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The Gospel of Matthew
GA 123

6 September 1910, Bern

Lecture VI

Stages of downward penetration of divine nature into a human individuality, and the going forth of this individuality into the cosmos. The spiritual nature of man and the earthly Adam. The superpersonal memory in the blood of the generations. The Essene and Nazarene colonies. The pupils of Jesus ben Pandira: Matthai and Netzer. The two Jesus children

An examination of the descent of Jesus, as given in the Gospel of Luke, shows how the view of the writer of this Gospel is confirmed by the statements made in the last lecture. There it was shown that in the same sense in which an Entity of Divine Force was to permeate the physical and etheric bodies of the Solomon Jesus, so an Entity of Divine Force was also to permeate the astral body and ego of the personality known as the Nathan Jesus of the Luke Gospel. In this Gospel we are clearly told that this Entity of Divine Force is to fulfil itself through the line of heredity streaming in a direct line down through all the generations, from an early stage of human existence before man entered into a physical earthly incarnation. In the Gospel of Luke we find the descent of Jesus is traced back to Adam, and to God. This means that in order to find this divine principle within the astral body and ego of the Nathan Jesus we must go back to man as he was before his descent into physical incarnation; when he still dwelt in the bosom of the Spirit, and may be described as a spiritual being, and as still appertaining to Divinity. All anthroposophical investigation points to the Lemurian Age as that in which man was still in a spiritual sphere, when he had not yet incorporated in the elements of earthly existence. To this period, when man's divine nature was as yet unaffected by Luciferic influences, the Gospel of Luke traces back the lineage of the Jesus of whom it tells.

Those Mysteries which sought to guide their pupils to the initiation already described as ‘the understanding of the mighty secrets of cosmic space,’ leading man to what was super-earthly or rather beyond what man has become through earthly influences, sought to teach man to perceive the world without using the instruments he has acquired since he came under the influence of Lucifer. When a man has freed himself from perception through his physical and etheric bodies, from all that can approach him by earthly means, how does he behold the universe with his clairvoyant perception? This was the great question for the pupils of the Mysteries. Man was naturally in this state before his entrance into earthly incarnation, before he became the ‘earthly Adam,’ using this term in the sense of the Bible and the Gospel of Luke.

There are two ways by which man can reach that which makes him a divine spiritual being; one is the high initiation of the great Mysteries, the other is not realizable at any optional earth period, but was present at an elementary stage of human existence before the descent of divine man into what the Bible calls ‘earthly humanity’ in the Lemurian Age, for Adam means ‘earth man;’ he who is no longer divine, but has clothed himself in the earthly element.

It may be a matter for surprise that in Luke only seventy-seven generations or stages of existence are mentioned; and still more so that in the Gospel of Matthew only forty-two generations from Abraham to Christ are mentioned. Now it can be calculated that with the number of years usually reckoned to a generation, the forty-two could not extend over the period from Christ to Abraham, but it must be remembered that in earlier times, and noticeably in the patriarchal period before Solomon and David, the number of years reckoned to a generation was longer than in subsequent periods. In attempting to fix historical dates for any three generations like those of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the modern reckoning will not suffice; at least two hundred and fifteen years must be allowed for the three generations. This fact is corroborated by occult investigation. The generations were longest in the times from Adam to Abraham, subsequently they were also long, for great age is always ascribed to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, at the time when they begat their heirs. If we are right to-day in reckoning thirty-three years to a generation, the writer of the Gospel of Matthew was correct in reckoning seventy-five to eighty years and even longer to a generation in ancient times. But it is important to note that in the Gospel of Matthew each generation back to Abraham refers to an individual, whereas the names given by Luke to the generations previous to Abraham do not refer to individuals. Here we must recall something that however true, is not easily believed by the materialistic conceptions of to-day.

What is now called memory, or connecting consciousness, does not extend for normal people beyond the early years of childhood. A person can trace his life back to the point where memory ceases; some can remember more of their early childhood than others. Memory to-day is confined to the single personal life—indeed not even the whole of this, for it does not reach back to birth. Considering the very different qualities of soul and of consciousness prevalent in those ancient times with which we are dealing, when a certain state of clairvoyance was normal, it need not seem surprising that memory also was very different from what it is to-day.

Going back to the times before Abraham, and even farther, during Atlantean times, man remembered not only the events of his personal life, but also experiences before birth—he remembered the experiences of his father, grandfather, and previous ancestors. Memory was something that endured in the blood through a long sequence of generations; it was only later that it became restricted to certain periods or to a single life.

In the distant past a name had a quite other significance than what it has to-day. Names in ancient times require a special study—what philologists say of them is incorrect. In former days names were not associated with things and people externally as they are now. A name at that time was something vital, something connected in a living way with the nature of the being or thing named; it was an expression in sound of the inner character of the being. It had to echo in sound the nature of that being. Modern learning is ignorant of this wisdom. The Kritic der Sprache, by Fritz Mauthner, reviews at great length all the modern learning in regard to speech, but omits what throughout the ages has been the essence of speech. Such a book could not have been written in olden times. A name did not then merely signify an individual with his personal life, but it included all that memory could link together, so that a name was used as long as memory endured. ‘Noah,’ for instance, was not a name for one man, it signified what one man remembered of his own life—then of his pre-earthly life, then of the life of his father, grandfather, etc. So long as the threads of memory endured one name was used for a succession of persons. ‘Adam,’ ‘Seth,’ or ‘Enoch’ are names which comprise as many persons as were united through the retention of retrospective recollection. When we are told in ancient times that a certain person was called ‘Enoch,’ it means that in a person, who was the son of someone otherwise designate, a new thread of memory had arisen, which does not go back to previous personalities. This new thread of memory then is not cut off at death, but is carried on, after the death of the first Enoch, from father to son down through the generations until a new memory arises and with it another name. As long as the thread of memory endured, the same name was used. In a family line several persons had but one name; as for example with the name ‘Adam.’ It is in this sense that names are used in the Gospel of Luke. For Luke wishes to explain that the being of power of divine spiritual existence, he who descended into the ego and astral body of the Nathan Jesus, must be traced back to the time of man's first descent into earthly incarnation.

Thus in Luke we have at first the names of separate individuals, but when we go back beyond Abraham, we arrive at a time when memory lasted longer and one name signifies that which, like an ego, united several personalities. This will help to make it clear how the seventy-seven names could really be spread over very long periods—even so far back as to the time when the being whom we describe as the divinely spiritual essence of humanity first incarnated in a physical human body.

The other point in this Gospel is that anyone, who, having passed through the seventy-seven stages of purification in the Mysteries has purged his soul of earthly taint, attains a condition only possible for man to-day when he can live in his astral body and ego free of his body. He can then expand into that from which the Earth itself has come forth—into our whole cosmic system. This does come to pass. Then he has reached the being of power who entered into the astral body and ego of the Nathan Jesus. In the Nathan Jesus it is sought to exemplify what man receives, not through his earthly but through his heavenly conditions.

Thus the Gospel of Luke describes the divine spiritual being who had permeated and impregnated the astral body and ego of the Jesus of whom it speaks. In the Jesus of the Gospel of Matthew we have described to us that divine spiritual being of power, who, on one side, had called into existence the inner organ of Jehovah-consciousness in Abraham, and, on the other side, had worked on the physical and etheric bodies, holding together in them a line of inheritance through forty-two generations.

To return to the mission of Jesus ben Pandira, it was he who made known—to a few at least—that forty-two generations after Abraham the Hebrews would have advanced sufficiently to make the incarnation of the individuality of Zarathustra possible in the Solomon branch of the House of David. Such teaching was naturally associated at that time with events in the Mysteries. It was not confined to the Schools of the Essenes, but only among them were pupils to be found who had actually passed through the forty-two stages of development, and who were able to perceive clairvoyantly the nature of the being who was to descend through forty-two stages. For knowledge of this being had to be given to the world. It was the mission of the Essenes to see that among a few at least there should be an understanding of what the Christ would be.

Now let us briefly recall the events connected with the particular course of that human being known as Zarathustra or Zoroaster. Under this name he had given out in early days in the East the mighty teaching that had fitted him for the incarnation described in the Gospel of Matthew. It was he who had inaugurated the Hermetic Civilization in Egypt, and to this end had given up his astral body to Hermes; he also had founded the Mosaic Civilization through the sacrifice of his etheric body, which had been preserved for Moses. Zarathustra himself incarnated later in other astral and etheric bodies. The incarnation in the sixth century B.C. is of special interest, when, as Zarathos or Nazarathos, he had instructed the sages and Magi of Chaldea, and had come in touch with the wisest of the Hebrew pupils of the Mysteries, during the Babylonian Captivity. During the following six centuries, this teaching had permeated the traditions, ceremonies, and culture of the Chaldean Mystery Schools. The name of their great master, Zarathustra, in the form of Zarathos or Nazarathos, had been honoured in the highest degree by generations of pupils in the Mystery Schools of Babylon, Chaldea, and Assyria. They looked forward with longing to the next appearance of their great teacher and leader, for they knew the secret of his reincarnation, and expected it to occur at the end of six hundred years. As the time approached when the blood suitable for this incarnation should be ready, three messengers or wise men, went forth from the East. They knew that the honoured name of Zarathustra would guide them, as a star, to the place of his reincarnation. It was the Being of the great Teacher himself which as a least there should be an understanding of what the Christ would be.

Now let us briefly recall the events connected with the particular course of that human being known as Zarathustra or Zoroaster. Under this name he had given out in early days in the East the mighty teaching that had fitted him for the incarnation described in the Gospel of Matthew. It was he who had inaugurated the Hermetic Civilization in Egypt, and to this end had given up his astral body to Hermes; he also had founded the Mosaic Civilization through the sacrifice of his etheric body, which had been preserved for Moses. Zarathustra himself incarnated later in other astral and etheric bodies. The incarnation in the sixth century B.c. is of special interest, when, as Zarathos or Nazarathos, he had instructed the sages and Magi of Chaldea, and had come in touch with the wisest of the Hebrew pupils of the Mysteries, during the Babylonian Captivity. During the following six centuries, this teaching had permeated the traditions, ceremonies, and culture of the Chaldean Mystery Schools. The name of their great master, Zarathustra, in the form of Zarathos or Nazarathos, had been honoured in the highest degree by generations of pupils in the Mystery Schools of Babylon, Chaldea, and Assyria. They looked forward with longing to the next appearance of their great teacher and leader, for they knew the secret of his reincarnation, and expected it to occur at the end of six hundred years. As the time approached when the blood suitable for this incarnation should be ready, three messengers or wise men, went forth from the East. They knew that the honoured name of Zarathustra would guide them, as a star, to the place of his reincarnation. It was the Being of the great Teacher himself which as a ‘star’ guided the three Magi to the birthplace of Jesus, as is told in the Gospel of Matthew.

Even external philology confirms the fact that the word ‘star’ was used in olden times to describe the human individuality. It is not only through the revelations of spiritual science, which speaks more clearly than other sources of knowledge, that we learn that the Magi followed the ‘Golden Star,’ Zoroaster, to the place where he was to reincarnate, but by the customary use of the word ‘star’ for the higher human individuality it is clearly revealed that in the star which the wise men followed we have to understand Zarathustra himself.

Six hundred years before our era the Magi of the East were closely associated with the individual who incarnated as the Jesus of the Gospel of Matthew. He himself led the Magi. They followed in his track.

The secret of the coming incarnation of Zarathustra was known in the Chaldean Mysteries; but the secret concerning the blood of the Hebrew people which when the time was ripe was to be prepared for the new bodily-nature of Zarathustra, was taught by those who in the Essene initiation had passed through forty-two stages of development.

There were therefore two sources from which this knowledge came. From the side of Zarathustra, teaching was given by the Chaldean Initiates; they knew of the individuality who was to incarnate in the Jewish race from the external side, that of the body and the preparation of the blood, teaching came from initiates among the Essenes. This teaching was given out for more than a hundred years in the School of the Essenes, the teaching of the coming of the Jesus of the Gospel of Matthew, who in his fulness would satisfy all the needs of which I have spoken, and still others which we will now try to explain.

