of the event of Damascus, where he who had been Saul became Paul? From what he had previously learned Paul knew that the Spirit first sought by Zarathustra in the sun as Ahura Mazdao, the Spirit later beheld by Moses in the burning bush and in the fire on Sinai, had gradually been approaching the earth; and he also knew that this Spirit would have to enter a human body. What Paul could not grasp, however, while he was still Saul, was that the man destined to be the Christ bearer should have to suffer the disgrace of death on the cross. He could only imagine that when Christ came He would triumph, that once He had approached the earth He would have to remain in all that pertained to it. Paul could not think of Him Who had hung upon the Cross as the bearer of the Christ.—That is the substance of Paul's attitude as Saul—before he became Paul. The death on the Cross, this humiliating death and all that it implied, was primarily what prevented him from recognizing the fact that Christ had really been present on the earth. What, then, had to occur? Something had to take place in Paul which at a certain moment would create in him the conviction: The individuality that hung upon the Cross in the body of Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Christ. Christ has been here on earth.—And what brought this about? Paul became clairvoyant through the event of Damascus; and then he could become convinced.

To the eye of the seer the aura of the earth appeared changed after the event of Golgotha: previously the Christ was not to be found there, but thenceforth He was visible in the earth's aura. That is the difference; and Saul reasoned: With clairvoyant perception I can verify the fact that He Who hung upon the Cross and lived as Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ Who is now in the earth aura.—In the aura of the earth he saw the Being first beheld in the sun by Zarathustra, Ahura Mazdao; and now he knew that He Who had been crucified had arisen. Now he could proclaim that Christ had arisen and had appeared to him, as He had appeared to Cephas, to the other brethren, and to the five hundred at one time. Thenceforth he was the apostle of the living Christ for Whom death has not the same meaning as for other men.

Whenever the Death on the Cross is doubted—that is, this particular manner in which the Christ died—anyone who is really informed on the subject will agree with another2The reference is to “Schwaben-Vischer”, mentioned earlier in this lecture. Swabian who, in his Urchristentum, has assembled with the greatest historical accuracy everything that is indisputably related to what we know about it. In that connection Gfrörer—for he it was—rightly emphasized specifically the Death on the Cross; and in a certain sense we can agree with him when he says, in his rather sarcastic mode of expression, that when anyone contradicted him in this matter he would look him critically in the eye and ask whether there might perhaps be something wrong in his upper storey.

Among the most indubitably established elements of Christianity are this Death on the Cross and what we shall elucidate tomorrow: the Resurrection and the effect of the words: “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” And these were the substance of Paul's message, hence he could say, “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” For him the

Resurrection of Christ was the starting point of Christianity. Not until our time have people begun again to reflect, so to speak, upon such things—not in circles where they are made the subject of theological disputes, but where the actual life of Christianity is involved. So the great philosopher Solovyev really takes entirely the Pauline standpoint in emphasizing that everything in Christianity rests upon the idea of the Resurrection, and that a Christianity of the future is impossible unless the concept of the Resurrection be believed and grasped. And after his own fashion he repeats Paul's utterance, “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” In that case the Christ impulse would be an impossible thing: there could be no Christianity without the risen Christ, the living Christ.

It is characteristic, and therefore worthy of emphasis, that certain isolated deep thinkers have come to recognize the truth of Paul's message solely by means of their philosophy, without benefit of occultism. If we devote some attention to such thinkers we realize that men are beginning to appear in our time who have a concept of what the future convictions and Weltanschauung of mankind will have to be, namely, that which spiritual science must provide. But without spiritual science even so profound a thinker as Solovyev achieved no more than empty conceptual forms. His philosophical paraphernalia resemble vessels for containing concepts; and what must be poured into them is something they indeed crave and for which they form the molds, but something they lack; and this can come only out of the anthroposophical current. It will fill the molds with that living water which is the revelation of facts concerning the spiritual world, the occult. That is what this spiritual-scientific Weltanschauung will offer its finest minds, those who already today show that they need it, and whose tragedy lies in their not having been able to obtain it. We can say of such minds that they positively yearn for anthroposophy. But they have not been able to find it.

It is the task of the anthroposophical movement to pour into these vessels, prepared by such minds, all that can contribute to clear, distinct, true conceptions of the most significant events, such as the Christ event and the Mystery of Golgotha. By means of its revelations concerning the realms of the spiritual world, anthroposophy or spiritual research alone can throw light on these events. Verily, it is only through anthroposophy, through spiritual research, that the Mystery of Golgotha can be comprehended in our time.

Achter Vortrag

Gestern haben wir als das Ergebnis unserer Betrachtungen gewonnen, daß der Christus-Impuls, nachdem er einmal aus der Person des Jesus von Nazareth gewirkt hatte, sich mit der Entwickelung der Erde vereinigte. Und nunmehr ist er ein so starker Impuls innerhalb der irdischen Menschheitsentwickelung, daß er heute auf den Menschen wirkt, wie ehedem gewirkt hat jene für das Leben des Menschen immer gefährlicher und gefährlicher werdende Prozedur, das Heraustretenlassen des Ätherleibes durch dreieinhalb Tage aus dem physischen Leib während der Einweihung. So stark wie eine solche Abnormität in bezug auf das Bewußtsein wirkt der Christus-Impuls.

Nun müssen Sie sich vorstellen, daß in der Tat ein solcher Umschwung nur langsam und allmählich sich einleben konnte in der menschlichen Entwickelung, daß er nicht gleich von Anfang an mit dieser Stärke und Gewalt auftreten konnte. Daher war es nötig, daß in der Auferstehung des Lazarus eine Art Übergang geschaffen wurde. Lazarus war noch in einem todähnlichen Zustand dreieinhalb Tage hindurch. Aber dennoch müssen Sie sich klar darüber sein, daß dieser Zustand noch etwas anderes war als der, den die alten Eingeweihten durchgemacht hatten. Der Zustand des Lazarus war ja nicht künstlich herbeigeführt durch den Initiator wie in den alten Zeiten, wo durch Prozesse, die ich hier nicht beschreiben darf, der Ätherleib aus dem physischen Leib herausgeholt wurde. Es war, wir dürfen sagen, auf natürlichere Art geschehen. Sie können aus dem Evangelium selbst entnehmen, daß der Christus mit dem Lazarus und den beiden Schwestern Martha und Maria schon vorher verkehrt hatte, denn es heißt da (11, 3): «DerHerr hatte ihn lieb», das heißt, der Christus Jesus hatte schon lange Zeit hindurch einen großen, gewaltigen Eindruck ausgeübt auf Lazarus, der genügend dazu vorbereitet und reif gemacht war. Und die Folge war, daß es bei Lazarus nicht notwendig war, auf künstlichem Wege bei der Einweihung ein Entrücktsein durch dreieinhalb Tage hervorzurufen, sondern daß das bei ihm ganz von selbst kam unter dem gewaltigen Eindruck des Christus-Impulses. Lazarus war also sozusagen für die Außenwelt durch dreieinhalb Tage wie tot, wenn er auch während dieser Zeit das Allerwichtigste erlebt hatte, so daß nur der letzte Akt, die Auferweckung, von dem Christus vorgenommen wurde. Und wer Bescheid weiß über das, was da vorging, der erkennt noch den Nachklang an den alten Einweihungsvorgang in den Worten, die der Christus Jesus gebraucht:

«Lazare, komm heraus!»

Und der auferweckte Lazarus war, wie wir gesehen haben, der Johannes, oder besser gesagt, der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums, derjenige also, der sozusagen als der erste Initiierte im christlichen Sinne das Evangelium von der Wesenheit des Christus in die Welt bringen konnte.

Wir dürfen daher von vornherein vermuten, daß uns dieses JohannesEvangelium, das von der heutigen, rein historisch-kritischen theologischen Forschung so malträtiert wird und nur als lyrischer Hymnus, als eine subjektive Äußerung dieses Schriftstellers hingestellt wird, in die tiefsten Geheimnisse des Christus-Impulses hineinblicken lassen wird. Heute bildet für die Materialisten in derBibelforschung dieses JohannesEvangelium einen Stein des Anstoßes, wenn man es vergleicht mit den drei anderen, den sogenannten synoptischen Evangelien. Das ChristusBild, das sie sich nach den drei ersten Evangelien machen, schmeichelt ja den gelehrten Herren unserer Zeit so sehr. Da ist sogar das Wort schon gefallen - und sogar von theologischer Seite ist das geschehen -, daß man es zu tun habe mit dem «schlichten Mann aus Nazareth». Und immer wieder wird es betont, daß man ein Bild des Christus gewinnen könne als das eines Edelsten vielleicht, der über die Erde geschritten ist, aber eben doch nur das Bild eines Menschen. Ja es ist sogar die Tendenz vorhanden, dieses Bild so weit wie möglich zu vereinfachen, und man hört dabei sagen, daß es einen Plato, einen Sokrates und noch andere Große auch gegeben hat. Man gibt wohl auch zu, daß es Gradunterschiede zwischen den einzelnen gibt.

Freilich, davon ist das Bild des Christus, das uns das Johannes-Evangelium gibt, sehr verschieden! Da wird gleich im Anfange gesagt, daß dasjenige, was durch drei Jahre im Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth wohnte, der Logos war, das urewige Wort oder - nach dem Wort, das es auch dafür gibt — die urewige schaffende Weisheit. Das kann von unserer Zeit nicht begriffen werden, .daß ein Mensch im dreißigsten Jahre seines Lebens so weit reif ist, daß er imstande ist, sein eigenes Ich hinzuopfern und aufzunehmen eine andere Wesenheit, eine Wesenheit, die schlechterdings übermenschlicher Natur ist: den Christus, den der Zarathustra als Ahura Mazdao angesprochen hat. Daher glauben solche theologischen kritischen Forscher, daß der Schreiber des JohannesEvangeliums in einer Art lyrischen Hymnus nur habe schildern wollen, wie er sich zu seinem Christus stelle, und nichts anderes. Auf der einen Seite stehe das Johannes-Evangelium und auf der anderen Seite die drei anderen Evangelien, aber wenn man ein Durchschnittsbild von dem Christus gewinnen will, könne man doch den «schlichten Mann», wenn auch mit der historischen Größe, herausschildern. Das gefällt den neueren Forschern nicht, daß man eine göttliche Wesenheit haben soll in dem Jesus von Nazareth.

