Esoteric Christianity and the Mission of Christian Rosenkreutz
GA 130
20 November 1911, Munich
VIII. The Christ Impulse as Living Reality II
Yesterday [Public lecture, Munich 19th November 1911, ‘From Paracelsus to Goethe’. (Not published in English.)43Yesterday we heard: in the public lecture in Munich on 19th November 1911 ‘Von Paracelsus zu Goethe’. There is no transcript of the lecture. See the corresponding lecture given in Berlin on 16th November 1911 in—‘Menschengeschichte im Lichte der Geistesforschung’ (Human History in the Light of Spiritual Research) GA 61 Dornach, 1962. we heard that in still later epochs men will be able to behold Him in even higher forms in the aesthetic and moral spheres. But when we speak in this way of the Christ Impulse we are concerned with ideas which will be resolutely opposed above all by the churches of Christendom. Great and incisive measures have been and are necessary in the onward progress of human evolution in order to promote increasing understanding of the Christ Impulse. Hitherto, indeed, such understanding has been lacking. And anyone who considers modern theology will realise not only the futility of the attitude maintained by the opponents of Christianity, but also by those who claim to be its steadfast adherents. The theosophical movement in the West should have become that stream of spiritual life which out of true and genuine sources awakens understanding for Christianity in the modern age, but such endeavours met with strong opposition.
It is important to understand the real sources of Christianity, but owing to lack of time they cannot all be mentioned today. We shall speak only of those which have been accessible to mankind since the thirteenth century.
Since the thirteenth century the movement connected with the name of Christian Rosenkreutz has been an integral part of the spiritual life of mankind. Spiritual measures of a very definite kind were necessary in the thirteenth century to enable the influence connected with this name to become part of the spiritual life of the modern age. At the time when the spiritual world was entirely shut off from human vision, a council of twelve wise men came together. All the spiritual knowledge then existing, of the world and its secrets, was gathered from their separate different spheres into this council. By means of certain occult processes, the wisdom that had passed over from Atlantis to the holy Rishis had been transmitted to seven of these twelve men. In four others lived the wisdom of the sacred mysteries of the Indian, Persian, Egyptian and Greco-Roman epochs respectively. And what existed in those days of the kind of culture which was to characterise the fifth post-Atlantean epoch constituted the wisdom of the twelfth. The whole range of spiritual life was accessible to these twelve.
Now it was known at that time that a certain individuality who had been a contemporary of the Mystery of Golgotha was to be born again as a child. Meanwhile, through a number of incarnations, this individuality had unfolded a power of deep and fervent piety, devotion and love. The council of the twelve wise men took this child into their care soon after he was born; shut off from the outside, exoteric world, he came under no influence save theirs; they cared for all his bodily needs and were also his teachers. The manner of the child's development was altogether unique; the profound spirituality he bore within him as the fruit of many incarnations came to expression, too, in his outer, bodily form. He was a weak and sickly child, but his body became marvelously transparent. He grew up and developed in such a way that a radiant, shining spirit indwelt a body that had become transparent. Through the processes of a profoundly wise form of education, all the wisdom from the ages preceding and during post-Atlantean times which the twelve wise men were able to give forth, rayed into his soul. By way of the deeper soul-forces, not by way of the intellect, the treasures of all this wisdom united in the soul of this child. He then fell into a strange condition. For a certain period of time he ceased to take nourishment; all external functions of life were as though paralysed, and the whole of the wisdom received by the child rayed back to the twelve. Each of them received back what he had originally given, but now in a different form. And those twelve wise men felt: Now, for the first time, the twelve great religions and world conceptions have been given to us, united into one interconnected whole. And henceforward what we call rosicrucian Christianity lived in the twelve men.
The child lived only a short time longer. In the external world we give the name Christian Rosenkreutz to this individuality. But it was not until the fourteenth century that he was known by this name. In the fourteenth century he was born again and lived then for more than a hundred years. Even when he was not incarnated in the flesh, he worked through his etheric body, always with the purpose of influencing the development of Christianity in its true form as the synthesis of all the great religions and systems of thought in the world. And he has worked on into our time, either as a human being or from his ether body, inspiring all that was done in the West to establish the synthesis of the great religions. His influence today is increasing all the time. Many a person of whom we do not expect it, is a pupil chosen by Christian Rosenkreutz. Already today it is possible to speak of a sign by means of which Christian Rosenkreutz calls to one whom he has chosen. Many people can discover this sign in their life; it may express itself in a thousand ways, but these different manifestations all lead back to a typical form which may be described as follows.