A pupil of the Essene Mystery Schools, who, after long training, had completed the forty-two stages of initiation, was able to perceive the mysteries of the physical and etheric body. The individual who was to be born, who was to incarnate in this special blood, came from on high, already possessing faculties which were only attained by the Essene after the long and difficult trials of his training. Concerning such a being, one must say, ‘From the beginning he had powers capable of bringing the seed that was in him to fruition.’ ‘They were born with him,’ the Essenes said. That which was fostered among them by means of exercises and purification of the soul was in fact the continuation of a kind of occult training that had existed among the Jews from the earliest days. There had always been those among them who were called Nazarenes. Even before the time of the Therapeutæ and Essenes certain individuals had used special methods for the development of their soul and body, methods still necessary to-day in certain connections when anyone wishes to hasten his soul development. The Nazarenes were especially careful to abstain entirely from meat and wine. This made a certain facility possible—for it is a fact that the consumption of meat can be a hindrance in the path when striving for spiritual development. Without implying any propaganda on behalf of vegetarianism, it is a fact that abstention from meat makes everything easier, for in that case the soul increases in strength and in power of endurance, and is stronger to overcome the oppositions and hindrances arising from the physical and etheric bodies. Capacities for endurance increase by abstaining from flesh though it is not such abstinence alone, but above all by strengthening his soul. It is merely the physical body that is changed by this abstinence; but when certain qualities are absent which should from the soul's side be present, there is no particular object in avoiding meat. All this was included in the teaching of the Nazarenes and was practised by the Essenes in a much stricter form; in particular they cultivated the strictest abstinence from meat. By this, and the strict training I have referred to, a man was able to enhance his memory comparatively quickly; he learnt to extend it over the period of forty-two generations, and he thus acquired the power to read the secrets of the Akashic-Record. He was then given a special name. He was called a ‘bud,’ a bud on the tree of the race, a bud that had endured throughout many generations. Such a man was not in any way isolated from the tree of humanity, but was conscious of his connection with the rest of mankind. He differed from those who severed themselves from the tree, and whose memory had shrunk within a single personality. The special name given to such a man, among the sect of the Essenes, signified ‘a living branch,’ not a severed branch. All such men felt themselves consciously in the line of descent, a part of the tree of the human race. The Essene who had accomplished this and who had completed the forty-two stages of initiation was described as a ‘Netzer.’

Among the class of Netzer there was a special and faithful pupil of Jesus ben Pandira. Among his pupils were five whom he had himself trained; each of these had taken up a special branch of the great general teaching of Jesus ben Pandira, which he then developed further.

The names of these pupils were Mathai, Nakai, Netzer (because he belonged especially to the Netzer class), Boni, and Thona. Occult research reveals the fact that subsequent to the death of Jesus ben Pandira, the teaching concerning the preparation of the blood of the race for the advent of the Jesus of the Gospel of Matthew was particularly the work of Mathai. The teaching concerning the qualities of the inner nature of the soul which was associated with the ancient Nazarene teaching and also with the later Netzerism, was cultivated and spread by Netzer. This pupil was in particular chosen to be the founder of a little colony. Many such colonies existed in Palestine, in each of which some special branch of the Essene teaching was cultivated, and Netzer's teaching was fostered more especially in a little colony, which led a secret existence in a little place named in the Bible, Nazareth or Netzereth.

In this little colony dwelt those who cultivated in fairly strict secrecy the ancient Nazarene teaching. And here, after the events shortly to be dealt with—the flight into Egypt and the return—nothing was more natural than that the Jesus of the Matthew Gospel should be nurtured in the atmosphere of Netzerism. This is referred to in the words of the Gospel when after the return from Egypt Jesus was taken to Nazareth ‘that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets He shall become a Nazarene.’

Translators, unaware of the real meaning of this phrase, have dealt with it in various ways. In reality it signifies the existence at Nazareth of a colony of Essenes among whom the early years of Jesus were to be passed.

All the facts described in the first part of the Gospel of Matthew lead back to the mysteries taught by Jesus ben Pandira, which subsequently were spread abroad by his pupil Mathai, and indeed the first mysteries of this Gospel point to Mathai. In all that springs from this side which is so characteristic of the Gospel of Matthew we find teaching concerning the preparation for the physical and etheric bodies of the Jesus of the Gospel of Matthew, though naturally during the forty-two generations there were also influences affecting the astral body.

When it is stated that the first fourteen generations are especially concerned with the physical body, the second fourteen with the etheric, and the third period of fourteen, that following the Babylonian Captivity with the astral body, it must be remembered that a physical and etheric body carefully prepared in this way, could only be used by that mighty individuality Zarathustra.

Now recall the oft-repeated facts of the development of a single personality; how the physical body evolves in the first seven years; the etheric in the next seven, between the change of teeth and puberty; and the astral only begins its free development at the age of fourteen. The development of the physical body and etheric body as these passed down through the generations from Abraham, was destined to come to an end, and entered on a new existence when it became the dwelling-place of Zarathustra. But when he had completed the development of the etheric body, that which had been prepared for him no longer sufficed, and he had then to proceed to the development of the astral body. Mighty and amazing events brought this to pass, events which if we have no understanding of them make it impossible for us to grasp the full meaning of the great Mystery of Jesus Christ.

The individuality of Zarathustra evolved during boyhood until his twelfth year, within the physical and etheric body of that Jesus of whom the Gospel of Matthew speaks—for as regards this being and on account of the climate, the period, which in our part of the world occurs about the fourteenth or fifteenth year, was reached earlier. By his twelfth year he had attained everything it was possible to attain in the physical and etheric body fittingly prepared within the line of Solomon. The individuality of Zarathustra did then actually forsake the physical and etheric body described in the Gospel of Matthew and passed over into the Jesus of the Gospel of Luke. In the cycle of lectures on the Gospel of Luke the story of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple is explained. There we learn what it meant when the child Jesus was suddenly confronted by his parents who could in no way understand how he had become so changed. This change meant that the entrance of the individuality of Zarathustra into his inner being had taken place; until then this Zarathustra-individuality had developed within the physical and etheric sheaths of the Solomon Jesus.

Such things actually come to pass in life, incredible though they may seem to the untrained and materialistic modern mind. The passing over of an individuality from one body to another does occur. Such a transition occurred when the Zarathustra-individuality, forsaking its original body, passed over into that of the Jesus of the Gospel of Luke, whose astral body and ego-bearer had been specially prepared.

From his twelfth year Zarathustra continued his development in the uniquely prepared astral body and ego of the Jesus of the line of Nathan. This is told in such an imposing way in the Gospel of Luke—the story of the twelve-year-old Jesus sitting in the temple among the Scribes, who were astounded at his words. How was this possible to the Jesus of the Nathan line? He was able to speak thus because the individuality of Zarathustra had entered him. Through that twelve-year-old boy who had been brought to Jerusalem by his parents, Zarathustra had not till then spoken. Hence the change in him was so great that his parents failed to recognize him as he sat among the scribes.

Thus we have two sets of parents, each named Joseph and Mary.1Many people were so named at that time; to deduce anything from the names ‘Joseph’ and ‘Mary,’ as names are understood to-day, is denied by all true investigation. And there were two children, each named Jesus; the one we read of in the Gospel of Matthew is the Jesus of the Solomon line of the house of David; the other spoken of in the Gospel of Luke is the Jesus of the Nathan line, and is the son of quite other parents. The two boys grew up near to each other until their twelfth year. You can find this in the Gospels. What is related there is quite correct, but as long as it was undesirable for people to experience the truth, or as long as people did not desire the truth, it was withheld. The Gospels speak the truth we have but to learn to understand them aright.

The Nathan Jesus developed with a strongly developed inward nature. While showing little aptitude for the acquisition of external wisdom, he possessed depth of soul and capacity for love in boundless measure, for dwelling in his etheric body was that force which had come down from a time before man's descent into earthly incarnation, when as yet he led a divine existence. Divinity dwelt in him in a boundless capacity for love. This Jesus of the Nathan line was little fitted for the acquisition of that which men gain in the course of incarnation in a physical body, but he was filled with an infinite warmth of love as regards his soul and inner being. The inward trend of the boy's nature was so marked that those who had understanding of such things tell of something that was brought about through this. What is otherwise only evoked in man by external means was present in a certain sense in the child Jesus of the Gospel of Luke from the beginning. Immediately after his birth he spoke certain words which were comprehensible to his surroundings. Thus this Jesus was mighty in all inward matters though unskilled as regards what is gained by passing through repeated earthly incarnations.

What wonder that the parents were greatly amazed when they suddenly discovered in such a physical nature, a boy filled with great external wisdom that could only be gained by outward means. Such a sudden and amazing change was possible because at that moment the individuality of Zarathustra—the Jesus of the line of Solomon—passed over into the Jesus of the line of Nathan. It was Zarathustra who spoke from the boy at the moment when his parents sought him in the Temple.

Zarathustra had acquired the highest faculties possible to acquire through a physical and etheric body. He had to use the physical instruments prepared in the Solomon line of inheritance, for in them were great and very highly developed forces. He took of this physical nature as much as he could make his own, and blended it with the nature that sprang from the inner force of the Luke Jesus, which had its origin before man's entrance into earthly incarnation. These two natures were now joined in one. Henceforward we have only one being before us.

Though it may seem superfluous, we have our attention now directed to something else; the parents of the Jesus of the Gospel of Luke did not only note an exceptional change in him, but there was also an outward change, for why is it expressly stated that after the child Jesus had been found among the learned Scribes in the Temple ‘He went down with them to Nazareth. ... And Jesus increased in outward beauty of form, in noble habits, and in wisdom.’ Why are these three attributes mentioned? Because now that the Zarathustra individuality had entered into him these were the attributes he could make more particularly his own.

I am quite aware that these words are usually translated ‘and Jesus increased in wisdom, age (stature in the English version), and in favour with God and man.’ Do we require a Gospel to tell us that a twelve-year-old boy increased in age? But in Weizeker's translation we have the words: ‘and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.’ This, however, is not the meaning; the real meaning is, that an individuality is now in the Nathan Jesus, who is not, as formerly, only a being of inward feeling unable to express itself outwardly, but, because it has now assumed a complete physical body, it has also passed on into external physical excellence. At the same time those qualities that especially concerned the etheric body—the habits acquired and cultivated by means of the etheric body—were not to be found previously in the Nathan Jesus. In him the seed of a mighty capacity for love was apparent which could now be developed further, but this attribute sprang up spontaneously in him and could not become fixed as habits are. But once the Zarathustra individuality, which possessed the powers of an evolved physical and etheric body, was present, it was possible for external habits to reveal themselves and to imprint themselves on the etheric body. This was the second attribute in which the child Jesus increased.

Thirdly, Jesus increased in wisdom. This is more easily understood. The Jesus of the Gospel of Luke was not wise; he was to a high degree a being capable of love. The entrance into him of the Zarathustra individuality meant an increase in wisdom.

As was explained in the lectures on the Gospel of Luke, it may easily happen that when an individuality has forsaken a person, and only three members, the physical body, and the etheric body and astral body are left, this person may continue to live for a time. That part of the Solomon Jesus, however, which was left behind soon dwindled away and died. This means that the Jesus child of the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew died comparatively soon after his twelfth year. At first there were two boys; later the two became one.

Ancient records often contain astounding things which we should try to understand; yet this is only possible through a comprehension of the real facts to which they refer. The intimate way in which these two boys were blended into one may be left for later consideration one reference, however, may be permitted here.

In the so-called ‘Egyptian Gospel,’ which even in the first centuries was regarded as heretical, a noteworthy sentence occurs, for even in Christian circles no one wanted to hear the truth, nor wished that it should come to light. In this document which has endured as a kind of apocryphal Gospel, we find it said: ‘that salvation would come to the world when the two had become one and the outer become as the inner.’

This sentence expresses exactly the facts I have explained as the result of occult investigation. Salvation depends on the two becoming one. The two became one when in his twelfth year the individuality of Zarathustra passed over into the Nathan Jesus, and what was inward became external. The soul force of the Jesus of the Gospel of Luke was most powerfully inward, but this inward force became outward when the Zarathustra individuality—whose outward forces had been developed to a high degree in the physical body and etheric body of the Solomon Jesus—entered into this inward nature, permeating it with his highly evolved physical and etheric nature. Thus a power entered the physical and etheric body of the Nathan Jesus, and what was external became an expression of his inwardness—inwardness that was his before the individuality of the Solomon Jesus passed into him. Thus the two became one.