Aus der Akasha-Chronik ergibt sich, daß in ihrem dreißigsten Jahre diejenige Persönlichkeit, die wir als Jesus von Nazareth ansprechen, durch alles, was sie durchgemacht hatte in den vorhergehenden Inkarnationen, so weit gekommen war an Reife, daß sie das eigene Ich hinopfern konnte. Denn das ist es, was da geschah, daß dieser Jesus von Nazareth, als er von Johannes getauft wurde, den Entschluß fassen konnte, als Ich, als viertes Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit, herauszusteigen aus physischem Leib, Ätherleib und astralischem Leib. Und jetzt war ein edles Hüllengebilde da, ein edler, von dem reinsten, höchstentwickelten Ich durchtränkter physischer Leib, Ätherleib und astralischer Leib. Das war wie ein reines Gefäß, und das konnte aufnehmen bei der Johannes-Taufe den Christus, den urewigen Logos, die schaffende Weisheit. So sagt uns die Akasha-Chronik. Und so erkennen wir es wieder, wenn wir es nur wollen, in der Schilderung des JohannesEvangeliums.

Aber müssen wir uns nicht auseinandersetzen mit dem, was unsere materialistische Zeit glaubt? Vielleicht werden sich einige von Ihnen wundern, daß ich von Theologen, also doch von Leuten, die vom Geistigen sprechen, wie von materialistischen Denkern rede. Aber nicht darum handelt es sich, was einer glaubt und worüber er forscht, sondern wie et forscht, gleichgültig, welches der Inhalt ist. Wer nichts wissen will von dem, was uns hier beschäftigt, wer nichts wissen will von einer geistigen Welt und nur auf das sieht, was außen in der materiellen Welt vorhanden ist an Dokumenten und so weiter, und sich dadurch ein Bild von der Welt machen will, der ist ein Materialist. Auf die Mittel der Forschung kommt es an. Aber wir müssen uns doch damit auseinandersetzen.

Wenn Sie die Evangelien lesen, werden Sie sehen, daß darin gewisse Widersprüche sind. Zwar in bezug auf die Hauptsachen, was wir als das Wesentliche schildern können aus der Akasha-Chronik heraus, können wir sagen, daß sie in auffälliger Weise übereinstimmen. Sie stimmen überein zunächst einmal in bezug auf die Johannes-Taufe selber. Und das geht aus allen vier Evangelien hervor, daß die Schreiber dieser Evangelien der Johannes-Taufe für den Jesus von Nazareth den denkbar größten Wert beilegen. Weiter stimmen sie überein mit der Tatsache des Kreuzes-Todes und der Tatsache der Auferstehung. Das sind also gerade diejenigen Tatsachen, die für den heutigen materialistischen Denker die allerwunderbarsten sind. Darüber ist also kein Widerspruch. Aber wie sollen wir uns mit den anderen scheinbaren Widersprüchen auseinandersetzen?

Da haben wir zunächst zwei Evangelienschreiber: Markus und Johannes. Sie beginnen beide bei der Johannes-Taufe. Sie erzählen die drei letzten Jahre der Wirksamkeit des Christus Jesus, nur dasjenige also, was sich zugetragen hat, nachdem der Christus-Geist bereits Besitz ergriffen hatte von der dreifachen Hülle des Jesus von Nazareth, von dessen physischem Leib, Ätherleib und astralischem Leib. Dann haben wir die beiden Evangelien nach Matthäus, nach Lukas. Sie verfolgen in gewisser Beziehung auch die frühere Geschichte, was also in unserem Sinne in der Akasha-Chronik die Geschichte des Jesus von Nazareth wäre vor seiner Hinopferung für den Christus. Und da tritt denen, die nach Widersprüchen spüren wollen, gleich im Anfange entgegen, daß der Matthäus eine Ahnengeschichte mitteilt, die hinaufgeht bis zu Abraham, daß dagegen Lukas eine Abstammungsgeschichte gibt, die hinaufgeht bis zu Adam und von Adam bis zu dem Vater des Adam, bis zu Gott selber. Ein anderer Widerspruch würde sich dann daraus ergeben, wie nach Matthäus drei Weise oder Magier, von einem Stern geführt, herbeikommen, um den neugeborenen Jesus zu begrüßen, während Lukas erzählt von der Erscheinung, welche die Hirten haben, von der Anbetung der Hirten, von der Darstellung im Tempel, wogegen Matthäus wieder berichtet von der Verfolgung durch Herodes, der Flucht nach Ägypten und der Rückkehr. Das und noch vieles andere könnte man als Widersprüche im einzelnen ins Auge fassen. Wir können uns damit auseinandersetzen, wenn wir noch ein wenig genauer eingehen auf die Tatsachen, die uns unabhängig von den Evangelien durch das Lesen in der Akasha-Chronik geliefert werden.

Die Akasha-Chronik sagt uns, daß in der Zeit, wie sie ungefähr in der Bibel festgestellt wird — auf ein paar Jahre Unterschied kommt es nicht an -, der Jesus von Nazareth geboren ist, daß in dem Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth eine Individualität lebte, die in früheren Inkarnationen hohe Stufen der Einweihung bereits erlebt hatte, hohe Einblicke gewonnen hatte in die geistige Welt. Ja die Akasha-Chronik sagt uns noch etwas mehr, und ich will zunächst nur auf die äußeren Umrisse dessen, was sie sagt, eingehen. Die Akasha-Chronik, welche die einzige wirkliche Geschichte liefert, sagt uns, daß derjenige, welcher in diesem Jesus von Nazareth erschien, in seinen früheren Verkörperungen durchgemacht hatte in den verschiedensten Gegenden die verschiedensten Einweihungen. Und sie führt uns dahin zurück, daß dieser spätere Träger des Namens Jesus von Nazareth ursprünglich innerhalb der persischen Welt eine hohe, bedeutsame Einweihungsstufe und eine hohe, bedeutungsvolle Wirksamkeit erlangt hatte. So zeigt uns die Akasha-Chronik, wie diese Individualität, die in dem Leib des Jesus von Nazareth war, auch innerhalb der geistigen Welt des alten Persiens schon gewirkt hatte, wie sie zur Sonne hinaufgeschaut und den großen Sonnengeist als Ahura Mazdao angesprochen hatte.

Nun müssen wir uns darüber klar sein, daß in die Leiber dieser selben Individualität, die durch solche Inkarnationen durchgegangen war, der Christus eingezogen ist. Was heißt das: der Christus ist eingezogen in die Leiber dieser Individualität? Das heißt nichts anderes, als daß der Christus sich dieser drei Leiber zu seiner Wirksamkeit bediente, des astralischen Leibes, des Ätherleibes und des physischen Leibes des Jesus von Nazareth. Alles, was wir denken, alles, was wir in Worten aussprechen und was wir empfinden und fühlen, hängt an unserem astralischen Leib. Das ist der Träger von allem. Dreißig Jahre lang hatte der Jesus von Nazareth als Ich in diesem astralischen Leib gelebt, hatte diesem astralischen Leib mitgeteilt alles, was er in früheren Verkörperungen in sich erlebt und aufgenommen hatte. In welchem Sinne mußte denn dieser astralische Leib seine Gedanken formen? Er mußte sie so formen, daß er sich anschmiegte und angliederte der Individualität, die in ihm durch dreißig Jahre hindurch wohnte. Wenn der Zarathustra im alten Persien hinaufgeschaut hatte zur Sonne und von Ahura Mazdao gesprochen hatte, so hat sich das dem astralischen Leibe eingeprägt. In diesen astralischen Leib hinein stieg der Christus. War es also nicht ganz natürlich, daß der Christus, wenn er Gedankenbilder brauchte, wenn er Empfindungsausdrücke brauchte, sie nur in dasjenige kleiden konnte, was ihm sein astralischer Leib darbot, seien sie wie immer! Denn wenn Sie einen grauen Rock tragen, erscheinen Sie der Außenwelt in einem grauen Rock! Der Christus erschien der Außenwelt in dem Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth, in dessen physischem Leib, Ätherleib, astralischem Leib, so daß seine Gedanken und Empfindungen gefärbt wurden von den Gedanken- und Empfindungsbildern, die in dem Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth waren. Was Wunder also, daß uns in seinen Aussprüchen manches wiederklingt von den alten persischen Ausdrücken, und daß uns in dem Evangelium des Johannes manches wiederklingt von den Ausdrücken, die schon in der alten persischen Einweihung gebraucht worden sind! Denn der Impuls, der in dem Christus war, ging ja auf den Schüler, auf den auferweckten Lazarus über. So spricht gleichsam der astralische Leib des Jesus von Nazareth durch den Johannes in seinem Evangelium zu uns. Und was Wunder, daß wir manches Persische da anklingen hören, daß also in Ausdrücken gesprochen wird, die an die alte persische Einweihung und an ihre Gedankenformengebung anklingen. Nun hat man in Persien nicht nur mit Ahura Mazdao die Geister, die in der Sonne vereinigt sind, angesprochen, sondern es wurde in gewissem Sinne für die Sonnengeister der Ausdruck «Vohumanu» gebraucht, das heißt: das schöpferische Wort oder der schöpferische Geist. Der Logos im Sinne der schöpferischen Kraft wird zuerst in der persischen Einweihung gebraucht. Und das erscheint uns wieder gleich im ersten Verse des Johannes-Evangeliums. Manches andere noch in dem Johannes-Evangelium werden wir verstehen, wenn wir wissen, daß der Christus selber sprach durch einen astralischen Leib, der dreißig Jahre dem Jesus von Nazareth gedient hatte, und daß diese Individualität die Wiederverkörperung eines alten persischen Eingeweihten war. Und so könnte ich Ihnen vieles in dem Johannes-Evangelium zeigen, und Sie würden sehen, wie es erklärlich wird, daß gerade das intimste Evangelium da, wo es Worte gebraucht, die den Einweihungsgeheimnissen angehören, anklingt an die persische Ausdrucksweise, wie sie sich hinaufverpflanzt hat in die späteren Zeiten.