The selection may, for example, happen in the following way. A man embarks upon some undertaking; he spares no effort to make it successful and forges straight ahead towards his goal. While he is ruthlessly making his way in the world (he may be a thorough materialist), suddenly he hears a voice saying: ‘Stop what you purpose to do!’ And he will be aware that this was no physical voice. But now suppose that he abstains from his project. Then he will be able to realise that if he had continued ruthlessly towards his goal, he would certainly have been led to his death.
These are the two fundamentals: that he knows with certainty, firstly, that the warning came from the spiritual world, and secondly, that death would have come to him had he persisted in his undertaking. This is therefore revealed to one who is to become a pupil: You have actually been saved, moreover by a warning proceeding from a world which, to begin with, you are not within. So far as earthly circumstances are concerned, death has already come to you and your further life is to be regarded as a gift. And when the person in question realises this he will be led to the resolve to work in a spiritual movement. If the resolve is taken, this means that the choice has been accomplished. This is how Christian Rosenkreutz begins to gather his pupils around him, and many human beings, if they were sufficiently alert, would be conscious of such an event in their life.
The human beings of whom it can be said that they were, or will be, united in this way with Christian Rosenkreutz, are those who should be the pioneers of a deeper understanding of esoteric Christianity. This stream of spiritual life connected with Christian Rosenkreutz provides the highest means for enabling the Christ Impulse to be understood in our time. The beginning was already made long, long ago—a hundred years before the Mystery of Golgotha, through Jeshu ben Pandira, whose essential mission it was to make preparation for the coming of Christ. He had a pupil, Matthew, whose name subsequently passed over to his successor who was living at the time of Jesus of Nazareth. The greatest deed wrought by Jeshu ben Pandira was that he was the originator and preparer of the Gospel according to St. Matthew. The content of this Gospel derives from a ritual of initiation, and passages such as that concerning the temptation, and others, too, originate from enactments in the ancient mysteries. All these processes in the evolution of humanity were to be enacted on the physical plane too. This was written down in outline by the pupil of Jeshu ben Pandira.
Jeshu ben Pandira was not spared from the hard fate he himself predicted; he was stoned, and his corpse was suspended on a cross. The original chronicle was preserved in the hands of a few of his adherents, in deep secrecy. We can best follow what happened to it later on when the great Church father Jerome44when ... Jerome himself says: see Rudolf Steiner ‘From Jesus to Christ’, Carlsruhe, October 1911; Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1973. himself says that he had received the document of the Matthew Gospel from a Christian sect. The original record was held at that time in the secret keeping of a small circle and through certain circumstances came into the hands of Jerome. He was charged by his bishop with the task of translating it. Jerome himself narrates this; but he says at the same time that because of the form and manner of the transcription, it should not pass into the hands of the outside world. He wanted to translate it in such a way that its secrets would remain secret—and he says, furthermore, that he himself does not understand it. The nature of what came into existence in this way was such that one man could express it in one way and another in a different way in secular language. And this is how it has come down to posterity. In reality, therefore, the world does not yet possess the Gospels in their true form. There is every reason and justification then for spiritual research today, in shedding new light upon the Gospels, to go back to the Akashic Record, because there and there only are they to be found in their original form.
Let there be no mistake about it. Christianity in its true form has yet to be separated out from the trash. One sign among many others indicates how necessary this is. For example, in the year 1873 in France a count was taken of those who could be said to belong inwardly and genuinely to Catholicism. They amounted to one third; the other two thirds proved no longer to be adherents in the real sense—and these two-thirds were certainly not composed of people who never feel the need of religion! Life is such that the religious longings of men do incline towards the Christ, but the true sources of Christianity must be rediscovered. And it is to this end that the stream of spiritual life going out from Jeshu ben Pandira flows into unity with the other stream which, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, is connected with the name of Christian Rosenkreutz.
It is also necessary for us to know that one of the characteristics of the incarnations of the Bodhisattva is that in his youth he cannot be recognised as such. Between his thirtieth and thirty-third year a great revolution takes place in the soul and the personality is fundamentally transformed. For example a Moses or Abraham individuality can be possessed by the personality of a Bodhisattva at this time of his life.
About 3,000 years after our present time this Bodhisattva will become the Maitreya Buddha. And then his influence from the spiritual world will flow into the hearts of men as a magic, moral power. In this way the two streams work together, the stream of the Maitreya Buddha and the Western stream connected with Christian Rosenkreutz.