We have now followed Zarathustra from his birth as the Jesus child of the Gospel of Matthew to his twelfth year when he left his original body and took on the bodily sheath of the Nathan Jesus. From this time onwards the physical nature of the Nathan Jesus was developed by Zarathustra to such a high degree of perfection that he was able at a certain climax of his existence to sacrifice his three bodies for acceptance by Him Whom we call the Christ.

Sechster Vortrag

Jedem, der das Lukas-Evangelium in die Hand nimmt und jenes Kapitel betrachtet, in dem die Abstammung des dort behandelten Jesus zurückgeführt wird auf frühere Generationen, wird es ohne weiteres einleuchten können, daß die Absicht des Schreibers des Lukas-Evangeliums übereinstimmt mit dem, was gestern hier gesagt worden ist. Es handelte sich gestern darum, daß sozusagen in demselben Sinne, wie eine göttliche Kraftwesenheit durchdringen sollte den physischen Leib und Ätherleib des salomonischen Jesus, ebenfalls eine göttliche Kraftwesenheit durchdringen sollte den astralischen Leib und das Ich bei jener Persönlichkeit, die wir als den nathanischen Jesus, den Jesus des Lukas-Evangeliums kennen. Und deutlich wird es ja im LukasEvangelium gesagt: diese göttliche Kraftwesenheit soll das, was sie ist, dadurch sein, daß durch alle Generationen herunter die Erbfolge in einer geraden Linie von jener Stufe der Menschlichkeit strömt, da der Mensch noch nicht innerhalb des Erdendaseins zum ersten Male in eine irdische, physisch-sinnliche Inkarnation eingetreten ist. Wir sehen ja, wie das Lukas-Evangelium durch, sagen wir, Generationen die Abstammung seines Jesus zurückführt bis auf Adam, bis auf Gott. Das aber will nichts anderes heißen, als daß wir, wenn wir jenes Prinzip im astralischen Leibe und im Ich des nathanischen Jesus finden wollen, hinaufzugehen haben bis zu einem solchen Zustande des Menschen, da dieser Mensch noch nicht aufgenommen war von einer physisch-sinnlichen Erdeninkarnation, da er noch nicht herabgestiegen war aus dem göttlich-geistigen Dasein, sondern noch im Schoße jener geistigen Sphären war, innerhalb welcher wir den Menschen als ein gottangehöriges, als ein göttliches Wesen bezeichnen können. Wir müssen ja im Sinne der ganzen anthroposophischen Auseinandersetzungen auf diesen Zeitpunkt der alten lemurischen Zeit hinweisen und ihn festsetzen als denjenigen, wo der Mensch noch nicht inkarniert war in den Elementen des Erdendaseins, sondern wo er noch in einer göttlich-geistigen Sphäre war. Bis hinauf in jene Zeiten, da der Mensch noch göttlicher Natur war und auch noch nicht das auf den Menschen gewirkt hatte, was wir den luziferischen Einfluß nennen, verfolgt tatsächlich das Lukas-Evangelium seinen Jesus.

In der Tat wollten diejenigen Mysterien, die ihre Schüler bis zu jener Einweihung führten, die wir gestern charakterisiert haben als die Erkenntnis der großen Geheimnisse des kosmischen Raumes, den Menschen hinausführen über alles Irdische, oder besser gesagt, über das, was der Mensch durch das Irdische geworden ist. Sie wollten lehren, wie man die Welt anschauen kann, wenn man sie nicht durch die Werkzeuge anschaut, die der Mensch seit der Zeit erhalten hat, da der luziferische Einfluß wirken konnte. Wie nimmt sich das Weltall aus für das hellseherische Anschauen, wenn der Mensch sich frei macht von der Wahrnehmung durch physischen Leib und Ätherleib, sich frei macht von allem, was aus dem Irdischen an ihn herankommen kann, das war zunächst die große Frage für die Mysterienschüler. In einem solchen Zustande war der Mensch auf natürliche Weise vor dem Eintreten in eine irdische Inkarnation und bevor er zu dem «irdischen Adam» geworden ist, um im Sinne der Bibel und des Lukas-Evangeliums besonders zu sprechen. Also nur ein Zweifaches gibt es, wodurch der Mensch das sein kann, was ihn zu einem göttlich-geistigen Menschen macht: Das eine ist die hohe Initiation der großen Mysterien; das andere ist nicht zu verwirklichen in einer beliebigen Erdenzeit, sondern war vorhanden auf einer elementaren Stufe des Menschenseins, vor dem Herabsteigen des göttlichen Menschen in der lemurischen Zeit zu dem, was die Bibel den «irdischen Menschen» nennt; denn «Adam» heißt «Erdenmensch», der nicht mehr göttlich-geistiger Art ist, sondern sich bekleidet hat mit den irdischen Elementen.

Nun könnte aber eines auffallen, wenn wir so etwas zum Ausdruck bringen. Das ist, daß ja immerhin nur siebenundsiebzig, sagen wir, Generationen oder Stufen des Daseins, Vererbungsstufen genannt werden. Schon beim Matthäus-Evangelium könnte es jemand auffällig finden, daß nur zweiundvierzig Generationen von Abraham bis auf Christus genannt werden, und er könnte nachrechnen, daß die Zahl der Jahre, die man gewöhnlich für eine Generation annimmt, nicht ausreichen würde bis zu Abraham hinauf. Wer das sagen würde, müßte aber berücksichtigen, daß früher mit Recht für die alten Zeiten, für die Patriarchenzeiten von Salomo und David aufwärts, längere Zeiten angenommen wurden für die Dauer einer Generation als später. Wenn wir nur einigermaßen selbst mit den historischen Daten fertig werden wollen, dürfen wir nicht bei drei Generationen - zum Beispiel Abraham, Isaak und Jakob - das rechnen, was jetzt der Durchschnitt für drei Generationen ergeben würde, sondern wir müssen für diese drei Generationen etwa zweihundertfünfzehn Jahre festsetzen. Das ergibt auch die okkulte Forschung. Die Tatsache, daß für jene alten Zeiten die Dauer einer Generation länger anzusetzen ist als heute, ergibt sich noch deutlicher für die Generationen von Adam bis auf Abraham herunter. Bei der Generationenfolge von Abraham abwärts kann schon jeder sich klarmachen, daß die einzelne Generation länger angesetzt worden ist; denn es wird immer schon ein hohes Alter den Patriarchen Abraham, Isaak und Jakob zugeschrieben, wenn sie einen Sohn bekommen, der ein Erbsohn ist. Und rechnet man gewöhnlich heute dreiunddreißig Jahre für eine Generation, so rechneten mit Recht diejenigen, die das Matthäus-Evangelium schrieben, in den alten Zeiten fünfundsiebzig bis achtzig und eine noch längere Anzahl von Jahren auf eine Generation. Aber wir haben zu betonen, daß im Matthäus-Evangelium bis zu Abraham gemeint sind einzelne Menschen. Nicht mehr aber sind einzelne Menschen gemeint, wenn wir von Abraham heraufgehen und diejenigen Namen in Betracht ziehen, die das Lukas-Evangelium anführt. Da müssen wir durchaus an etwas erinnern, was richtig ist, wenn es vielleicht auch für die heutigen materialistischen Vorstellungen der Menschen unglaublich erscheint.

Was wir heute unser Gedächtnis, unser zusammenhaltendes Bewußtsein nennen können, die Erinnerung an das Gleichbleibende unserer inneren Wesenheit, das reicht ja heute für den normalen Menschen nur bis in die ersten Kindheitsjahre. Der moderne Mensch wird, wenn er sein Leben zurückverfolgt, finden, daß irgendwo die Erinnerung abreißt. Der eine wird sich mehr, der andere weniger an die Kindheit erinnern. Aber unser heutiges Gedächtnis ist durchaus im einzelnen persönlichen Leben beschlossen, ja, umfaßt nicht einmal das ganze persönliche Leben bis zum Tage der Geburt. Wenn wir uns zum Bewußtsein bringen, wie die Seelenfähigkeiten, die Bewußtseinseigentümlichkeiten der Menschen überhaupt in alten Zeiten waren, wenn wir uns erinnern, wie wir in der Menschheitsevolution beim Zurückgehen auf Zeiten stoßen, wo ein gewisser hellseherischer Zustand normales menschliches Bewußtsein war, dann werden wir es auch nicht mehr verwunderlich finden, daß wir uns für diese verhältnismäßig naheliegenden Zeiten sagen können — was uns die Geistesforschung bestätigt -, daß die Bewußtseinsverhältnisse in bezug auf das Gedächtnis in alten Zeiten durchaus andere waren, als sie später geworden sind.

Wenn wir also hinter die Zeiten zurückgehen, die in der Bibel als die Zeiten des Abraham bezeichnet werden, wird die ganze Seelenverfassung doch etwas anders, als sie später war, und namentlich wird das Gedächtnis anders. Und wenn wir von Abraham an noch weiter zurückgehen bis in die atlantische Zeit, durch die atlantische Zeit hindurch, so müssen wir sagen: Es war damals das Gedächtnis etwas ganz anderes. Es war vor allen Dingen so, daß man sich nicht nur, wie heute, zurückerinnerte an persönliche Erlebnisse des einzelnen Lebens, sondern man erinnerte sich durch die Geburt hindurch an das, was der Vater, was der Großvater und so weiter erlebt hatten. Gedächtnis war etwas, was durch das Blut durch eine Reihe von Generationen hindurchrann, und erst später wurde es für einzelne Zeiten und auf das einzelne Leben zusammengezogen.

Und wenn für die früheren Zeiten Namen gebraucht werden - die Namengebung der alten Zeiten würde heute ein besonderes Studium erfordern -, so ist unter einem solchen Namen etwas ganz anderes zu begreifen, als was wir heute mit einem Namen verbinden. Und was die äußere Philologie heute darüber zu sagen weiß, ist wirklich ein ganz dilettantenhaftes Zeug. Der Gebrauch der Namen war früher ein ganz anderer. Man hätte sich überhaupt nicht eine solche Vorstellung machen können, daß Namen mit Dingen oder Wesenheiten so in äußerlicher Weise verknüpft werden könnten, wie es heute geschieht. Der Name war in alten Zeiten etwas, was wesenhaft war, was wesenhaft mit dem Wesen oder Ding zusammenhing und ausdrücken sollte den inneren Charakter des Wesens im Ton. Ein Nachklang des Wesens im Ton sollte der Name damals sein. Davon hat unsere heutige Zeit gar keinen Begriff mehr, denn sonst könnten solche Bücher heute nicht entstehen wie die «Kritik der Sprache» von Fritz Manthner, die alles neuere Forschen, alle gelehrte Kritik der letzten Jahre über die Sprache in großartiger Weise berücksichtigt, aber nur nicht das, was für alte Zeiten das Wesenhafte der Sprache war. Der Name war durchaus in alten Zeiten nicht angewendet auf den einzelnen Menschen in seinem persönlichen Leben, sondern auf das, was durch das Gedächtnis zusammengehalten wurde, so daß sein Name so lange gebraucht wurde, als die Erinnerung dauerte. So ist Noah zum Beispiel nicht ein einzelner Mensch, sondern der Name Noah bedeutet, daß sich zunächst irgendein einzelner Mensch erinnert an sein eigenes Leben und dann durch die Geburt hindurch an das Leben seines Vaters, seines Großvaters und so weiter, so lange, als das Gedächtnis anhielt. So weitals der Gedächtnisfaden reichte, wurde für eine solche Folge von Menschen derselbe Name gebraucht. Ebenso sind Namen wie Adam, Seth oder Enoch derartige Namen, mit denen man an Personen so viel zusammenfaßte, als es möglich war, mit dem Gedächtnis in der Rückerinnerung zusammenzuhalten. Wenn also für die alten Zeiten gesagt wird, irgend jemand heißt Enoch, so will das sagen: Es entstand in einer Persönlichkeit, die der Sohn einer anders vorausbenannten Persönlichkeit war, ein neuer Gedächtnisfaden; da erinnerte er sich nicht mehr an die früheren Persönlichkeiten. Aber dieser neue Gedächtnisfaden hörte nun nicht auf mit dem Tode dieser zuerst Enoch benannten Persönlichkeit, sondern er pflanzte sich fort vom Vater auf den Sohn, auf den Enkel und so weiter, bis wieder ein neuer Gedächtnisfaden entstand. Und so lange dieser Gedächtnisfaden sich erhielt, gebrauchte man denselben Namen. Also es sind in der Generationenfolge verschiedene Persönlichkeiten zusammen damit bezeichnet, wenn zum Beispiel von Adam die Rede ist.