Wie verhält es sich nun mit den anderen Evangelisten? Wenn wir das verstehen wollen, müssen wir uns an einiges erinnern, was wir schon in den vorhergehenden Betrachtungen absolviert haben.

Wir haben bereits gehört, daß es hohe geistige Wesenheiten gab, die ihren Schauplatz bei der Abtrennung der Erde von der Sonne eben auf die Sonne verlegt haben. Wir haben darauf aufmerksam gemacht, daß die äußere astralische Gestalt dieser hohen Wesenheiten, die sich zur Sonne hinausgehoben haben, gewissermaßen die Gegenbilder waren gewisser Tierformen hier auf der Erde. Da war zunächst die Gestalt des StierGeistes, das geistige Gegenbild derjenigen tierischen Naturen, die als das Wesentliche in ihrer Entwickelung haben, was man nennen könnte die Ernährungs- und Verdauungsorganisation. Das geistige Gegenbild ist natürlich etwas geistig Hohes; das irdische Abbild mag als etwas noch so Niedriges erscheinen. Also wir haben hohe geistige Wesenheiten, die ihren Schauplatz auf die Sonne verlegt haben und von dort auf die Sphäre der Erde hineinwirken und da erscheinen als die Stier-Geister. Andere erscheinen als Löwen-Geister, die ihr Gegenbild in denjenigen Tiernaturen haben, die vorzugsweise die Herz- und Blutzirkulationsorgane ausgebildet haben. Dann haben wir geistige Wesenheiten, welche Gegenbilder sind dessen, was uns in der Adlernatur im Tierreich entgegenttritt, die Adler-Geister. Und endlich haben wir solche geistige Wesenheiten, die gleichsam harmonisch die anderen Naturen vereinigen wie in einer großen Synthese, die Menschen-Geister. Es waren das die in einer gewissen Beziehung vorgeschrittensten.

Nun gehen wir von da aus an die alte Einweihung. Sie gab dem Menschen die Möglichkeit, von Angesicht zu Angesicht die hohen geistigen Wesenheiten zu sehen, die dem Menschen vorangeschritten waren. Aber je nachdem die alten Menschen in Gemäßheit der alten Zeiten heruntergekommen waren von Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, mußten sie in einer anderen Weise eingeweiht werden. Daher gab es auch in der Atlantis die verschiedensten Orakelstätten. Es gab solche Orakel, die ihr geistiges Sehen vorzugsweise darauf eingestellt hatten, diejenigen Geister zu sehen, die wir als die Adler-Geister charakterisiert haben, während andere die Löwen-Geister, andere die Stier-Geister und wieder andere die Menschen-Geister sahen. Das war je nach der spezifischen Eigenart dieser einzuweihenden Menschen. Diese Verschiedenheit war ja eine der Eigentümlichkeiten der atlantischen Zeit, und die Nachklänge daran gab es noch immer bis in unsere nachatlantische Zeit hinein. So könnten Sie in Vorderasien und in Ägypten Mysterienstätten finden, wo so eingeweiht wurde, daß die Eingeweihten die hohen geistigen Wesenheiten als Stier-Geister oder als Adler-Geister sahen.

Aus den Mysterien ist dann die äußere Kultur herausgeflossen. Diejenigen, welche so schauen konnten, daß sie die hohen geistigen Wesenheiten in der Löwenform sahen, sie haben auch in dem Löwenkörper eine Art Abbild dessen geschaffen, was sie gesehen haben. Nur haben sie gesagt: Diese Geister sind beteiligt an dem Werden des Menschen und sie haben daher dem Löwenleib einen Menschenkopf gegeben. Daraus ist dann später die Sphinx geworden. Diejenigen, welche die geistigen Gegenbilder als Stier-Geister gesehen haben, drückten es dadurch aus, daß sie ihr Zeugnis von der geistigen Welt verkündeten, indem sie die Stier-Verehrung einführten, was dann einmal zur Verehrung des Apis-Stieres in Ägypten und auf der anderen Seite zur Verehrung des persischen Mithras-Stieres geführt hat. Denn das, was wir an äußeren Kultusgebräuchen bei den verschiedenen Völkern finden, ist herausgeflossen aus den Einweihungstiten.

So gab es überall Eingeweihte, die in ihrem geistigen Schauen mehr eingestellt waren auf die Stier-Geister, andere, die mehr auf die AdlerGeister eingestellt waren und so weiter. Wir können in einer gewissen Weise auch den Unterschied angeben zwischen den verschiedenen Einweihungsarten. Solche Menschen zum Beispiel, die so eingeweiht waren, daß ihnen die geistigen Wesenheiten in der Form der Stier-Geister erschienen, waren namentlich über diejenigen Verhältnisse der Menschennatur unterrichtet, welche sozusagen die mit dem Drüsensystem, die mit dem Ätherischen zusammenhängenden Geheimnisse enthielten. Und noch in ein anderes Gebiet der menschlichen Natur waren sie eingeweiht: In das, was vom Menschen sozusagen fest an der Erde hängt, was an die Erde geschmiedet ist. Das durchschauten alle diejenigen, welche in die Stier-Geheimnisse eingeweiht waren.

Versuchen wir es, uns in die Gemütslage eines solchen Eingeweihten zu versetzen. Diese Eingeweihten hatten von ihren großen Lehrern etwa folgende Lehre empfangen: Der Mensch ist herabgestiegen von göttlichen Höhen. Diejenigen, welche die ersten Menschen waren, waren die Nachkommen göttlich-geistiger Wesenheiten. Daher führten sie den ersten Menschen zurück auf seinen Vater-Gott. So ist der Mensch herunter gekommen auf die Erde, ist von Erdengestalt zu Erdengestalt gegangen. Was an die Erde gefesselt war, hat dieseMenschen vorzugsweise interessiert, und sie hatten Interesse für alles das, was die Menschen damals erlebt hatten, als sie zu ihren Vätern die göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten zählten. — So war es bei den Stier-Eingeweihten.

Anders war es bei den Adler-Eingeweihten. Die sahen jene geistigen Wesenheiten, die sich in ganz eigentümlicher Art zu dem verhalten, was Mensch ist. Aber um das zu verstehen, müssen wir ein paar Worte wenigstens sprechen über die spirituelle Art der Vogelnatur.

In den Tieren, die durch ihre niedrigeren Verrichtungen unter den Menschen stehen, haben wir ja solche Wesenheiten zu sehen, die sich sozusagen zu früh verhärtet haben, die ihre Leibessubstanz nicht weich und biegsam erhalten haben bis zu dem Moment, wo sie hätten in die Menschengestalt aufgenommen werden können. Wir haben aber in der Vogelnatur solche Wesenheiten, die zwar nicht die niedersten Funktionen aufgenommen haben, die aber nach oben den Punkt übersprungen haben. Sie sind gleichsam nicht tief genug heruntergestiegen, sie haben sich zunächst in zu weichen Substanzen erhalten, während die anderen in zu harten Substanzen gelebt haben. Und als die Entwickelung immer weiter und weiter ging, mußten sie durch die äußeren Verhältnisse schon verdichtet werden. So wurden sie in einer Weise verdichtet, die einer zu weichen, einer zu wenig auf die Erde herabgestiegenen Natur entspricht. Das ist zwar grob und populär ausgedrückt, aber es entspricht dem Sachverhalt. Diesen Vogelnaturen entsprechen als Urbilder diejenigen geistigen Wesenheiten, die auch nach oben den Punkt überschritten haben, die sich in einer zu weichen geistigen Substanz erhalten haben und die daher in ihrem Fortschritt gleichsam über das, was sie hätten in einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt werden können, hinausflogen. Sie weichen nach oben ab, während die übrigen nach unten abweichen. Gewissermaßen in der Mitte stehen die Löwen-Geister und die harmonischen Geister, die gerade den richtigen Zeitpunkt eingehalten haben, die Menschen-Geister.

Nun haben wir uns schon klar gemacht, wie diejenigen, die etwas von der alten Einweihung erhalten hatten, das Christus-Ereignis aufnahmen. Sie hatten früher schon hineinblicken können in die geistige Welt, und zwar so, wie es eben in Gemäßheit ihrer spezifischen Einweihung sein konnte. Diejenigen, welche die Stier-Einweihung erhalten hatten - sagen wir die Eingeweihten eines großen Teiles des Ägypterlandes -, sie wußten: Wir können hinaufschauen in die geistige Welt; daher erscheinen uns auch die hohen geistigen Wesenheiten in den Gegenbildern zu der Stiernatur im Menschen. Aber jetzt, so sagten sich diejenigen, die dem Christus-Impuls nahegetreten waren, jetzt ist uns in der wahren Gestalt das erschienen, was der Herrscher im geistigen Reiche ist. Was wir früher immer gesehen haben, wozu wir uns aufgeschwungen haben durch die Stufen unserer Einweihung, das hat uns eine Vorgestalt dargestellt für den Christus. Der Christus ist es, den wir hineinversetzen müssen in das, was wir früher gesehen haben. Wenn wir uns an alles das erinnern, was wir gesehen haben, was uns nach und nach die geistigen Welten erschlossen hat, wohin würde es uns geführt haben, wenn wir damals schon auf der entsprechenden Höhe gewesen wären? Zum Christus hätte es uns geführt! - Ein solcher Eingeweihter beschrieb im Sinne der Stier-Einweihung den Gang in die geistige Welt. Dann aber sagte er: Das Wahre, was in ihr ist, das ist der Christus. — Und ebenso sprach ein Löwen-Eingeweihter, ein Adler-Eingeweihter.

Alle diese Einweihungsmysterien hatten ihre ganz bestimmten Vorschriften, wie der Betreffende in die geistige Welt hinaufgeführt werden sollte. Es unterschieden sich die Ritualien je nachdem, wie man in die geistige Welt hineinkommen sollte. Und insbesondere in Vorderasien und in Ägypten gab es die verschiedensten Schattierungen der Mysterien, wo es besonders üblich war, die Eingeweihten so zu führen, daß sie zuletzt zur Stiernatur kamen, und solche Einweihungen, die zur Anschauung der Löwen-Geister kamen und so weiter.

Nun fassen wir von diesem Gesichtspunkt einmal diejenigen auf, welche nach früheren Einweihungen der verschiedenartigsten Natur sich dazu reif gemacht hatten, den Christus-Impuls zu fühlen, den Christus in der richtigen Weise zu erfassen. Betrachten wir einmal einen Eingeweihten, der durch jene Stufen durchgegangen ist, die ihn zur Anschauung des Menschen-Geistes geführt haben. Ein solcher Eingeweihter konnte sich sagen: Der wirkliche Herrscher in der geistigen Welt ist mir erschienen, der Christus ist es, der in dem Jesus von Nazareth gelebt hat! Was hat mich dazu geführt? Meine alte Einweihung! Er kannte den Gang, der zu der Anschauung des Menschen-Geistes führt. So schildert er, was der Mensch erlebt, um zu der Einweihung zu kommen und überhaupt die Christus-Natur erkennen zu können. Er kannte die Einweihung so, wie sie in denjenigen Mysterien vorgeschrieben war, die zur Menschen-Einweihung führten. Daher erschien ihm auch der hohe Eingeweihte, der in dem Jesus von Nazareth-Körper war, in dem Bilde der Mysterien, die er durchgemacht und erkannt hatte; und er schilderte ihn so, wie er die Sache selbst ansah. Das ist der Fall in der Schilderung nach Matthäus. Daher hat eine ältere Tradition durchaus ein Richtiges getroffen, wenn sie den Schreiber des MatthäusEvangeliums verbindet mit demjenigen der vier Symbole, die sich Ihnen hier an den Kapitälen der Säulen rechts und links zeigen, das wir als das Symbolum des Menschen bezeichnen. Eine ältere Tradition bringt den Schreiber des Evangeliums nach Matthäus mit dem Menschen-Geist zusammen. Das rührt davon her, weil der Schreiber des Matthäus-Evangeliums sozusagen als seinen eigenen Ausgangspunkt gekannt hat die Einweihung zum Menschen-Mysterium. Denn in den Zeiten der Evangelienschreibung war es noch nicht üblich, Biographien zu schreiben, wie man es heute tut. Damals erschien den Leuten als das Wesentlichste, daß ein hoher Eingeweihter da war, der den Christus in sich aufgenommen hatte. Wie man ein Eingeweihter wird, was man durchzumachen hat als Eingeweihter, das war ihnen das Wichtigste. Daher überspringen sie die äußeren Ereignisse von Tag zu Tag, die heute den Biographen so wichtig erscheinen.

Was tut heute nicht alles ein Biographienschreiber, damit er genügendes Material bekommt! Einmal hat der «Schwaben-Vischer», Friedrich Theodor Vischer, ein sehr gutes Bild gebraucht über einen gelehrten Herrn, indem er die Art und Weise, wie heute Biographien geschrieben werden, ironisierte. Er meinte: Da habe sich einmal ein junger Gelehrter daran gemacht, eine Doktordissertation zu schreiben, und zwar über Goethe. Zunächst habe er sich an die Vorarbeiten gemacht und dazu alles gesammelt, was er brauchen konnte. Da er aber damit nicht zufrieden war, ging er auf alle Hausböden in allen Städten, wo Goethe gelebt hat, stöberte dort herum, suchte auch in allen anderen Kammern. Überall kehrte er den Staub aus allen Ecken hervor, stieß übelriechende Kehrichtfässer um, um alles zu finden, was etwa noch zu finden wäre, um dann eine Dissertation zu schreiben «Über den Zusammenhang der Frostbeulen der Frau Christiane von Goethe mit den mythologisch allegorisch-symbolischen Figuren im zweiten Teil des Faust»! Das ist zwar sehr stark aufgetragen, aber im Geiste paßt es auf die Biographienschreiber der Gegenwart. Die Schreiber, die über Goethe schreiben wollen, riechen in alle möglichen Unrathaufen hinein, um ihre Biographien zu schreiben. Das Wort Diskretion kennen sie heute nicht mehr.

Anders aber haben diejenigen geschildert, welche den Jesus von Nazareth in ihren Evangelien beschrieben haben. Ihnen verschwand alles an äußeren Ereignissen gegenüber den Etappen, die der Jesus von Nazareth als Eingeweihter durchzumachen hatte. Das beschrieben sie, aber auch ein jeder nach seiner Art, wie er es wußte.

Matthäus beschreibt es nach der Art der Eingeweihten, die in den Menschen-Geist eingeweiht waren. Diese Einweihung stand der ägyptischen Weisheit nahe. - Und jetzt können wir auch begreifen, wie derjenige, der das Evangelium nach Lukas schrieb, zu seiner eigenartigen Darstellung gekommen ist. Er war ein solcher, der in seinen früheren Inkarnationen Einweihungen erlangt hatte, die zu dem Stier-Geist führten. Er konnte das beschreiben, was einer solchen Einweihung entsprach, er konnte sagen: Diese Etappen mußte ein großer Eingeweihter durchgemacht haben! Und er beschrieb ihn in seiner Färbung. Er war einer derjenigen, die früher hauptsächlich innerhalb der ägyptischen Mysterien gelebt hatten. Daher wundert uns nicht, daß er uns gerade denjenigen Zug anführt, der uns sozusagen den mehr ägyptischen Charakter der Einweihung darstellt. Nehmen wir den Schreiber des LukasEvangeliums einmal nach dem, was wir jetzt von diesem Standpunkte aus gewonnen haben. Er sagte sich: In derjenigen Individualität, die in dem Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth war, lebte ein hoher Eingeweihter. Ich habe kennengelernt, wie man durch die ägyptischen Mysterien zur Stier-Einweihung dringt. Das weiß ich. - Ihm war ja besonders gegenwärtig diese Art von Einweihung. Und nun sagte er sich: Derjenige, welcher ein so hoher Eingeweihter geworden ist wie der Jesus von Nazareth, der ist in seinen früheren Inkarnationen neben allen übrigen Einweihungen auch durchgegangen durch eine ägyptische Einweihung. - Also wir haben in dem Jesus von Nazareth einen Eingeweihten, der durch die ägyptische Einweihung hindurchgegangen ist. Das wußten natürlich auch die übrigen Evangelisten. Ihnen erschien es aber nicht als ein besonders Wichtiges, weil sie die Einweihung von dieser Seite her nicht so genau kannten. Daher fiel ihnen auch nicht ein besonderer Zug bei dem Jesus von Nazareth auf.

Ich habe schon in den ersten Stunden gesagt: Wenn ein Mensch eine Einweihung früher durchgemacht hat, so geschieht etwas Besonderes mit ihm, wenn er wiedererscheint. Da treten dann ganz bestimmte Ereignisse ein, die sich wie eine Wiederholung dessen in der äußeren Welt ausnehmen, was man früher durchgemacht hat. Nehmen wir an, ein Mensch habe eine Einweihung im alten Irland durchgemacht, dann müßte er jetzt durch ein äußeres Lebensereignis an diese alte irische Einweihung erinnert werden. Das würde sich zum Beispiel dadurch erweisen, daß er durch ein äußeres Ereignis veranlaßt würde, eine Reise nach Irland zu machen. Demjenigen, der die irische Einweihung genauer kennt, wird es auffallen, daß der Betreffende gerade nach Irland reist. Wer sie nicht kennt, der wird es nicht als einen besonderen Zug betrachten.

Diejenige Individualität, die in dem Jesus von Nazareth lebte, war auch in die ägyptischen Mysterien eingeweiht. Daher auch der Zug nach Ägypten. Wem mußte also diese «Flucht nach Ägypten » besonders auffallen? Dem, der sie aus dem eigenen Leben kannte, und ein solcher schilderte daher auch diesen besonderen Zug, weil er wußte, was das zu bedeuten hat. Sie wird im Matthäus-Evangelium geschildert, weil der Schreiber von seiner eigenen Einweihung wußte, was in alten Zeiten für viele Eingeweihte eine Reise nach Ägypten bedeutet hat. Und wenn Sie jetzt wissen, daß wir es in dem Schreiber des Lukas-Evangeliums mit einem Menschen zu tun haben, der insbesondere die Einweihung kannte aus den ägyptischen Mysterien, die zum Stier-Dienst führten, so werden Sie es nicht unberechtigt finden, wenn eine ältere Tradition den Schreiber des Lukas-Evangeliums mit dem Stier-Symbolum zusammenbringt. Er schildert aus guten Gründen - welche auszuführen hier die Zeit mangelt - keine ägyptische Reise. Aber er gibt solche typische Vorgänge an, deren Wert zu beurteilen vorzugsweise einem der ägyptischen Einweihung Nahestehenden vertraut war. Der Schreiber des Matthäus-Evangeliums gibt die Beziehungen des Jesus von Nazareth mit Ägypten mehr äußerlich durch die Reise nach Ägypten an. Der Schreiber des Lukas-Evangeliums sieht die ganzen Vorgänge, welche er schildert, in dem Geiste an, den eine ägyptische Einweihung gegeben hat.

Nun betrachten wir einmal den Schreiber des Evangeliums nach Markus. Er läßt alle Vorgeschichte weg, beschreibt insbesondere das Wirken des Christus in dem Leib des Jesus von Nazareth durch drei Jahre. In dieser Beziehung stimmt das Markus-Evangelium mit dem Johannes-Evangelium vollständig überein. Der Schreiber des Markus-Evangeliums ist durch eine Einweihung hindurchgegangen, die sehr ähnlich ist den vorderasiatischen, ja selbst den griechischen Einweihungen, wenn wir so sagen wollen, den europäisch-asiatisch-heidnischen Einweihungen, wie sie damals die modernsten waren. Sie spiegeln sich alle in der äußeren Welt in der Weise ab, daß derjenige, der eine hohe Persönlichkeit ist, der in einer gewissen Weise eingeweiht ist, nicht bloß einem natürlichen, sondern einen übernatürlichen Ereignisse seinen Ursprung verdankt. Denken Sie daran, daß die Plato-Verehrer, die sich Plato in der rechten Weise vorstellen wollten, gar kein besonderes Interesse dafür hatten, wer der leibliche Vater des Plato war. Ihnen überstrahlte die Geistigkeit des Plato alles übrige. Daher sagten sie: Das, was als die Plato-Seele in dem Plato-Leib gelebt hat, dieser Plato wird für uns geboren als eine hohe geistige Wesenheit, die die niedere Menschlichkeit befruchtet. Und sie schrieben daher die Geburt desjenigen Plato, der ihnen wertvoll war, des erweckten Plato, dem Gott Apollo zu. Plato war ihnen ein Sohn des Apollo. Gerade bei diesen Mysterien war es üblich, sich gar nicht besonders um das Vorleben des betreffenden Menschen zu kümmern, sondern den Zeitpunkt ins Auge zu fassen, wo der Betreffende das wurde, was man in den Evangelien so oft erwähnt: ein Götter-Sohn, ein Gottessohn. Plato, ein Gottessohn! So haben ihn diejenigen beschrieben, die seine edelsten Verehrer und seine edelsten Kenner waren.