In diesem Sinne gebraucht das Lukas-Evangelium selbstverständlich die Namen; denn es will sagen: Diejenige Kraftwesenheit des göttlich-geistigen Daseins, die in das Ich und in den astralischen Leib des nathanischen Jesus hineingetaucht worden ist, müssen wir verfolgen bis da hinauf, wo der Mensch zum ersten Male in eine irdische Inkarnation gestiegen ist. Wir haben also im Lukas-Evangelium zunächst Namen für die einzelnen Persönlichkeiten. Gehen wir aber hinauf über Abraham hinaus, dann kommen wir in die Zeit, wo das Gedächtnis länger dauert, und nehmen das, was durch mehrere Persönlichkeiten gleichsam als ein Ich durch das Gedächtnis zusammengehalten wird, auch wirklich unter einem Namen zusammen.

So wird es Ihnen leichter werden, die siebenundsiebzig Namen, die das Lukas-Evangelium aufzählt, wirklich als ausgedehnt über sehr lange Zeiträume anzusehen, wirklich bis da hinauf, wo die Wesenheit, die wir als die göttlich-geistige Wesenheit des Menschen bezeichnen können, sich zum ersten Male inkarnierte in einem physisch-sinnlichen Menschenleib. Das andere, was darin gesucht werden muß, ist dies: Wer in den großen Mysterien durch die siebenundsiebzig Stufen das erreichte, daß er seine Seele reinigte von allem, was die Menschheit in dem Erdendasein aufgenommen hatte, der erreichte damit jenen Zustand, der heute nur möglich ist, wenn der Mensch leibfrei wird und in dem astralischen Leib und Ich leben kann. Da kann er sich ausgießen über das, aus dem die Erde selbst heraus entstanden ist, über den umliegenden Kosmos, über unser ganzes kosmisches System. Und das sollte sein. Dann hat er erreicht jene göttlich-geistige Kraftwesenheit, welche in den astralischen Leib und das Ich des nathanischen Jesus einzog.

In dem nathanischen Jesus sollte dargestellt werden, was der Mensch nicht aus irdischen, sondern aus himmlischen Verhältnissen hat. So schildert uns das Lukas-Evangelium die göttlich-geistige Wesenheit, die durchdrungen, imprägniert hat astralischen Leib und Ich des Lukas-Jesus. Und das Matthäus-Evangelium schildert diejenige göttlichgeistige Kraftwesenheit, die auf der einen Seite in Abraham gewirkt hat, damit das innerliche Organ zum Jahve-Bewußtsein entstand. Und auf der anderen Seite ist es dieselbe Kraftwesenheit, die durch zweiundvierzig Generationen hindurch wirkte im physischen Leib und Ätherleib und die dort eine Vererbungslinie durch die zweiundvierzig Generationen zusammenfaßt.

Schon gestern habe ich erwähnt, daß diese Lehren, namentlich die Lehren des Matthäus-Evangeliums in bezug auf diese Herkunft des Blutes des Jesus von Nazareth, gepflegt wurden, zum Verständnis gebracht wurden in jenen Gemeinden, die wir die 'Therapeuten- und Essäergemeinden nennen können, und daß als großer Lehrer innerhalb der Therapeuten und Essäer Jeshu ben Pandira wirkte, der vorzubereiten hatte das Zeitalter des Christus Jesus. Er hatte wenigstens einige wenige darauf vorzubereiten, daß mit dem Ablauf eines bestimmten Zeitpunktes, nämlich zweiundvierzig Generationen nach Abraham, das hebräische Volk sozusagen so weit sein würde, daß die ZarathustraIndividualität sich werde inkarnieren können in einem Sproß der Abraham-Linie, in einem Sproß der salomonischen Linie des Hauses David. Das ist vorausgelehrt worden. Dazu gehörte natürlich in der damaligen Zeit Mysterienerfahrung. In der damaligen Zeit wurde dies nicht nur in den Essäerschulen gelehrt, sondern es gab in den Essäerschulen auch solche Zöglinge, welche die zweiundvierzig Stufen auch wirklich durchmachten, so daß sie hellseherisch schauen konnten, wie jene Wesenheit war, die durch die zweiundvierzig Stufen heruntergestiegen ist. Es sollte die Welt darüber aufgeklärt werden durch entsprechende Lehren. Dafür hatten die Essäer zu sorgen, daß wenigstens bei einigen Menschen Verständnis vorhanden wäre für das, was der Christus sein werde.

Nun haben wir schon erwähnt, welchen eigentümlichen Gang jene Menschenindividualität zunächst genommen hat, die sich in jenem Blute inkarniert hat, von dessen Zusammensetzung das MatthäusEvangelium spricht. Wir wissen, daß dieser ursprüngliche große Lehrer, der unter dem Namen Zarathustra oder Zoroaster bekannt ist, im Morgenlande das lehrte, was wir hinlänglich betrachtet haben, was ihn geradezu geeignet gemacht hat für diese Inkarnation. Wir wissen, daß er eingeleitet hat die ägyptische Hermes-Kultur, indem er zu diesem Zwecke hingeopfert hat seinen astralischen Leib, der dann dem Hermes eingeprägt wurde. Wir wissen ferner, daß er hingeopfert hat seinen damaligen Ätherleib, der aufbewahrt wurde für Moses, und daß Moses für seine Kulturschöpfung in sich hatte den Ätherleib des Zarathustra. Zarathustra selber hat sich später weiter inkarnieren können in anderen astralischen und Ätherleibern. Besonders interessiert uns dann die Inkarnation des Zarathustra im 6. Jahrhundert vor unserer Zeitrechnung als Zarathas oder Nazarathos im alten Chaldäa, wo er als Schüler hatte die chaldäischen Weisen und Magier, und wo insbesondere die weisesten der hebräischen Geheimschüler zur Zeit der babylonischen Gefangenschaft mit ihm in Berührung kamen. Und die ganzen folgenden sechs Jahrhunderte waren für die chaldäischen Geheimschulen erfüllt von den Traditionen, Zeremonien und Kulten, die herrührten von Zarathustra in der Persönlichkeit des Zarathas oder Nazarathos. Und alle die Generationen von chaldäischen, babylonischen, assyrischen und so weiter Geheimschülern, die in jenen Gegenden Asiens lebten, verehrten aufs höchste den Namen dieses ihres großen Meisters, des Zarathustra, unter der Veränderung als Zarathas oder Nazarathos. Und sie warteten sehnsüchtig auf die nächste Inkarnation ihres großen Lehrers und Führers, denn sie wußten, daß er wiedererscheinen werde nach sechshundert Jahren. Das Geheimnis von diesem Wiedererscheinen war ihnen bekannt; das lebte sozusagen wie etwas, was ihnen von der Zukunft hereinschien.

Und als die Zeit heranrückte, da das Blut für die neue Inkarnation des Zarathustra bereitet war, da machten sich die drei Abgesandten, die drei weisen Magier aus dem Morgenlande, auf. Sie wußten, daß der verehrte Name des Zarathustra selber wie ihr Stern sie führen würde nach jenem Orte, wo die Wiederinkarnation des Zarathustra stattfinden sollte. Es war die Wesenheit des großen Lehrers selber, die als der «Stern» die drei Magier hinführte zur Geburtsstätte des Jesus des Matthäus-Evangeliums. - Auch das ist ja selbst äußerlich philologisch zu belegen, daß in der Tat das Wort «Stern» als Name für menschliche Individualitäten in alten Zeiten gebraucht worden ist. Nicht nur durch die Geistesforschung, die es uns aus ihren Quellen klarer als etwas anderes sagt, daß damals die drei Magier folgten dem Stern Zoroaster, dem «Goldstern» Zoroaster, daß er sie dahin führte, wo er sich wieder inkarnieren wollte, sondern auch aus dem Gebrauch des Wortes «Stern» für hohe menschliche Individualitäten - wie gesagt, eine Tatsache, die auch philologisch belegt werden kann — könnte sich schon manchem ergeben, daß unter dem Stern, der die Weisen führte, Zarathustra selbst zu verstehen ist.

Sechs Jahrhunderte vor unserer Zeitrechnung sind also die Magier des Morgenlandes zusammengewesen mit jener Individualität, die sich inkarnierte als der Jesus des Matthäus-Evangeliums. Und Zarathustra selber führte die Magier dahin; sie folgten seiner Spur. Denn es war sozusagen der Zug des Zarathustra, des die Magier führenden, nach Palästina ziehenden Sternes, der die Magier leitete auf ihren Wegen von den morgenländischen, chaldäischen Mysterien nach Palästina, wo sich Zarathustra zu seiner nächsten Inkarnation anschickte.

Dieses Geheimnis von der künftigen Inkarnation des Zarathustra, des Zarathas oder Nazarathos, kannte man auch in den chaldäischen Mysterien. Das Geheimnis aber von dem Blut des hebräischen Volkes, welches geeignet sein sollte, wenn der entsprechende Zeitpunkt herangekommen wäre, für die neue Leiblichkeit des Zarathustra, das lehrten jene, die in den Essäermysterien sozusagen hinaufgehoben wurden durch die zweiundvierzig Stufen.

Es waren also im Grunde zweierlei Menschen, die zunächst um das Geheimnis des Jesus des Matthäus-Evangeliums etwas wußten. Von der Zarathustra-Seite her, wo auf die Individualität, die sich im jüdischen Blute inkarnieren sollte, hingewiesen wurde, kannten es die chaldäischen Eingeweihten; von der Blutseite, von der äußeren Seite, von der Seite des Leibes her kannten es die Essäer. Es war also schon eine Lehre, die ungefähr durch hundert und mehr Jahre in den Essäerschulen gelehrt worden war, die Lehre von dieser Ankunft des Jesus des Matthäus-Evangeliums, jenes Jesus, der in seiner Gesamtheit erfüllen sollte einmal alle Bedingungen, von denen ich gesprochen habe, dann aber auch noch andere, die wir etwa in der folgenden Weise charakterisieren können.

Ein solcher Essäerschüler wurde nach langer Zeit nach vielen Reinigungen und Übungen seiner Seele durch die zweiundvierzig Stufen hinaufgeführt, um sozusagen zu sehen die Geheimnisse des physischen Leibes und Ätherleibes. Derjenige, der da geboren werden sollte, der sich in dieses Blut hineininkarnieren sollte, stieg von oben herunter; er hatte die Fähigkeiten, welche der Essäerschüler nur nach langen schweren Prüfungen durch die zweiundvierzig Stufen hindurch erreichen konnte. Von dem, der da herunterstieg, mußte man sagen: Er hat von vornherein die Fähigkeiten, um solche Anlagen zur Entwickelung zu bringen. — Sie waren mit ihm geboren, sagte man in den Essäergemeinden. Im Grunde aber war das, was in den Essäergemeinden gepflegt worden ist an Übungen und Reinigungen der Seele, die Fortsetzung einer Art Geheimschulung, die auch sonst seit uralten Zeiten innerhalb des Judentums bestanden hat.