Dabei müssen wir uns klar sein, was eine solche Beschreibung für eine Bedeutung hatte für das menschliche Leben solcher Götter-Söhne auf der Erde. Gerade in dem vierten Zeitraum geschah es ja, daß sich die Menschen am meisten einfügten der physisch-sinnlichen Welt, daß sie diese Erde liebgewannen. Die alten Götter waren ihnen lieb, weil sie darstellen konnten, wie gerade die führenden Söhne der Erde GötterSöhne waren. Das, was auf der Erde wandelte, sollte in dieser Weise dargestellt werden.

Ein solcher war der Schreiber des Markus-Evangeliums. Er beschreibt daher erst das, was nach der Johannes-Taufe sich zugetragen hat. Eine solche Einweihung, wie sie der Schreiber des Markus-Evangeliums durchgemacht hatte, führte zur Erkenntnis der höheren Welt unter dem Bilde des Löwen-Geistes. Daher bringt eine alte Tradition den Schreiber des Markus-Evangeliums mit dem Symbolum des Löwen in Zusammenhang. Und jetzt blicken wir noch einmal zurück auf das, was wir heute schon berührt haben - auf das Johannes-Evangelium.

Wir haben gesagt: Derjenige, der das Johannes-Evangelium geschrieben hat, ist von dem Christus Jesus selbst initiiert worden. Dadurch konnte er etwas geben, was sozusagen den Keim enthält nicht nur für die gegenwärtige Wirksamkeit des Christus-Impulses, sondern für die Wirksamkeit des Christus-Impulses in die fernste Zeit hinein. Er verkündet etwas, was noch Gültigkeit haben wird in die fernste Zukunft hinein. Er ist einer von den Adler-Eingeweihten, die den normalen Punkt übersprungen hatten. Das Normale für die damalige Zeit gibt der Markus-Schreiber. Was über diese Zeit hinausreicht, was uns zeigt, wie der Christus in der fernsten Zukunft wirkt, was alles das überfliegt, was an der Erde haftet, das finden wir bei Johannes. Daher bringt die Tradition den Johannes zusammen mit dem Symbolum des Adlers.

So sehen Sie, daß eine solche alte Tradition, welche die Evangelisten mit dem zusammenstellt, was sozusagen das Wesen ihrer eigenen vorhandenen Einweihung ausmachte, durchaus nicht auf eine bloße Phantasie gegründet ist, sondern daß sie herausgeboren ist aus den tiefsten Grundlagen der christlichen Entwickelung. So tief muß man hineinschauen in die Geschehnisse. Dann wird man begreifen, daß die größten, die überragendsten Ereignisse in dem Christus-Leben in derselben Weise geschildert werden, daß aber ein jeder der Evangelisten den Christus Jesus so schildert, wie er ihn begreift nach der Art seiner Einweihung. Angedeutet habe ich das schon in meinem Buche «Das Christentum als mystische Tatsache», aber so, wie man es für ein noch nicht vorbereitetes Publikum andeuten kann, denn es ist im Anfange unserer geisteswissenschaftlichen Entwickelung geschrieben. Es ist dort Rücksicht genommen worden auf das mangelnde Verständnis unserer Zeit gegenüber den eigentlichen okkulten Tatsachen.

So begreifen wir, daß der Christus uns von vier Seiten beleuchtet ist: durch einen jeden der Evangelienschreiber von der Seite, die er am besten kannte. Daß der Christus viele Seiten hat, das werden Sie nach dem mächtigen Impuls, den er gegeben hat, wohl glauben. Das aber sagte ich: Eines findet man in allen Evangelien: das Heruntersteigen der Christus-Wesenheit selber aus göttlich-geistigen Höhen bei der Johannes-Taufe, und daß diese Christus-Wesenheit in dem Leib des Jesus von Nazareth wohnte, durch den Tod am Kreuz hindurchgegangen ist und diesen Tod besiegt hat. Wir werden gerade auf dieses Mysterium noch näher einzugehen haben. Fassen wir heute diesen Tod am Kreuz so, daß wir zunächst fragen: Wodurch charakterisiert sich der Tod am Kreuz für diese Christus-Wesenheit? Da müssen wir sagen: Er charakterisiert sich so, daß er ein Ereignis ist, das keinen Unterschied macht zwischen dem Leben vorher und dem Leben nachher. Das ist das Wesentliche des Christus-Todes, daß der Christus durch den Tod kein anderer geworden ist, daß er derselbe bleibt, daß er Einer gewesen ist, der den Tod in seiner Bedeutungslosigkeit darstellt. So daß diejenigen, welche das Wesen des Christus-Todes wissen konnten, sich immer an den lebendigen Christus hielten.

Was ist denn, von diesem Gesichtspunkt aus gesehen, das Ereignis von Damaskus, wo aus dem, der vorher ein Saulus war, ein Paulus wurde? Paulus wußte aus dem, was er früher gelernt hatte, daß nach und nach heranrückte an die Erde der Geist, der zuerst von Zarathustra als Ahura Mazdao auf der Sonne gesucht wurde, der dann von Moses bereits im brennenden Dornbusch und im Feuer auf Sinai erblickt wurde. Und er wußte auch, daß dieser Geist in einen Menschenleib kommen mußte. Das aber hatte Paulus, da er noch ein Saulus war, nicht begreifen können, daß dieser Mensch, der den Christus in sich tragen sollte, den schmachvollen Tod am Kreuz erleben mußte! Er konnte sich nur denken, daß der Christus, wenn er kommen würde, triumphieren müßte, daß er bleiben müßte in allem, was die Erde hat, nachdem er einmal an die Erde.herangetreten war. Denjenigen, der am Kreuze gehangen hat, den konnte er sich nicht als den Träger des Christus denken. Das ist das Wesentliche in der Paulus-Anschauung, bevor der Saulus ein Paulus wurde. Und der Kreuzestod, der schmachvolle Tod am Kreuz mit allem, was damit zusammenhängt, das ist es, was zunächst den Paulus gehindert hat, anzuerkennen, daß wirklich der Christus schon dagewesen war auf der Erde. Was also mußte eintreten? Es mußte mit dem Paulus etwas geschehen, so daß er in einem gewissen Moment sich überzeugen konnte: Diejenige Individualität, die in dem Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth am Kreuz gehangen hat, war der Christus; der Christus ist dagewesen auf der Erde! Hellsehend wurde Paulus durch das Ereignis von Damaskus. Da konnte er sich überzeugen.

Wenn man als Hellseher hineinschaute in die geistige Welt, so erschien sie einem nach dem Ereignis von Golgatha verändert. Früher fand man den Christus in den geistigen Welten. Seit dem Ereignis von Golgatha konnte man in der Aura der Erde den Christus finden. Vor dem Ereignis von Golgatha war der Christus dort nicht zu sehen, nachher aber war er in der Erden-Aura zu sehen. Das ist der Unterschied. Und Saulus sagte sich: Bin ich hellsehend, so kann ich mich davon überzeugen, daß in demjenigen, der am Kreuze gehangen und als Jesus von Nazareth gelebt hat, der Christus war, der jetzt in der Erden- Aura ist. -— Und er hat dasselbe in der Erden-Aura gesehen, was Zarathustra zuerst als Ahura Mazdao auf der Sonne gesehen hat. Jetzt wußte er: Der am Kreuze war, der ist auferstanden. Daher konnte er jetzt sagen: Christus ist auferstanden, ist mir erschienen, wie er dem Kephas, den anderen Brüdern und den Fünfhundert auf einmal erschienen ist! Und nun wurde er der Verkündiger des lebendigen Christus, für den der Tod nicht die Bedeutung hat wie für die anderen Menschen.

Wer über dieses Ereignis Bescheid weiß, der wird, wenn der Kreuzestod, wenn der Tod des Christus gerade in dieser Form bezweifelt wird, einem anderen Schwaben zustimmen, der in seinem « Urchristentum» mit aller möglichen historischen Genauigkeit zusammengestellt hat, was zu dem sichersten Bestande dessen gehört, was wir davon wissen. Gfrörer - er ist es - hat dabei mit Recht gerade den Kreuzestod betont. Und man kann ihm in einer gewissen Weise zustimmen, wenn er in seiner etwas sarkastischen Weise sich so ausdrückt, daß er sagt: Einem jeden, der ihm darin widerspreche, würde er kritisch ins Gesicht sehen und ihn fragen, ob es bei ihm nicht recht richtig unter dem Hute sei!

Das gehört zum sichersten Bestande des Christentums: dieser Kreuzestod und das, was wir morgen beschreiben werden als die Auferstehung und als die Wirkung der Worte: «Ich bin bei euch alle Tage, bis an der Welt Ende!» Und das ist es, was die Verkündigung des Paulus ausgemacht hat. Er konnte daher sagen: «Ist Christus nicht auferstanden, so ist eitel unsere Predigt und eitel unser Glaube!» An die Auferstehung des Christus knüpft Paulus das Christentum. Sozusagen erst in unserer Zeit fängt man wiederum an, ein klein wenig über diese Dinge nachzudenken, da, wo man diese Sache nicht zu einer theologischen Streitfrage, sondern zu einer Lebensfrage für das Christentum macht. Der große Philosoph S0Jowjow steht daher im Grunde genommen vollständig auf paulinischem Standpunkt, wenn er betont: Alles im Christentum kommt auf den Auferstehungsgedanken an, und ein Christentum der Zukunft ist unmöglich, wenn der Auferstehungsgedanke nicht geglaubt und nicht erfaßt wird. — Und er wiederholt in seiner Art die Worte des Paulus: Ist der Christus nicht auferstanden, so ist eitel unsere Predigt und eitel unser Glaube. Dann ist der Christus-Impuls unmöglich. Es gäbe kein Christentum ohne den auferstandenen, den lebendigen Christus!