Es gab im Judentum immer das, was man bezeichnete als Nasireat oder Nasiräertum. Dieses bestand darin, daß einzelne Menschen auch schon vor der Entstehung der 'Therapeuten- und Essäersekten — auf sich ganz bestimmte Methoden der Seelen- und Körperentwickelung anwandten. Namentlich wandten die Nasiräer eine Methode an, die in einer gewissen Diät bestand und die auch heute noch in gewisser Beziehung nützlich ist, wenn der Mensch in seiner Seelenentwickelung rascher vorschreiten will, als es sonst möglich ist. Besonders enthielten sie sich vollständig der Fleischkost und des Weingenusses. Damit verschafften sie sich die Möglichkeit einer gewissen Erleichterung, weil in der Tat die Fleischkost den geistig strebenden Menschen in der Entwickelung aufzuhalten vermag. Es ist tatsächlich so — was keine Propaganda für den Vegetarismus sein soll -, daß durch die Enthaltung von der Fleischkost alles erleichtert wird. Der Mensch kann in der Seele widerstandskräftiger werden und sich stärker erweisen im Überwinden jener Widerstände und Hemmnisse, die aus dem physischen Leibe und Ätherleibe kommen, wenn die Fleischkost fortfällt. Ertragsamer, ertragfähiger wird dann der Mensch. Aber natürlich wird er es nicht dadurch, daß er sich bloß der Fleischkost enthält, sondern vor allem dadurch, daß er sich in seiner Seele stärker macht. Wenn er sich bloß vom Fleisch enthält, macht er damit nur seinen physischen Körper anders; und wenn dann das nicht vorhanden ist, was von der Seelenseite da sein soll und den Körper durchdringen soll, dann hat das Enthalten von Fleisch gar keinen besonderen Zweck.

Es bestand also dieses Nasiräertum. Unter einer viel strengeren Gestalt der Vorschriften aber setzten es die Essäer fort; sie nahmen noch ganz andere Dinge dazu. Alles, was ich Ihnen gestern und vorgestern erzählt habe, nahmen sie hinzu. Besonders aber pflegten sie strengste Enthaltung von der Fleischkost. Dadurch wurde verhältnismäßig rasch erreicht, daß solche Menschen lernten, ihre Erinnerung zu erweitern und hinaufzusehen über zweiundvierzig Generationen hinauf, daß sie lernten hineinschauen in die Geheimnisse der Akasha-Chronik. Sie wurden das, was man nennen kann eine Stammknospe an einem Zweig, eine Knospe an einem Baum, an einer Pflanze, die sich durch viele Generationen hindurchschlingt. Sie waren nicht bloß etwas Losgelöstes vom Baum der Menschheit; sie fühlten die Fäden, die sie banden an den Baum der übrigen Menschheit. Sie waren etwas anderes als die, welche sich vom Stamme loslösten und deren Gedächtnis sich einschränkte auf die einzelne Persönlichkeit. Solche Menschen benannte man nun auch innerhalb der Essäergemeinden mit einem Wort, das ausdrücken sollte «ein lebendiger Zweig», nicht ein abgeschnittener Zweig. Das waren solche Menschen, die sich darinnen fühlten in der Generationenfolge, sich nicht abgeschnitten fühlten vom Baum der Menschheit. Die Schüler, die im Essäertum namentlich diese Richtung pflegten, die die zweiundvierzig Stufen durchgemacht hatten, bezeichnete man als Nezer.

Auch aus dieser Klasse der Nezer hatte einen treuen, einen besonderen Schüler derjenige, den ich gestern als Lehrer innerhalb der Essäergemeinden genannt habe: Jesus, Sohn des Pandira. Denn dieser Jeshu ben Pandira, der den Okkultisten ziemlich genau bekannt ist, hatte fünf Schüler, von denen jeder einen besonderen Zweig der gemeinsamen großen Lehre des Jeshu ben Pandira übernahm und für sich dann fortsetzte. Diese fünf Schüler des Jeshu ben Pandira trugen folgende Namen: Mathai, Nakai, der dritte Schüler hatte, weil er besonders aus der Klasse der Nezer war, geradezu den Namen Nezer, dann Boni und Thona. Diese fünf Schüler oder Jünger des Jeshu ben Pandira, der ein Jahrhundert vor unserer Zeitrechnung in der schon erzählten Weise den Märtyrertod wegen Gotteslästerung und Häresie erlitten hat, pflanzten sozusagen in fünf verschiedenen Zweigen fort die große, umfassende Lehre des Jeshu ben Pandira. Insbesondere wurde - so lehrt die geisteswissenschaftliche Forschung — nach dem Tode des Jeshu ben Pandira die Lehre von der Zubereitung des Blutes für den zu erscheinenden Jesus des Matthäus-Evangeliums fortgepflanzt durch den Schüler Mathai. Und jene Lehre von der inneren Seelenverfassung, welche mit dem alten Nasireat, aber auch mit dem neueren Nezertum zusammenhing, wurde fortgesetzt von dem anderen großen Schüler des Jeshu ben Pandira, von Nezer. Und Nezer war insbesondere dazu ausersehen, eine kleine Kolonie zu gründen. Solcher Kolonien der Essäer gab es in Palästina eine ganze Anzahl, und in einer jeden wurde ein besonderer Zweig des Essäertums gepflegt. Das Nezertum, das besonders der Schüler Nezer weiter zu pflegen hatte, sollte vor allem in jener Kolonie gepflegt werden, die ein geheimnisvolles Dasein führte und im Grunde einen kleinen Ort nur bildete in der damaligen Zeit, in der Kolonie, die dann in der Bibel den Namen Nazareth empfing. Dort in Nazareth — Nezereth — war eine Essäerkolonie angelegt von Nezer, dem Schüler des Jeshu ben Pandira. Da waren Leute - in ziemlich strengem Geheimnis lebten sie -, die das alte Nasireat pflegten. Daher gab es, nachdem jene anderen Vorgänge sich vollzogen hatten, über die ich noch zu sprechen habe, nach der Übersiedelung nach Ägypten und der Rückkehr von dort für den Jesus des Matthäus-Evangeliums nichts Näherliegendes, als daß erin die Atmosphäre dieses Nezertums gebracht wurde. Das wird auch angedeutet mit dem entsprechenden Wort des Matthäus-Evangeliums nach der Rückkehr aus Ägypten: Er wurde in das Fleckchen Nazareth gebracht, «auf daß erfüllet würde, das da gesagt ist durch die Propheten: Er soll ein Nazaräer werden» (Matth. 2, 23). - Das ist in der verschiedensten Weise dann übersetzt worden, weil die Übersetzer den Sinn nicht recht kannten und keiner so recht wußte, was damit gemeint war. Darum handelte es sich: daß hier eine Essäerkolonie war, wo der Jesus zunächst heranwachsen sollte.

Jetzt aber wollen wir, bevor wir auf die anderen Details und namentlich auf die Beziehungen zu dem Jesus des Lukas-Evangeliums eingehen, nur noch in großen Zügen auf einiges bei dem Jesus des Matthäus-Evangeliums hinweisen. Alles, was zunächst im Matthäus-Evangelium geschildert wird, führt zurück auf die Geheimnisse, die Jeshu ben Pandira im Essäertum gelehrt hat, und die dann als Lehrgut fortgepflanzt hat sein Schüler Mathai, und schon die ersten Geheimnisse des Matthäus-Evangeliums weisen uns hin auf diesen Schüler Mathai. Durch alles, was sozusagen von dieser Seite herkam, welche das Matthäus-Evangelium charakterisiert, konnten zubereitet werden der physische Leib und der Ätherleib des Jesus des Matthäus-Evangeliums, wenn es sich selbstverständlich innerhalb der zweiundvierzig Generationen auch um Einflüsse auf den astralischen Leib handelte. Aber wenn wir auch gesagt haben, daß während der ersten vierzehn Generationen der physische Leib, während der zweiten vierzehn Generationen der Ätherleib, und daß für die dritten vierzehn Generationen - seit der babylonischen Gefangenschaft — der astralische Leib in Betracht kommt, so müssen wir doch festhalten, daß das, was auf diese Weise richtig zubereitet worden ist für den Zarathustra, nur brauchbar war für diese mächtige Individualität, insofern es physischer Leib und Ätherleib war.

Nun erinnern Sie sich, wie ich Ihnen immer gesagt habe, daß der Mensch in seiner einzelnen persönlichen Entwickelung von der Geburt bis zum siebenten Jahre vorzugsweise den physischen Leib entwickelt, daß er während der nächsten sieben Jahre, vom Zahnwechsel bis zur Geschlechtsreife, besonders den Ätherleib entwickelt; dann erst kommt die freie Entwickelung des astralischen Leibes. Was Entwickelung des physischen Leibes und Ätherleibes ist, sollte in dem besonderen physischen und Ätherleibe, die durch die mit Abraham beginnenden Generationen zubereitet worden sind, zum Abschluß kommen und von Zarathustra in der neuen Inkarnation durchlebt werden. Dann aber, wenn er bis zum Ende der Entwickelung des Ätherleibes gekommen war, war das, was ihm zubereitet worden war, nicht mehr genügend, und er mußte nun heranschreiten an die Entwickelung des astralischen Leibes.

Dazu geschieht nun das Gewaltige und Wunderbare, ohne dessen Verständnis wir das ganze große Mysterium von dem Christus Jesus nicht begreifen können. Die Zarathustra-Individualität entwickelte sich während der Knabenzeit im physischen Leibe und Ätherleibe des Jesus des Matthäus-Evangeliums bis zum zwölften Jahre; denn bei dieser Individualität und vermöge des Klimas trat der Zeitpunkt, den wir für unsere Gegenden als den des vierzehnten, fünfzehnten Jahres bezeichnen, etwas früher ein. Da war bis zum zwölften Jahre alles erreicht, was in dem entsprechend zubereiteten physischen und Ätherleibe der salomonischen Linie erreicht werden konnte. Und da verließ in der Tat die Zarathustra-Individualität diesen physischen Leib und Ätherleib, von denen im Matthäus-Evangelium zunächst die Rede ist, und ging über in den Jesus des Lukas-Evangeliums. Denn aus den Vorträgen über das Lukas-Evangelium wissen wir schon, daß in der Tat mit der Erzählung vom zwölfjährigen Jesus im Tempel, wie sie Lukas erzählt (Luk. 2, 42-50), folgendes gemeint ist: Da, wo plötzlich der Jesusknabe des Lukas-Evangeliums seinen Eltern so entgegentritt, daß sie ihn gar nicht verstehen können, wo er ein ganz anderer ist, da hat sich vollzogen, daß in sein Inneres eingezogen ist die Zarathustra-Individualität, die bis dahin ihre Entwickelung in dem physischen Leib und Ätherleib des salomonischen Jesus durchgemacht hat. Solche Dinge gibt es im Leben, so schwer sie auch heute bei der Natur der laienhaften materialistischen Weltanschauung geglaubt werden. Der Übergang einer Individualität aus einem Leib in einen anderen Leib kommt vor. Und damals fand so etwas statt, als die ZarathustraIndividualität den ursprünglichen Leib verließ und hinüberdrang in den Jesus des Lukas-Evangeliums, in dem nun besonders zubereitet war der astralische Leib und der Ich-Träger.

So konnte Zarathustra in dem besonders zubereiteten astralischen Leibe und Ich des nathanischen Jesus vom zwölften Jahre ab die Weiterentwickelung fortführen. Das wird uns im Lukas-Evangelium in einer so großartigen Weise dargestellt, wo auf das Ungeheuerliche hingewiesen wird, daß der zwölfjährige Jesus im Tempel unter den Schriftgelehrten sitzt und Dinge sagt, die ganz merkwürdig klingen. Wodurch konnte das der Jesus der nathanischen Linie? Er konnte es, weil in diesem Moment die Zarathustra-Individualität in ihn «hineingefahren» war. Zarathustra hat aus diesem Knaben, der damals nach Jerusalem gebracht worden war, bis zum zwölften Jahre nicht gesprochen; daher war die Charakterveränderung so stark, daß die Eltern ihn nicht wiedererkannten, als sie ihn zwischen den Schriftgelehrten sitzend wiederfanden.