Es ist charakteristisch, und deshalb darf es betont werden, daß einzelne tiefgründige Geister nur aus ihrer Philosophie heraus, ohne allen Okkultismus, dahin kommen, zu erkennen, wie richtig dieses paulinische Wort ist. Wenn man sich mit solchen Geistern ein wenig befaßt, dann sieht man: Es fängt schon an, in unserer Zeit solche Menschen zu geben, die sich Begriffe bilden von dem, was eine zukünftige menschliche Überzeugung und menschliche Weltanschauung sein muß, was die Geisteswissenschaft eben bringen muß. Aber diejenigen, welche die Geisteswissenschaft nicht haben, bringen es nicht zu mehr als zu einem leeren Begriffsgefäß. So ist es auch bei dem tiefen Denker Solowjow. Wie Begriffsgefäße sind die Systeme seiner Philosophie, und hineingegossen werden muß das, wonach sie schon verlangen, wozu sie schon die Form prägen, was sie aber nicht haben, und was einzig und allein kommen kann aus der anthroposophischen Strömung. Sie wird jenes lebendige Wasser, die Mitteilungen über die Tatsachen der geistigen Welt, das Okkulte, hineingießen in diese Gefäße. Das wird diese geisteswissenschaftliche Weltanschauung den besten Geistern bringen, die schon heute zeigen, daß sie es brauchen, und deren Tragik darinnen liegt, daß sie es nicht haben bekommen können. Wir können für diese Geister geradezu das Wort gebrauchen: Nach Anthroposophie lechzen sie! Sie haben sie nicht finden können. Durch die anthroposophische Bewegung soll in die von ihnen zubereiteten Gefäße hineinfließen, was über die wichtigsten Ereignisse klare, deutliche, wahre Vorstellungen bilden kann, über solche Ereignisse, wie es das Christus-Ereignis ist und das Mysterium von Golgatha. Darüber kann uns nur die Anthroposophie oder Geistesforschung aufklären mit ihren Enthüllungen über die Gebiete der geistigen Welten. Ja, das Mysterium von Golgatha kann für unsere heutige Zeit nur durch Anthroposophie, durch Geistesforschung begriffen werden!

Eighth Lecture

Yesterday we arrived at the conclusion that, after working through the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ impulse united itself with the evolution of the earth. And now it is such a powerful impulse within the earthly evolution of humanity that it acts upon human beings today just as that procedure, which was becoming increasingly dangerous for human life, once did: the withdrawal of the etheric body from the physical body for three and a half days during the initiation. The Christ impulse has an effect as strong as such an abnormality in relation to consciousness.

Now you must imagine that such a change could only slowly and gradually take root in human development, that it could not appear with such strength and force right from the start. It was therefore necessary that a kind of transition be created in the resurrection of Lazarus. Lazarus was still in a death-like state for three and a half days. But nevertheless, you must be clear that this state was something different from that which the ancient initiates had undergone. Lazarus' state was not artificially brought about by the initiator, as in ancient times, when processes which I cannot describe here were used to remove the etheric body from the physical body. It happened, we may say, in a more natural way. You can see from the Gospel itself that Christ had already been in contact with Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and Mary, for it says there (11:3): “The Lord loved him,” that is, Christ Jesus had already made a great and powerful impression on Lazarus for a long time, who was sufficiently prepared and mature for it. And the result was that it was not necessary to artificially induce Lazarus to be in a state of ecstasy for three and a half days during the initiation, but that this came about quite naturally under the powerful influence of the Christ impulse. Lazarus was, so to speak, dead to the outside world for three and a half days, even though during this time he had experienced the most important thing, so that only the last act, the resurrection, had to be performed by Christ. And anyone who knows what was going on there can still recognize the echo of the old initiation process in the words used by Christ Jesus:

“Lazarus, come forth!”

And the resurrected Lazarus was, as we have seen, John, or rather the writer of the Gospel of John, the one who, as the first initiate in the Christian sense, was able to bring the gospel of the nature of Christ into the world.

We may therefore assume from the outset that this Gospel of John, which is so maligned by today's purely historical-critical theological research and is presented only as a lyrical hymn, as a subjective expression of this writer, will allow us to glimpse into the deepest mysteries of the Christ impulse. Today, this Gospel of John is a stumbling block for materialists in Bible research when compared with the other three, the so-called synoptic Gospels. The image of Christ that they form according to the first three Gospels flatters the learned gentlemen of our time so much. The word has even been used—and even by theologians—that we are dealing with the “simple man from Nazareth.” And it is repeatedly emphasized that one can gain an image of Christ as perhaps the noblest who ever walked the earth, but still only the image of a human being. Yes, there is even a tendency to simplify this image as much as possible, and one hears it said that there were also a Plato, a Socrates, and other great men. One also admits that there are differences in degree between individuals.

Of course, the image of Christ given to us in the Gospel of John is very different! Right at the beginning, it says that what dwelt in the body of Jesus of Nazareth for three years was the Logos, the eternal Word or—according to the word that is also used for it—the eternal creative wisdom. It cannot be understood in our time that a human being in the thirtieth year of his life is so mature that he is capable of sacrificing his own self and taking on another being, a being that is utterly superhuman in nature: the Christ whom Zarathustra addressed as Ahura Mazdao. Therefore, such critical theological researchers believe that the writer of the Gospel of John only wanted to describe in a kind of lyrical hymn how he felt about his Christ, and nothing else. On the one hand, there is the Gospel of John, and on the other, the three other Gospels, but if one wants to gain an average picture of Christ, one can still portray the “simple man,” albeit with historical greatness. The newer researchers do not like the idea that there should be a divine being in Jesus of Nazareth.

The Akashic Records show that in his thirtieth year, the personality we refer to as Jesus of Nazareth had reached such a level of maturity through everything he had gone through in previous incarnations that he was able to sacrifice his own ego. For that is what happened when this Jesus of Nazareth, when he was baptized by John, was able to make the decision to step out of his physical body, etheric body, and astral body as an I, as the fourth member of the human being. And now there was a noble shell, a noble physical body, etheric body, and astral body, imbued with the purest, most highly developed ego. It was like a pure vessel, and at the baptism by John, it was able to receive Christ, the eternal Logos, the creative wisdom. This is what the Akashic Records tell us. And so we recognize it again, if we only want to, in the description of the Gospel of John.

But must we not grapple with what our materialistic age believes? Perhaps some of you will be surprised that I speak of theologians, that is, of people who speak of the spiritual, as if they were materialistic thinkers. But it is not a question of what someone believes or what they research, but how they research, regardless of the content. Anyone who wants to know nothing about what concerns us here, who wants to know nothing about a spiritual world and only sees what is available in the material world in documents and so on, and wants to form a picture of the world in this way, is a materialist. It depends on the means of research. But we must nevertheless deal with it.

If you read the Gospels, you will see that there are certain contradictions in them. Admittedly, with regard to the main points, which we can describe as the essentials from the Akashic Chronicle, we can say that they agree in a striking way. First of all, they agree with regard to the baptism of John itself. And it is clear from all four Gospels that the writers of these Gospels attach the greatest possible value to the baptism of John for Jesus of Nazareth. They also agree on the fact of the death on the cross and the fact of the resurrection. These are precisely the facts that are most miraculous to today's materialistic thinkers. So there is no contradiction here. But how should we deal with the other apparent contradictions?

First, we have two Gospel writers: Mark and John. They both begin with the baptism of John. They recount the last three years of the ministry of Christ Jesus, that is, only what happened after the Christ Spirit had already taken possession of the threefold sheath of Jesus of Nazareth, of his physical body, etheric body, and astral body. Then we have the two Gospels according to Matthew and Luke. In a certain sense, they also trace the earlier history, which in our sense would be the history of Jesus of Nazareth in the Akashic Records before his sacrifice for Christ. And right at the beginning, those who want to find contradictions are confronted with the fact that Matthew gives an ancestral history going back to Abraham, while Luke gives a genealogy going back to Adam and from Adam to the father of Adam, to God himself. Another contradiction arises from the fact that, according to Matthew, three wise men or magi, guided by a star, come to greet the newborn Jesus, while Luke tells of the appearance to the shepherds, the adoration of the shepherds, and the presentation in the temple, whereas Matthew again reports the persecution by Herod, the flight to Egypt, and the return. This and much else could be considered contradictions in detail. We can deal with this if we go into a little more detail about the facts that are provided to us independently of the Gospels by reading the Akashic Records.

The Akashic Records tell us that at the time approximately stated in the Bible—a few years' difference does not matter—Jesus of Nazareth was born, that in the body of Jesus of Nazareth there lived an individuality who had already experienced high stages of initiation in previous incarnations and had gained high insights into the spiritual world. Yes, the Akashic Records tell us even more, and I will first only touch on the outer outlines of what they say. The Akashic Records, which provide the only true history, tell us that the one who appeared in this Jesus of Nazareth had undergone the most diverse initiations in his previous incarnations in the most diverse regions. And it leads us back to the fact that this later bearer of the name Jesus of Nazareth had originally attained a high, significant level of initiation and a high, meaningful activity within the Persian world. Thus, the Akashic Records show us how this individuality, which was in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, had already been active within the spiritual world of ancient Persia, how it had looked up to the sun and addressed the great sun spirit as Ahura Mazdao.