So haben wir es also mit zwei Elternpaaren zu tun, die beide Joseph und Maria heißen - so haben damals viele geheißen; aber aus den Namen Joseph und Maria etwas abzuleiten bei der Art, wie man heute Namen versteht, das ist etwas, was jeder wahrhaften Forschung widerspricht —, und mit zwei Jesusknaben. Von dem einen, dem Jesus der salomonischen Linie des Hauses David, kündet uns die Geschlechterfolge des Matthäus-Evangeliums. Der andere Knabe, der Jesus der nathanischen Linie, ist der Sohn eines ganz anderen Elternpaares, und von ihm berichtet das Lukas-Evangelium. Die beiden Knaben wachsen nebeneinander auf und werden nebeneinander bis zu ihrem zwölften Jahre entwickelt. Das können Sie in den Evangelien finden. Das Evangelium spricht überall richtig. Und so lange man nicht wollte, daß die Leute die Wahrheit erführen, oder die Leute die Wahrheit nicht hören wollten, hat man ihnen auch die Evangelien vorenthalten. Man muß die Evangelien nur verstehen; sie sprechen richtig.

Der Jesus aus der nathanischen Linie wächst heran mit einer ungeheuren Innerlichkeit. Wenig geschickt ist er, äußere Weisheit und äußere Kenntnisse sich anzueignen. Er ist aber von einer schier unbegrenzten Innigkeit des Gemüts, von einer schier unbegrenzten Liebefähigkeit, weil in seinem Ätherleibe jene Kraft lebte, die herunterströmte aus der Zeit, da der Mensch noch nicht in eine irdische Inkarnation hinuntergestiegen war, wo er noch ein göttliches Dasein führte. Das göttliche Dasein lebte in ihm in einer unbegrenzten Liebefähigkeit. So war dieser Knabe wenig geeignet für das, was die Menschen durch die Inkarnationen hindurch sich angeeignet haben durch die Werkzeuge des physischen Körpers; dagegen groß und ungeheuer durchdrungen von Liebeswärme war er in bezug auf seine Seele, in bezug auf sein Inneres. So sehr war er innerlich, daß sich etwas abspielte, was diejenigen, die davon wußten, hinwies auf die ganze große Innerlichkeit dieses Knaben. Was der Mensch sonst nur an der Außenwelt entzündet, das konnte der Jesus des Lukas-Evangeliums in gewisser Weise von Anfang an: er sprach gewisse Worte gleich nach seiner Geburt, die seiner Umgebung verständlich waren. So war er groß in bezug auf alles Innerliche, ungeschickt in bezug auf alles, was durch die Generationen der Menschheit auf der Erde selbst zu erringen war. Und sollten nicht die Eltern aufs höchste überrascht gewesen sein, als sich ihnen jetzt innerhalb dieser so herangewachsenen Leiblichkeit plötzlich ein Knabe zeigte, der von allem durchdrungen war, was äußere Weisheit ist, was man sich mit äußeren Werkzeugen aneignen muß? Diese so plötzliche, so gewaltige Umänderung war deshalb möglich, weil in jenem Moment die Zarathustra-Individualität von dem salomonischen Jesusknaben auf diesen Jesus der nathanischen Linie übergegangen war. Zarathustra, Zarathas sprach aus diesem Knaben in dem Moment, der uns geschildert wird, als ihn die Eltern im’Tempel suchten.

Zarathustra hatte sich natürlich alle jene Fähigkeiten angeeignet, die man sich aneignen kann durch den Gebrauch der Instrumente des physischen Leibes und des Ätherleibes. Er hatte sich aussuchen müssen die Blutlinie der salomonischen Richtung und die dadurch zubereitete Leiblichkeit, weil dort die starken Kräfte vorhanden und aufs höchste ausgebildet waren. Aus dieser Leiblichkeit nahm er, was er sich aneignen konnte, und das verband er nun mit dem, was aus jener Innerlichkeit stammte, die aus der Jesusgestalt des Lukas-Evangeliums herkam, die herabzog von einer Zeit, da der Mensch noch nicht in einer irdischen Inkarnation war. Diese beiden Dinge verbanden sich jetzt zu einem. Eine Wesenheit haben wir jetzt vor uns. Und zum Überflusse, möchte ich sagen, werden wir jetzt noch auf etwas Besonderes aufmerksam gemacht: Nicht nur die Eltern des Lukas-Jesus nahmen eine besondere Veränderung wahr, fanden etwas, was sie nicht voraussetzen konnten, sondern diese Veränderung zeigt sich auch äußerlich. Warum wird da, als der Jesusknabe von seinen Eltern unter den Schriftgelehrten im Tempel gefunden wird, ganz besonders angeführt: «Und er ging mit ihnen hinab und kam gen Nazareth ... Und Jesus nahm zu an äußerer physischer Wohlgestalt, nahm zu an edelsten Gewohnheiten und nahm zu an Weisheit»? (Luk. 2, 51-52.) Warum werden diese drei Eigenschaften genannt? Weil es drei Eigenschaften waren, die ihm besonders jetzt eignen konnten, wo die Zarathustra-Individualität in ihm war.

Ich bemerke ausdrücklich, daß diese drei Worte gewöhnlich in den gebräuchlichen Bibeln übersetzt werden: «Und Jesus nahm zu an Weisheit, Alter und Gnade bei Gott und den Menschen.» Ich möchte wissen, ob man wirklich ein Evangelium braucht, um zu sagen: ein zwölfjähriger Knabe nimmt zu an Alter? Sie finden sogar in der Übersetzung von Weizsäcker: «Und Jesus nahm zu an Weisheit und Gestalt und Gnade bei Gott und Menschen.» Das ist aber alles nicht gemeint; sondern gemeint ist, daß jetzt eine Individualität in dem nathanischen Jesusknaben war, die nicht, wie früher, bloß innerlich war, die sich äußerlich nicht ankündigte, sondern die jetzt, weil sie sich herangebildet hatte in einem vollendeten physischen Leib, auch überging in die äußere physische Wohlgestalt. Aber auch, was in dem Ätherleibe besonders gepflegt wird, was man sich im Ätherleibe aus dem Leben an Gewohnheiten aneignet und ausbildet, das war früher bei dem nathanischen Jesus nicht vorhanden. Bei diesem trat auf eine gewaltige Anlage zur Liebefähigkeit, und darauf konnte jetzt weiter gebaut werden. Aber diese Anlage war mit einem Schlage da, die konnte sich nicht in die Gewohnheiten hineinpressen. Jetzt aber war die andere Individualität da, die in sich die Kräfte hatte aus einem Heranwachsen des physischen Leibes und des Ätherleibes, und jetzt konnten sich auch äußerlich Gewohnheiten zeigen und in den Ätherleib hineingießen. Das ist das zweite, an dem der Jesusknabe zunahm. Das dritte, «an Weisheit», ist schon etwas selbstverständlicher. Der Jesus des LukasEvangeliums war nicht weise; er war ein im höchsten Grade liebefähiges Wesen. Aber das Zunehmen an Weisheit war dadurch gegeben, daß die Zarathustra-Individualität in ihn einzog.

Ich habe schon bei Besprechung des Lukas-Evangeliums gesagt, daß es sehr leicht sein kann, daß eine Persönlichkeit, die von der Individualität verlassen wird und nur die drei Leiber, physischen Leib, Ätherleib, astralischen Leib noch hat - denn die bleiben dabei zurück -, eine Zeitlang noch leben kann. Was aber von dem salomonischen Jesus zurückgeblieben war, das siechte hin und starb in der Tat bald darnach. Das heißt: Der eigentliche Jesusknabe der ersten Kapitel des Matthäus-Evangeliums starb verhältnismäßig bald nach seinem zwölften Jahre. So haben wir also zunächst nicht einer Jesusknaben, sondern wir haben zwei; dann aber werden diese zwei einer.

Manchmal sprechen die Urkunden aus alten Zeiten sehr merkwürdige Dinge aus, die man allerdings dann verstehen muß, und man kann sie nur verstehen, wenn man die entsprechenden Tatsachen kennt. Auf die nähere Art, wie die beiden Knaben zusammenkommen, werden wir noch eingehen; jetzt soll nur eines erwähnt werden.

In dem sogenannten «Ägypter-Evangelium» findet sich eine merkwürdige Stelle, die schon in den ersten Jahrhunderten als sehr ketzetisch angesehen wurde, weil man darüber in christlichen Kreisen nicht die Wahrheit hören wollte, oder sie nicht aufkommen lassen wollte. ‚Aber es gibt etwas, was sich erhalten hat als ein apokryphes Evangelium und darinnen wird gesagt, «daß das Heil erscheinen wird in der Welt, wenn die Zwei Eines und das Äußere wie das Innere werden wird». Dieser Satz ist ein genauer Ausdruck des Tatbestandes, den ich Ihnen eben aus den okkulten Tatsachen heraus geschildert habe. Davon hängt das Heil ab, daß die zwei einer werden. Und sie wurden einer, als im zwölften Jahr die Zarathustra-Individualität überging in den nathanischen Jesus, und das Innere wurde äußerlich. Die Seelenkraft des Jesus des Lukas-Evangeliums war etwas gewaltiges Innerliches. Aber dieses Innerliche wurde ein Äußerliches, indem die Zarathustra-Individualität, die an dem Äußeren, an dem physischen Leib und Ätherleib des salomonischen Jesus sich herangebildet hatte, diese Innerlichkeit durchdrang und sie gleichsam mit den Kräften durchsetzte, die am physischen und Ätherleibe herangebildet waren. Da durchdrang diesen physischen Leib und Ätherleib des nathanischen Jesus ein Kräftiges von innen heraus, so daß das Äußere jetzt ein Ausdruck des Inneren werden konnte, jenes Inneren, das früher ein Inneres geblieben war, bevor der Lukas-Jesusknabe von der ZarathustraIndividualität durchdrungen worden war. - So waren die zwei eins geworden.

Wir haben jetzt verfolgt den Zarathustra von seiner Geburt als der Jesusknabe des Matthäus-Evangeliums bis zu seinem zwölften Jahre, wo er seinen ursprünglichen Leib zurückließ und einnahm die Leiblichkeit des nathanischen Jesus, die er jetzt weiter ausbildete, so weit ausbildete, daß er sie wirklich später auf einer gewissen Höhe hinopfern konnte als seine drei Leiber zur Aufnahme jener Wesenheit, die wir dann als den Christus bezeichnen.

Sixth Lecture

Anyone who picks up the Gospel of Luke and looks at the chapter in which the ancestry of Jesus is traced back to earlier generations will readily understand that the intention of the writer of the Gospel of Luke is consistent with what was said here yesterday. Yesterday we discussed that, in the same sense that a divine power being should permeate the physical body and etheric body of the Solomonic Jesus, a divine power being should also permeate the astral body and the I of the personality we know as the Nathanic Jesus, the Jesus of the Gospel of Luke. And this is clearly stated in the Gospel of Luke: this divine force-being is to be what it is through the fact that, down through all generations, the hereditary line flows in a straight line from that stage of humanity when human beings had not yet entered into an earthly, physical-sensory incarnation for the first time within the earthly existence. We see how the Gospel of Luke traces the ancestry of its Jesus back through generations, so to speak, to Adam, to God. But this means nothing other than that if we want to find that principle in the astral body and in the I of the Nathanic Jesus, we must go back to a state of humanity when this human being had not yet been taken up into a physical, sensory earthly incarnation, when he had not yet descended from the divine-spiritual existence, but was still in the womb of those spiritual spheres within which we can describe the human being as belonging to God, as a divine being. In accordance with the whole anthroposophical investigation, we must point to this moment in the ancient Lemurian epoch and establish it as the time when human beings were not yet incarnated in the elements of earthly existence, but were still in a divine-spiritual sphere. The Gospel of Luke actually traces Jesus back to those times when human beings were still of a divine nature and had not yet been affected by what we call the Luciferic influence.

In fact, those mysteries that led their disciples to the initiation we characterized yesterday as the knowledge of the great secrets of cosmic space wanted to lead human beings beyond everything earthly, or rather, beyond what human beings have become through the earthly. They wanted to teach how to look at the world when one does not look at it through the instruments that man has had since the time when the Luciferic influence was able to work. How does the universe appear to clairvoyant vision when human beings free themselves from perception through the physical body and etheric body, free themselves from everything that can come to them from the earthly realm? That was initially the great question for the mystery students. In such a state, human beings were naturally before entering into an earthly incarnation and before becoming the “earthly Adam,” to speak in the sense of the Bible and the Gospel of Luke. So there are only two things that enable human beings to become what makes them divine-spiritual human beings: One is the high initiation of the great mysteries; the other cannot be achieved in any earthly time, but existed at an elementary stage of human existence, before the descent of the divine human being in the Lemurian era to what the Bible calls the “earthly human being,” ; for “Adam” means “earth man,” who is no longer of a divine-spiritual nature, but has clothed himself in earthly elements.