Now we must be clear that Christ entered into the bodies of this same individuality that had passed through such incarnations. What does this mean: Christ entered into the bodies of this individuality? It means nothing other than that Christ used these three bodies for his activity, the astral body, the etheric body, and the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth. Everything we think, everything we say in words, and everything we feel and sense is connected to our astral body. It is the carrier of everything. For thirty years, Jesus of Nazareth lived as an I in this astral body, communicating to it everything he had experienced and absorbed in previous incarnations. In what sense did this astral body have to form his thoughts? It had to form them in such a way that they clung to and became attached to the individuality that had lived in it for thirty years. When Zarathustra looked up at the sun in ancient Persia and spoke of Ahura Mazdao, this was imprinted on the astral body. Christ entered this astral body. Was it not therefore quite natural that when Christ needed thought images, when he needed expressions of feeling, he could only clothe them in what his astral body offered him, whatever they might be? For if you wear a gray coat, you appear to the outside world in a gray coat! Christ appeared to the outside world in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, in his physical body, etheric body, and astral body, so that his thoughts and feelings were colored by the thought and feeling images that were in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. No wonder, then, that in his sayings we hear echoes of ancient Persian expressions, and that in the Gospel of John we hear echoes of expressions that were already used in ancient Persian initiation! For the impulse that was in Christ passed over to the disciple, to the resurrected Lazarus. Thus, the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth speaks to us through John in his Gospel. And what wonder is it that we hear many Persian expressions there, that expressions are used which echo the ancient Persian initiation and its thought forms? Now, in Persia, not only were the spirits united in the sun addressed as Ahura Mazdao, but in a certain sense the expression “Vohumanu” was used for the sun spirits, meaning the creative word or the creative spirit. The Logos in the sense of creative power is first used in the Persian initiation. And this appears again in the very first verse of the Gospel of John. We will understand many other things in the Gospel of John when we know that Christ himself spoke through an astral body that had served Jesus of Nazareth for thirty years, and that this individuality was the reincarnation of an ancient Persian initiate. And so I could show you many things in the Gospel of John, and you would see how it becomes understandable that precisely the most intimate Gospel, where it uses words that belong to the mysteries of initiation, echoes the Persian mode of expression as it was transplanted into later times.

What about the other evangelists? If we want to understand this, we must remember some of what we have already discussed.

We have already heard that there were high spiritual beings who, when the earth was separated from the sun, transferred their sphere of activity to the sun. We have pointed out that the outer astral form of these high beings who lifted themselves up to the sun was, in a sense, the counter-image of certain animal forms here on earth. First there was the form of the spirit of the bull, the spiritual counterpart of those animal natures whose essential development consists of what might be called the organization of nutrition and digestion. The spiritual counterpart is, of course, something spiritually high; the earthly image may appear as something still very low. So we have high spiritual beings who have moved their sphere of activity to the sun and from there influence the sphere of the earth, appearing there as the spirit of the bull. Others appear as lion spirits, whose counterpart is found in those animal natures that have developed primarily the heart and blood circulation organs. Then we have spiritual beings that are counterimages of what we encounter in the eagle nature in the animal kingdom, the eagle spirits. And finally, we have spiritual beings that harmoniously unite the other natures as in a great synthesis, the human spirits. These were the most advanced in a certain sense.

Now let us move on to the ancient initiation. It gave human beings the opportunity to see face to face the high spiritual beings who had preceded them. But depending on how far the ancient people had descended from Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus in accordance with the ancient times, they had to be initiated in different ways. That is why there were also various oracle sites in Atlantis. There were oracles who had attuned their spiritual vision primarily to seeing those spirits whom we have characterized as eagle spirits, while others saw lion spirits, others bull spirits, and still others human spirits. This depended on the specific nature of the people to be initiated. This diversity was one of the peculiarities of the Atlantean era, and its echoes can still be heard in our post-Atlantean era. In the Near East and Egypt, for example, you can find mystery centers where initiates were initiated in such a way that they saw the high spiritual beings as bull spirits or eagle spirits.

The outer culture then flowed out of the mysteries. Those who were able to see the high spiritual beings in the form of lions also created a kind of image of what they saw in the lion's body. Only they said: These spirits are involved in the becoming of the human being, and therefore they gave the lion's body a human head. This later became the sphinx. Those who saw the spiritual counter-images as bull spirits expressed this by proclaiming their testimony of the spiritual world by introducing bull worship, which then led to the worship of the Apis bull in Egypt and, on the other hand, to the worship of the Persian Mithras bull. For what we find in the external cult practices of different peoples has flowed out of the initiation rites.

Thus, there were initiates everywhere who were more attuned in their spiritual vision to the bull spirits, others who were more attuned to the eagle spirits, and so on. In a certain sense, we can also indicate the difference between the various types of initiation. For example, people who were so initiated that spiritual beings appeared to them in the form of bull spirits were particularly well informed about those aspects of human nature which contained, so to speak, the secrets connected with the glandular system and the etheric. And they were initiated into yet another area of human nature: that which is, so to speak, firmly attached to the earth, which is forged to the earth. All those who were initiated into the secrets of the bull understood this.

Let us try to put ourselves in the mind of such an initiate. These initiates had received the following teaching from their great teachers: Man has descended from divine heights. The first humans were the descendants of divine-spiritual beings. Therefore, they led the first humans back to their Father God. Thus, humans came down to earth and passed from one earthly form to another. These people were particularly interested in what was bound to the earth, and they were interested in everything that humans had experienced when they counted the divine-spiritual beings among their fathers. — This was the case with the Taurus initiates.

It was different with the eagle initiates. They saw those spiritual beings who behave in a very peculiar way toward what is human. But in order to understand this, we must say at least a few words about the spiritual nature of birds.

In animals, which are below humans because of their lower functions, we see beings that have, so to speak, hardened too early, that have not kept their bodily substance soft and flexible until the moment when they could have been taken into human form. But in the nature of birds we have beings who, although they have not taken on the lowest functions, have skipped the upward point. They have not descended deeply enough, so to speak; they have remained in substances that are too soft, while the others have lived in substances that are too hard. And as development went on and on, they had to be condensed by external circumstances. So they were condensed in a way that corresponds to a nature that is too soft, that has descended too little onto the earth. This is expressed in crude and popular terms, but it corresponds to the facts. Corresponding to these bird natures as archetypes are those spiritual beings who have also passed the point upward, who have remained in a spiritual substance that is too soft and who, in their progress, have thus flown beyond what they could have become at a certain point in time. They deviate upward, while the rest deviate downward. In a sense, the lion spirits and the harmonious spirits, the human spirits, who have kept to the right time, stand in the middle.

Now we have already made clear how those who had received something of the old initiation received the Christ event. They had already been able to look into the spiritual world, in accordance with their specific initiation. Those who had received the Taurus initiation — let us say the initiates of a large part of Egypt — knew: We can look up into the spiritual world; therefore, the high spiritual beings also appear to us in the counter-images to the Taurus nature in human beings. But now, those who had come close to the Christ impulse said to themselves, now what has appeared to us in its true form is what the ruler of the spiritual realm is. What we had always seen before, what we had risen to through the stages of our initiation, had presented us with a precursor to Christ. It is Christ whom we must place in what we saw before. If we remember everything we saw, everything that gradually opened up the spiritual worlds to us, where would it have led us if we had already been at the appropriate level at that time? It would have led us to Christ! — Such an initiate described the passage into the spiritual world in terms of the Taurus initiation. But then he said: The truth that is in it is Christ. — And a Leo initiate, an eagle initiate, spoke in the same way.

All these initiation mysteries had their own specific rules as to how the person concerned was to be led up into the spiritual world. The rituals differed depending on how one was to enter the spiritual world. And especially in the Near East and in Egypt, there were the most varied shades of the mysteries, where it was particularly customary to lead the initiates in such a way that they finally came to the bull nature, and initiations that led to the contemplation of the lion spirits, and so on.

Now, from this point of view, let us consider those who, after earlier initiations of various kinds, had matured to the point of feeling the Christ impulse and grasping Christ in the right way. Let us consider an initiate who has passed through those stages that have led him to the vision of the human spirit. Such an initiate could say to himself: The real ruler of the spiritual world has appeared to me; it is Christ who lived in Jesus of Nazareth! What led me to this? My old initiation! He knew the path that leads to the vision of the human spirit. He describes what a person experiences in order to attain initiation and to be able to recognize the nature of Christ at all. He knew the initiation as it was prescribed in the mysteries that led to human initiation. Therefore, the high initiate who was in the body of Jesus of Nazareth appeared to him in the image of the mysteries he had undergone and recognized; and he described him as he saw the matter himself. This is the case in Matthew's account. Therefore, an older tradition is quite correct in connecting the writer of the Gospel of Matthew with the author of the four symbols that appear here on the capitals of the columns on the right and left, which we call the symbol of man. An older tradition connects the writer of the Gospel according to Matthew with the human spirit. This stems from the fact that the writer of the Gospel of Matthew knew, so to speak, the initiation into the mystery of man as his own starting point. For in the time when the Gospels were written, it was not yet customary to write biographies as we do today. At that time, it seemed most important to people that there was a highly initiated person who had taken Christ into himself. How one becomes an initiate, what one has to go through as an initiate, that was the most important thing for them. Therefore, they skip over the external events of each day, which seem so important to biographers today.

What doesn't a biographer do today to get enough material! Once, Friedrich Theodor Vischer, the “Swabian Vischer,” used a very good image about a learned gentleman to ironize the way biographies are written today. He said that a young scholar once set out to write a doctoral dissertation on Goethe. First, he did the preliminary work and collected everything he could possibly need. But since he was not satisfied with this, he went to all the attics in all the cities where Goethe had lived, rummaged around there, and searched all the other rooms. He dusted every corner, knocked over foul-smelling trash cans, and searched for anything he could find to write a dissertation on “The connection between Mrs. Christiane von Goethe's frostbite and the mythological allegorical-symbolic figures in the second part of Faust”! This is, of course, greatly exaggerated, but in spirit it fits the biographers of the present day. Writers who want to write about Goethe rummage through all kinds of rubbish to write their biographies. They no longer know the meaning of the word discretion.

Those who described Jesus of Nazareth in their Gospels, however, portrayed things differently. They disregarded all external events in favor of the stages that Jesus of Nazareth had to go through as an initiate. They described these stages, but each in his own way, according to his own knowledge.