Now, however, something may strike us when we express something like this. That is, that there are only seventy-seven, let us say, generations or stages of existence, called stages of heredity. Already in the Gospel of Matthew, someone might find it striking that only forty-two generations are mentioned from Abraham to Christ, and he might calculate that the number of years usually assumed for a generation would not be sufficient to reach Abraham. However, anyone who would say this would have to take into account that in earlier times, for the patriarchal times of Solomon and David onwards, longer periods were rightly assumed for the duration of a generation than later. If we want to deal with the historical data in a reasonably accurate manner, we must not calculate what would now be the average for three generations from three generations—for example, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—but must set approximately two hundred and fifteen years for these three generations. This is also the result of occult research. The fact that the duration of a generation in those ancient times must be assumed to have been longer than today becomes even clearer when we look at the generations from Adam down to Abraham. In the succession of generations from Abraham downwards, it is clear to everyone that the individual generations were assumed to be longer, for the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are always said to have been very old when they had a son who was an heir. And if we usually calculate thirty-three years for a generation today, those who wrote the Gospel of Matthew in ancient times rightly calculated seventy-five to eighty and even more years for a generation. But we must emphasize that in the Gospel of Matthew, individual human beings are meant up to Abraham. However, when we go back from Abraham and consider the names listed in the Gospel of Luke, we are no longer referring to individual human beings. Here we must remember something that is true, even if it may seem unbelievable to today's materialistic way of thinking.

What we today call our memory, our cohesive consciousness, the memory of the unchanging aspects of our inner being, only extends back to the first years of childhood for the average person today. When modern people trace their lives back, they find that their memory breaks off somewhere. Some will remember more of their childhood than others. But our present memory is entirely confined to our individual personal lives; indeed, it does not even encompass our entire personal life up to the day of our birth. When we become aware of what the soul abilities, the characteristics of consciousness, of human beings were like in ancient times, when we remember how, in the evolution of humanity, we encounter times when a certain clairvoyant state was normal human consciousness, then we will no longer find it surprising that we can say of these relatively recent times—as spiritual research confirms—that the conditions of consciousness in relation to memory were quite different in ancient times than they later became.

If we go back beyond the times described in the Bible as the times of Abraham, the whole constitution of the soul becomes somewhat different than it was later, and memory in particular becomes different. And if we go back even further from Abraham to the Atlantean epoch, through the Atlantean epoch, we must say that memory was something completely different then. Above all, it was not only that people remembered personal experiences from their own lives, as they do today, but that they remembered through their birth what their father, grandfather, and so on had experienced. Memory was something that flowed through the blood through a series of generations, and only later was it condensed for individual times and individual lives.

And when names are used for earlier times – the naming of ancient times would require special study today – such names have a completely different meaning from what we associate with names today. And what external philology has to say about this today is really quite amateurish. The use of names was completely different in the past. It would have been impossible to imagine that names could be linked to things or beings in such an external way as they are today. In ancient times, a name was something essential, something intrinsically connected with the being or thing, and was intended to express the inner character of the being in sound. A name was supposed to be an echo of the being in sound. Our modern age has no concept of this anymore, for otherwise books such as Fritz Manthner's “Kritik der Sprache” (Critique of Language) could not be written today. This book takes into account all the latest research and scholarly criticism of language in recent years in a magnificent way, but it fails to take into account what was essential to language in ancient times. In ancient times, the name was not applied to the individual human being in his personal life, but to that which was held together by memory, so that his name was used as long as the memory lasted. Noah, for example, is not a single person, but the name Noah means that first a single person remembers his own life and then, through birth, the life of his father, his grandfather, and so on, as long as memory lasts. As far as the thread of memory reached, the same name was used for such a sequence of people. Similarly, names such as Adam, Seth, or Enoch are names that were used to summarize as much as possible about a person, as far back as memory could reach. So when it is said of ancient times that someone was called Enoch, it means that a new thread of memory arose in a personality who was the son of another previously named personality; he no longer remembered the earlier personalities. But this new thread of memory did not cease with the death of this personality first named Enoch, but was passed on from father to son, to grandson, and so on, until a new thread of memory arose. And as long as this thread of memory was preserved, the same name was used. Thus, in the succession of generations, different personalities are designated by the same name, for example, when we speak of Adam.

In this sense, the Gospel of Luke naturally uses the names, for it wants to say: We must trace the power being of the divine-spiritual existence that was immersed into the I and into the astral body of the Nathanic Jesus back to the point where the human being first ascended into an earthly incarnation. So in the Gospel of Luke, we first have names for the individual personalities. But if we go beyond Abraham, we come to a time when memory lasts longer, and we take what is held together by memory through several personalities as a kind of I and really group it together under one name.

This will make it easier for you to see the seventy-seven names listed in the Gospel of Luke as really extending over very long periods of time, really up to the point where the entity we can call the divine-spiritual entity of the human being first incarnated in a physical, sensory human body. The other thing that must be sought in this is this: whoever, in the great mysteries, through the seventy-seven stages, achieved the purification of his soul from everything that humanity had absorbed during its existence on earth, thereby attained that state which is only possible today when the human being becomes free of the body and can live in the astral body and the I. There he can pour himself out over that from which the earth itself arose, over the surrounding cosmos, over our entire cosmic system. And that is how it should be. Then he has attained that divine-spiritual power being that entered into the astral body and the I of the Nathanic Jesus.

The Nathanic Jesus was meant to represent what humans have not from earthly but from heavenly circumstances. Thus, the Gospel of Luke describes to us the divine-spiritual being that permeated and impregnated the astral body and ego of the Jesus of Luke. And the Gospel of Matthew describes the divine-spiritual power that worked on the one hand in Abraham so that the inner organ for Yahweh consciousness could arise. And on the other hand, it is the same force-being that worked through forty-two generations in the physical body and etheric body and that summarizes a line of inheritance through the forty-two generations.

Yesterday I already mentioned that these teachings, namely the teachings of the Gospel of Matthew concerning the origin of the blood of Jesus of Nazareth, were cultivated and brought to understanding in those communities which we can call the Therapeutae and Essenes, and that Jeshu ben Pandira worked as a great teacher among the Therapeutae and Essenes. who had to prepare the age of Christ Jesus. He had to prepare at least a few people for the fact that, at the end of a certain period of time, namely forty-two generations after Abraham, the Hebrew people would be ready, so to speak, for the Zarathustra individuality to incarnate in a descendant of the Abraham line, in a descendant of the Solomonic line of the House of David. This had been taught in advance. Of course, in those days, this required experience of the mysteries. At that time, this was not only taught in the Essene schools, but there were also pupils in the Essene schools who actually went through the forty-two stages, so that they could see clairvoyantly what the being was like that had descended through the forty-two stages. The world was to be enlightened about this through appropriate teachings. The Essenes had to ensure that at least some people would understand what Christ would be.

We have already mentioned the peculiar course taken by the human individuality that incarnated in the blood whose composition is described in the Gospel of Matthew. We know that this original great teacher, known under the name of Zarathustra or Zoroaster, taught in the East what we have sufficiently considered, which made him particularly suited for this incarnation. We know that he initiated the Egyptian Hermetic culture by sacrificing his astral body for this purpose, which was then imprinted on Hermes. We also know that he sacrificed his etheric body, which was preserved for Moses, and that Moses had the etheric body of Zarathustra within himself for his cultural creation. Zarathustra himself was later able to incarnate again in other astral and etheric bodies. We are particularly interested in the incarnation of Zarathustra in the 6th century BC as Zarathas or Nazarathos in ancient Chaldea, where he had the Chaldean sages and magicians as his disciples, and where, in particular, the wisest of the Hebrew secret disciples came into contact with him at the time of the Babylonian captivity. And the entire six centuries that followed were filled with the traditions, ceremonies, and cults that originated with Zarathustra in the personality of Zarathas or Nazarathos. And all the generations of Chaldean, Babylonian, Assyrian, and so on, secret disciples who lived in those regions of Asia revered the name of their great master, Zarathustra, under the change of Zarathas or Nazarathos. And they waited eagerly for the next incarnation of their great teacher and leader, for they knew that he would reappear after six hundred years. The secret of this reappearance was known to them; it lived, so to speak, as something that shone upon them from the future.

And when the time drew near when the blood for the new incarnation of Zarathustra was prepared, the three emissaries, the three wise magi from the East, set out. They knew that the revered name of Zarathustra himself would guide them like their star to the place where the reincarnation of Zarathustra was to take place. It was the essence of the great teacher himself who, as the “star,” led the three magi to the birthplace of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. This can also be proven philologically, even externally, that the word “star” was indeed used in ancient times as a name for human individualities. Not only through spiritual research, which tells us more clearly than anything else from its sources that at that time the three magi followed the star Zoroaster, the “golden star,” Zoroaster, that he led them to where he wanted to reincarnate, but also from the use of the word “star” for high human individualities — as I said, a fact that can also be proven philologically — it could already be clear to some that Zarathustra himself is to be understood as the star that led the wise men.

Six centuries before our era, the magi of the East were together with that individuality who incarnated as the Jesus of the Gospel of Matthew. And Zarathustra himself led the magi there; they followed his trail. For it was, so to speak, the movement of Zarathustra, the star leading the magi to Palestine, that guided the magi on their way from the Eastern, Chaldean mysteries to Palestine, where Zarathustra was preparing for his next incarnation.

This secret of the future incarnation of Zarathustra, Zarathas or Nazarathos, was also known in the Chaldean mysteries. But the secret of the blood of the Hebrew people, which was to be suitable, when the appropriate time had come, for the new physical body of Zarathustra, was taught by those who were, so to speak, lifted up through the forty-two steps in the Essene mysteries.

So there were basically two kinds of people who initially knew something about the secret of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. From the side of Zarathustra, where reference was made to the individuality that was to incarnate in Jewish blood, the Chaldean initiates knew it; from the side of the blood, from the outer side, from the side of the body, the Essenes knew it. So it was already a teaching that had been taught for about a hundred years or more in the Essene schools, the teaching of this coming of the Jesus of the Gospel of Matthew, that Jesus who was to fulfill in his entirety all the conditions I have spoken of, but then also others, which we can characterize in the following way.

After a long time, after many purifications and exercises of his soul, such an Essene disciple was led up through the forty-two steps, so to speak, to see the secrets of the physical body and the etheric body. The one who was to be born, who was to incarnate into this blood, descended from above; he had the abilities that the Essene disciple could only attain after long and difficult trials through the forty-two steps. Of the one who descended, it had to be said: He has from the outset the abilities to develop such faculties. “They were born with him,” people said in the Essene communities. But basically, what was cultivated in the Essene communities in terms of exercises and purification of the soul was the continuation of a kind of secret training that had also existed within Judaism since ancient times.

In Judaism, there was always what was called Nazirite or Naziriteism. This consisted in individual people, even before the emergence of the 'therapist and Essene sects,' applying very specific methods of soul and body development to themselves. In particular, the Nazirites applied a method that consisted of a certain diet and which is still useful today in a certain respect if a person wants to progress more quickly in their soul development than is otherwise possible. In particular, they completely abstained from meat and wine. This gave them a certain relief, because meat can actually hinder the spiritual development of people who are striving for spiritual growth. It is indeed true — and this is not meant to be propaganda for vegetarianism — that abstaining from meat makes everything easier. When meat is eliminated from the diet, people can become more resilient in their souls and prove themselves stronger in overcoming the resistance and obstacles that come from the physical body and the etheric body. People then become more productive and capable of achieving more. But of course, this does not happen simply by abstaining from meat, but above all by strengthening the soul. If they merely abstain from meat, they only change their physical body; and if what should be present on the soul side and permeate the body is not there, then abstaining from meat has no special purpose.

So this Nazirite practice existed. But the Essenes continued it in a much stricter form, adding other things to it. They added everything I told you yesterday and the day before yesterday. But they especially practiced the strictest abstinence from meat. As a result, such people learned relatively quickly to expand their memory and look back over forty-two generations, and they learned to look into the secrets of the Akashic Records. They became what one might call a tribal bud on a branch, a bud on a tree, on a plant that winds its way through many generations. They were not merely something detached from the tree of humanity; they felt the threads that bound them to the tree of the rest of humanity. They were different from those who detached themselves from the tribe and whose memory was limited to their own individual personalities. Such people were now also referred to within the Essene communities with a word that was meant to express “a living branch,” not a cut-off branch. These were people who felt themselves to be part of the succession of generations and did not feel cut off from the tree of humanity. The disciples who cultivated this particular direction within the Essenes, who had gone through the forty-two stages, were called Nezer.

This class of Nezer also had a faithful, special disciple, whom I mentioned yesterday as a teacher within the Essene communities: Jesus, son of Pandira. For this Jeshu ben Pandira, who is quite well known to occultists, had five disciples, each of whom took up a special branch of the common great teaching of Jeshu ben Pandira and then continued it for himself. These five disciples of Jeshu ben Pandira bore the following names: Mathai, Nakai, the third disciple, because he was particularly from the class of the Nezer, was actually named Nezer, then Boni and Thona. These five disciples or followers of Jeshu ben Pandira, who suffered martyrdom a century before our era in the manner already described for blasphemy and heresy, continued the great, comprehensive teaching of Jeshu ben Pandira in five different branches, so to speak. In particular, according to spiritual scientific research, after the death of Jeshu ben Pandira, the teaching of the preparation of blood for the Jesus of Matthew's Gospel who was to appear was continued by the disciple Mathai. And that teaching about the inner state of the soul, which was connected with the old Nazirite order but also with the newer Nezerite order, was continued by the other great disciple of Jeshu ben Pandira, Nezer. Nezer was especially chosen to found a small colony. There were a number of such Essene colonies in Palestine, and in each one a special branch of Esseneism was cultivated. Nezerism, which was to be cultivated especially by the disciple Nezer, was to be cultivated above all in that colony, which led a mysterious existence and was basically only a small place at that time, in the colony that later received the name Nazareth in the Bible. There in Nazareth—Nezereth—was an Essene colony established by Nezer, the disciple of Jeshu ben Pandira. There were people there—living in fairly strict secrecy—who practiced the ancient Nazirite tradition. Therefore, after those other events had taken place, about which I still have to speak, after the move to Egypt and the return from there, there was nothing more natural for the Jesus of Matthew's Gospel than to be brought into the atmosphere of this Nezerism. This is also hinted at in the corresponding words of Matthew's Gospel after the return from Egypt: He was brought to the little town of Nazareth, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets: He shall be called a Nazarene” (Matthew 2:23). This has been translated in various ways because the translators did not really know the meaning and no one really knew what was meant by it. The point was that there was an Essene colony here where Jesus was to grow up at first.

But now, before we go into the other details and especially the connections to the Jesus of Luke's Gospel, let's just point out a few things about the Jesus of Matthew's Gospel. Everything that is described in the Gospel of Matthew leads back to the secrets that Jeshu ben Pandira taught in the Essene movement, which were then passed on as teachings by his disciple Mathai, and even the first secrets of the Gospel of Matthew point us to this disciple Mathai. Through everything that came, so to speak, from this side, which characterizes the Gospel of Matthew, the physical body and the etheric body of the Jesus of the Gospel of Matthew could be prepared, if, of course, there were also influences on the astral body within the forty-two generations. But even if we have said that during the first fourteen generations the physical body during the second fourteen generations the etheric body, and that for the third fourteen generations — since the Babylonian captivity — the astral body comes into consideration, we must nevertheless maintain that what was thus correctly prepared for Zarathustra was only useful for this powerful individuality insofar as it was physical body and etheric body.

Now remember how I have always told you that in his individual personal development from birth to the age of seven, man develops primarily the physical body, that during the next seven years, from the change of teeth to sexual maturity, he develops especially the etheric body; only then does the free development of the astral body begin. What is the development of the physical body and etheric body should come to completion in the special physical and etheric bodies that were prepared by the generations beginning with Abraham, and be lived through by Zarathustra in his new incarnation. But then, when he had reached the end of the development of the etheric body, what had been prepared for him was no longer sufficient, and he now had to proceed to the development of the astral body.

To this end, something tremendous and wonderful now takes place, without the understanding of which we cannot comprehend the whole great mystery of Christ Jesus. The Zarathustra individuality developed during its boyhood in the physical body and etheric body of the Jesus of the Gospel of Matthew until the age of twelve; for with this individuality and due to the climate, the time we designate for our regions as the age of fourteen or fifteen arrived somewhat earlier. By the age of twelve, everything that could be achieved in the appropriately prepared physical and etheric bodies of the Solomonic line had been achieved. And then the Zarathustra individuality left this physical body and etheric body, which are first mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew, and passed into the Jesus of the Gospel of Luke. For we already know from the lectures on the Gospel of Luke that what is meant by the story of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple, as told by Luke (Luke 2:42-50), is the following: When the boy Jesus in Luke's Gospel suddenly appears before his parents in such a way that they cannot understand him, when he is completely different, it means that the Zarathustra individuality, which until then had undergone its development in the physical and etheric bodies of the Solomonic Jesus, has entered into his inner being. Such things happen in life, however difficult they may be to believe today given the nature of the lay, materialistic worldview. The transition of an individuality from one body to another does occur. And something like this happened when the Zarathustra individuality left its original body and passed over into the Jesus of Luke's Gospel, in whom the astral body and the ego carrier had been specially prepared.

Thus, Zarathustra was able to continue his development from the age of twelve in the specially prepared astral body and ego of the Nathanic Jesus. This is presented to us in such a magnificent way in the Gospel of Luke, where reference is made to the monstrous fact that the twelve-year-old Jesus sits in the temple among the scribes and says things that sound very strange. How was the Jesus of the Nathanic line able to do this? He was able to do it because at that moment the Zarathustra individuality had “entered” him. Zarathustra did not speak to this boy, who had been brought to Jerusalem at that time, until he was twelve years old; hence the change in character was so great that his parents did not recognize him when they found him sitting among the scribes.

So we are dealing with two sets of parents, both named Joseph and Mary—many people had those names at that time; but to derive anything from the names Joseph and Mary in the way we understand names today is something that contradicts all true research—and with two Jesus boys. The genealogy in Matthew's Gospel tells us about one of them, the Jesus of the Solomonic line of the House of David. The other boy, the Jesus of the Nathanic line, is the son of a completely different set of parents, and Luke's Gospel tells us about him. The two boys grow up side by side and develop side by side until they are twelve years old. You can find this in the Gospels. The Gospel speaks correctly throughout. And as long as it was not desired that people should learn the truth, or as long as people did not want to hear the truth, the Gospels were withheld from them. One only has to understand the Gospels; they speak correctly.

The Jesus from the Nathanic line grows up with tremendous inner depth. He is not very skilled at acquiring outer wisdom and knowledge. But he is of an almost unlimited inwardness of mind, of an almost unlimited capacity for love, because in his etheric body lived that power which streamed down from the time when man had not yet descended into an earthly incarnation, when he still led a divine existence. The divine existence lived in him in an unlimited capacity for love. Thus, this boy was ill-suited for what human beings have acquired through incarnations by means of the instruments of the physical body; on the other hand, he was great and immensely imbued with the warmth of love in relation to his soul, in relation to his inner being. He was so inwardly focused that something took place which pointed to the great inner life of this boy to those who knew about it. What people usually only ignite in the outer world, the Jesus of Luke's Gospel was able to do in a certain way from the beginning: immediately after his birth, he spoke certain words that were understandable to those around him. Thus, he was great in relation to everything inner, but clumsy in relation to everything that had to be achieved through the generations of humanity on earth itself. And should not his parents have been extremely surprised when, within this physical body that had grown up in such a way, a boy suddenly appeared who was imbued with all that is external wisdom, which must be acquired with external tools? This sudden, powerful change was possible because at that moment the Zarathustra individuality had passed from the Solomonic Jesus boy to this Jesus of the Nathanic line. Zarathustra, Zarathas spoke through this boy at the moment described to us when his parents were looking for him in the temple.

Zarathustra had naturally acquired all those abilities that can be acquired through the use of the instruments of the physical body and the etheric body. He had to choose the bloodline of the Solomonic line and the physicality prepared by it, because the strong forces were present there and developed to the highest degree. From this physicality he took what he could acquire, and he now combined this with what came from that inner life which originated in the figure of Jesus in Luke's Gospel, which descended from a time when man was not yet in an earthly incarnation. These two things now combined into one. We now have a being before us. And to add to this, I would like to point out something special: not only did the parents of Luke's Jesus perceive a special change, finding something they could not have expected, but this change was also evident externally. Why is it specifically mentioned when the boy Jesus is found by his parents among the scribes in the temple: “And he went down with them and came to Nazareth ... And Jesus grew in stature and in favor with God and man, and in wisdom” (Luke 2:51-52)? Why are these three qualities mentioned? Because they were three qualities that were particularly appropriate for him now, when the Zarathustra individuality was in him.

I note explicitly that these three words are usually translated in the common Bibles as: “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” I would like to know whether one really needs a Gospel to say that a twelve-year-old boy grows in age. You even find in Weizsäcker's translation: “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and grace with God and men.” But that is not what is meant; what is meant is that there was now an individuality in the Nathanic boy Jesus which was not, as before, merely internal, which did not manifest itself externally, but which now, because it had developed in a perfect physical body, also passed over into external physical beauty. But also, what is particularly cultivated in the etheric body, what one acquires and develops in the etheric body from life in the form of habits, was not present in the Nathanic Jesus before. In him, a powerful capacity for love appeared, and on this it was now possible to build further. But this predisposition was there all of a sudden and could not be forced into habits. Now, however, there was another individuality that had within itself the forces from the growth of the physical body and the etheric body, and now habits could also manifest themselves outwardly and pour into the etheric body. This is the second aspect in which the boy Jesus grew. The third, “in wisdom,” is already somewhat more self-evident. The Jesus of Luke's Gospel was not wise; he was a being capable of love in the highest degree. But the increase in wisdom was due to the fact that the Zarathustra individuality entered into him.

I have already said in my discussion of the Gospel of Luke that it can very easily happen that a personality that has been abandoned by its individuality and has only the three bodies left—the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body—can continue to live for a while. But what remained of the Solomonic Jesus languished and indeed died soon afterwards. This means that the actual boy Jesus of the first chapters of the Gospel of Matthew died relatively soon after his twelfth year. So we do not have one boy Jesus at first, but two; then these two become one.

Sometimes the documents from ancient times say very strange things, which one must understand, however, and one can only understand them if one knows the relevant facts. We will go into more detail about how the two boys come together; for now, only one thing should be mentioned.

In the so-called “Egyptian Gospel” there is a strange passage which was already considered very heretical in the first centuries because Christian circles did not want to hear the truth about it or allow it to come to light. “But there is something that has been preserved as an apocryphal gospel, and in it it is said that 'salvation will appear in the world when the two become one and the outer becomes like the inner. This sentence is an accurate expression of the fact that I have just described to you from occult facts. Salvation depends on the two becoming one. And they became one when, in the twelfth year, the Zarathustra individuality passed into the Nathanic Jesus, and the inner became outer. The soul force of the Jesus of Luke's Gospel was something powerful within. But this inner force became an outer force when the Zarathustra individuality, which had developed in the outer, physical and etheric bodies of the Solomonic Jesus, penetrated this inner force and, as it were, infused it with the forces that had developed in the physical and etheric bodies. A powerful force penetrated the physical and etheric bodies of the Nathanic Jesus from within, so that the outer now became an expression of the inner, that inner which had previously remained inner before the Luke Jesus boy was penetrated by the Zarathustra individuality. Thus the two became one.

We have now followed Zarathustra from his birth as the boy Jesus of the Gospel of Matthew until his twelfth year, when he left his original body and took on the physical body of the Nathanic Jesus, which he now developed further, developing it to such an extent that he was later able to sacrifice it at a certain level as his three bodies in order to take on that entity which we then call the Christ.