Matthew describes it in the manner of the initiates who were initiated into the human spirit. This initiation was close to Egyptian wisdom. And now we can also understand how the author of the Gospel according to Luke arrived at his unique presentation. He was someone who, in his previous incarnations, had attained initiations that led to the spirit of Taurus. He was able to describe what corresponded to such an initiation; he could say: A great initiate must have gone through these stages! And he described it in his own color. He was one of those who had previously lived mainly within the Egyptian mysteries. Therefore, we are not surprised that he presents us with precisely the trait that, so to speak, represents the more Egyptian character of the initiation. Let us consider the writer of the Gospel of Luke from the perspective we have now gained. He said to himself: In the individuality that was in the body of Jesus of Nazareth lived a high initiate. I have learned how to penetrate the Taurus initiation through the Egyptian mysteries. I know that. This type of initiation was particularly present to him. And now he said to himself: “He who has become such a highly initiated being as Jesus of Nazareth must, in his earlier incarnations, have undergone an Egyptian initiation in addition to all the other initiations. So we have in Jesus of Nazareth an initiate who has passed through the Egyptian initiation. Of course, the other evangelists knew this too. However, it did not seem particularly important to them because they did not know the initiation from this perspective very well. Therefore, they did not notice any special characteristics in Jesus of Nazareth.

I already said in the first few lessons: When a person has undergone an initiation in the past, something special happens to them when they reappear. Very specific events occur that appear to be a repetition in the outer world of what they experienced in the past. Let us assume that a person underwent an initiation in ancient Ireland. Then he would now have to be reminded of this ancient Irish initiation through an external life event. This would be evident, for example, if an external event caused him to take a trip to Ireland. Those who are more familiar with the Irish initiation will notice that the person in question is traveling to Ireland. Those who are not familiar with it will not consider it a special trait.

The individuality that lived in Jesus of Nazareth was also initiated into the Egyptian mysteries. Hence the move to Egypt. So who would have been particularly struck by this “flight into Egypt”? Those who knew it from their own lives, and one such person therefore described this special feature because he knew what it meant. It is described in the Gospel of Matthew because the writer knew from his own initiation what a journey to Egypt meant for many initiates in ancient times. And now that you know that the writer of the Gospel of Luke was someone who was particularly familiar with the initiation into the Egyptian mysteries that led to the service of Taurus, you will not find it unjustified that an older tradition associates the writer of the Gospel of Luke with the symbol of Taurus. For good reasons, which there is not time to explain here, he does not describe a journey to Egypt. But he does mention typical events whose significance was familiar to someone close to the Egyptian initiation. The writer of the Gospel of Matthew describes the relationship between Jesus of Nazareth and Egypt in a more external way through the journey to Egypt. The writer of the Gospel of Luke sees all the events he describes in the spirit of an Egyptian initiation.

Now let us consider the writer of the Gospel according to Mark. He omits all the previous history and describes in particular the work of Christ in the body of Jesus of Nazareth over a period of three years. In this respect, the Gospel of Mark is completely consistent with the Gospel of John. The writer of the Gospel of Mark underwent an initiation very similar to those of the Near East, even to the Greek initiations, if we may say so, the European-Asian-pagan initiations, which were the most modern at that time. They are all reflected in the outer world in such a way that a person who is a high personality, who is initiated in a certain way, owes his origin not merely to natural events, but to supernatural events. Remember that the admirers of Plato, who wanted to imagine Plato in the right way, had no particular interest in who Plato's physical father was. The spirituality of Plato outshone everything else for them. Therefore, they said: That which lived as the soul of Plato in the body of Plato, this Plato is born for us as a high spiritual being who fertilizes lower humanity. And so they attributed the birth of the Plato who was precious to them, the awakened Plato, to the god Apollo. Plato was a son of Apollo to them. In these mysteries, it was common not to pay much attention to the previous life of the person in question, but to focus on the moment when they became what is so often mentioned in the Gospels: a son of God, a son of God. Plato, a son of God! That's how those who were his noblest admirers and his noblest connoisseurs described him.

We must be clear about the significance of such a description for the human life of such sons of gods on earth. It was precisely in the fourth period that human beings became most attuned to the physical-sensory world and grew to love this earth. They loved the ancient gods because they were able to represent how the leading sons of the earth were sons of God. That which walked on earth was to be represented in this way.

Such a person was the writer of the Gospel of Mark. He therefore first describes what happened after the baptism of John. An initiation such as that undergone by the writer of the Gospel of Mark led to the recognition of the higher world under the image of the lion spirit. That is why an ancient tradition associates the writer of the Gospel of Mark with the symbol of the lion. And now let us look back once more at what we have already touched upon today—the Gospel of John.

We have said that the writer of the Gospel of John was initiated by Christ Jesus himself. This enabled him to give something that contains, so to speak, the seed not only for the present activity of the Christ impulse, but also for the activity of the Christ impulse into the most distant future. He proclaims something that will still be valid in the most distant future. He is one of the eagle initiates who had skipped the normal stage. The normal for that time is given by the writer of Mark. What goes beyond that time, what shows us how Christ will work in the distant future, what transcends everything that clings to the earth, we find in John. That is why tradition associates John with the symbol of the eagle.

So you see that such an ancient tradition, which brings together what constituted, so to speak, the essence of the evangelists' own initiation, is by no means based on mere fantasy, but has its origins in the deepest foundations of Christian development. One must look so deeply into the events. Then you will understand that the greatest, the most outstanding events in the life of Christ are described in the same way, but that each of the evangelists describes Christ Jesus as he understands him according to the nature of his initiation. I have already hinted at this in my book Christianity as Mystical Fact, but only in a way that could be understood by an unprepared audience, since it was written at the beginning of our spiritual scientific development. Consideration was given there to the lack of understanding in our time of the actual occult facts.

Thus we understand that Christ is illuminated to us from four sides: by each of the Gospel writers from the side he knew best. That Christ has many sides, you will readily believe after the powerful impulse he has given. But I said this: One thing is found in all the Gospels: the descent of the Christ Being itself from divine-spiritual heights at the baptism of John, and that this Christ Being dwelt in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, passed through death on the cross, and conquered this death. We will have to go into this mystery in more detail. Let us understand this death on the cross today by first asking: What characterizes the death on the cross for this Christ-being? We must say that it is characterized by the fact that it is an event that makes no difference between life before and life after. That is the essence of Christ's death, that Christ did not become someone else through death, that he remains the same, that he was One who represented death in its meaninglessness. So that those who were able to know the essence of Christ's death always held fast to the living Christ.

From this point of view, what is the event at Damascus, where the one who was previously Saul became Paul? Paul knew from what he had learned earlier that the spirit that was first sought by Zarathustra as Ahura Mazdao on the sun, and then seen by Moses in the burning bush and in the fire on Mount Sinai, was gradually approaching the earth. And he also knew that this Spirit had to come into a human body. But Paul, when he was still Saul, could not understand that this man, who was to carry Christ within himself, would have to suffer the shameful death on the cross! He could only imagine that when Christ came, he would have to triumph, that he would have to remain in everything that the earth has, once he had come to earth. He could not imagine the one who hung on the cross as the bearer of Christ. This is the essence of Paul's view before Saul became Paul. And the death on the cross, the shameful death on the cross with all that it entails, is what initially prevented Paul from recognizing that Christ had truly already been on earth. So what had to happen? Something had to happen to Paul so that at a certain moment he could be convinced: the individuality that hung on the cross in the body of Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ; the Christ had been on earth! Paul became clairvoyant through the event at Damascus. Then he could be convinced.

If one looked into the spiritual world as a clairvoyant, it appeared changed after the event of Golgotha. Previously, one found Christ in the spiritual worlds. Since the event of Golgotha, one could find Christ in the aura of the Earth. Before the event of Golgotha, Christ could not be seen there, but afterwards he could be seen in the Earth's aura. That is the difference. And Saul said to himself: If I am clairvoyant, I can convince myself that the one who hung on the cross and lived as Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ who is now in the earth's aura. And he saw in the earth's aura what Zarathustra first saw as Ahura Mazdao on the sun. Now he knew: He who was on the cross has risen. Therefore, he could now say: Christ is risen, he has appeared to me as he appeared to Cephas, to the other brothers, and to the five hundred at once! And now he became the herald of the living Christ, for whom death does not have the same meaning as for other people.

Anyone who knows about this event will, when the crucifixion, when the death of Christ in this form is doubted, agree with another Swabian who, in his “Urchristentum” (Original Christianity), has compiled with all possible historical accuracy what belongs to the most certain part of what we know about it. Gfrörer—it is he—has rightly emphasized the crucifixion. And one can agree with him in a certain way when he expresses himself in his somewhat sarcastic manner, saying that he would look critically into the face of anyone who contradicted him on this point and ask them whether they were quite right in their thinking!

This is one of the most certain elements of Christianity: the crucifixion and what we will describe tomorrow as the resurrection and the effect of the words: “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world!” And that is what constituted Paul's proclamation. He could therefore say: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and our faith is in vain!” Paul links Christianity to the resurrection of Christ. It is only in our time, so to speak, that people are beginning to think a little about these things again, where they are not making this a theological dispute, but a question of life for Christianity. The great philosopher S0Jowjow therefore stands completely on Paul's point of view when he emphasizes: Everything in Christianity depends on the idea of the resurrection, and a Christianity of the future is impossible if the idea of the resurrection is not believed and understood. And he repeats in his own way the words of Paul: If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and our faith is in vain. Then the Christ impulse is impossible. There would be no Christianity without the risen, living Christ!

It is characteristic, and therefore it must be emphasized, that individual profound minds, solely on the basis of their philosophy, without any occultism, come to recognize how true this Pauline statement is. If one deals with such minds a little, one sees that in our time there are already people who are forming ideas about what a future human conviction and worldview must be, what spiritual science must bring. But those who do not have spiritual science achieve nothing more than an empty conceptual vessel. This is also the case with the profound thinker Soloviev. The systems of his philosophy are like conceptual vessels, and what must be poured into them is what they already demand, what they already shape, but what they do not have, and what can come only from the anthroposophical stream. This will pour into these vessels the living water, the communications about the facts of the spiritual world, the occult. This spiritual scientific worldview will bring it to the best spirits who already show today that they need it, and whose tragedy lies in the fact that they have not been able to obtain it. We can use the word “thirst” for these spirits. They have not been able to find it. Through the anthroposophical movement, what can form clear, distinct, true ideas about the most important events, such as the Christ event and the mystery of Golgotha, should flow into the vessels prepared by them. Only anthroposophy or spiritual research can enlighten us about this with its revelations about the realms of the spiritual worlds. Yes, the mystery of Golgotha can be understood in our time only through anthroposophy, through spiritual research!