Der Christus-Impuls als Reales Leben
Der Christus-Impuls, der in die Menschheitsentwicklung eingetreten ist, war von so durchgreifender Kraft, dass seine Wellen in die künftigen Epochen weiter hineinschlagen. In der vierten Kulturepoche hat er sich dadurch dargelebt, dass Christus sich in einem physischen Menschenleibe verkörpert hat. Und jetzt gehen wir einem Zeitalter entgegen, in welchem der Impuls sich so ausleben wird, dass die Menschen auf dem astralen Plan den Christus wahrnehmen werden als Äthergestalt.
Gestern haben wir gehört, dass in noch späteren Zeitaltern er in noch höheren Formen in der ästhetischen und moralischen Sphäre wahrnehmbar sein wird. Wenn wir aber so vom Christus-Impuls sprechen, so haben wir es wirklich zu tun mit Ideen, gegen die sich gerade die christlichen Kirchen am abweisendsten verhalten werden. Um den Christus-Impuls allmählich verständlich zu machen, waren und sind innerhalb der fortschreitenden Menschheitsentwicklung wichtige Veranstaltungen notwendig. Es mangelte ja bisher gerade an dem, dass die Menschen Verständnis dafür gewinnen konnten. Und wer die neueren Theologien ins Auge fasst, der wird sehen, wie hilflos auf der einen Seite die Gegner des Christentums sind, wie hilflos aber auch diejenigen sind, die glauben, auf dem Boden des Christentums zu stehen. Die abendländische theosophische Bewegung hätte die moderne Geistesströmung werden müssen, die aus den richtigen und wahrhaftigen Quellen heraus ein Verständnis für das Christentum erweckt. Die heftigsten Widerstände erwuchsen ihr bei diesem Bestreben.
Wir müssen uns eine Vorstellung machen über die Quellen des Christentums selber. Alle diese Quellen können ja hier wegen Zeitmangel nicht erwähnt werden. Es soll heute nur hingewiesen werden auf jene, welche sich der Menschheit seit dem dreizehnten Jahrhundert erschlossen haben. Seit dem dreizehnten Jahrhundert ist in das Geistesleben der Menschheit eingefügt die spirituelle Bewegung, welche anknüpft an den Namen Christian Rosenkreutz. Damit das, was an diesen Namen anknüpft, überhaupt in die Geistesbewegung der neueren Zeit hat hereinkommen können, war im dreizehnten Jahrhundert eine ganz bestimmte spirituelle Veranstaltung notwendig geworden. Damals, als für das Schauen der Menschen die geistige Welt durchaus verschlossen war, hat sich zusammengefunden ein bedeutsames Kollegium von zwölf weisen Männern. Dieses vereinigte, gleichsam in verschiedene Ressorts abgeteilt, alles das, was an spirituellem Einblick in die Weltzusammenhänge überhaupt damals zusammenzutragen war. Sieben von diesen Zwölfen hatten durch gewisse okkulte Vorgänge dasjenige gewissermaßen wie überkommen erhalten, was von den heiligen Rishis als Weisheit des Menschentums von der Atlantis herübergekommen war. Vier von diesen weisen Männern hatten durch die entsprechenden okkulten Vorgänge das in sich vereint, was sich bezog auf die heiligen Geheimnisse der Inder, der Perser, der Ägypter und der griechisch-lateinischen Zeit. Und was der fünfte nachatlantische Zeitraum bis dahin hatte hervorbringen können, das war die Weisheit des Zwölften. Der ganze Umfang des spirituellen Lebens war diesen Zwölfen erschlossen.
Nun wusste man in der damaligen Zeit, dass wiedergeboren werden musste als Kind eine Individualität, die mitgemacht hatte die Zeit des Mysteriums von Golgatha. Diese Individualität hatte inzwischen in verschiedenen Inkarnationen die tiefste Inbrunst und Hingabe und Liebe entwickelt. Das Kollegium der zwölf weisen Männer nahm dieses Kind, bald nachdem es geboren war, in Pflege. Abgeschlossen von der exoterischen Außenwelt stand es einzig und allein unter ihrem Einfluss, sie waren seine Erzieher, auch was die leibliche Pflege betrifft. Das Kind entwickelte sich auf eine ganz eigenartige Weise, sodass sich auch das, was es als hohe Geistigkeit aus vielen Inkarnationen in sich trug, in der äußeren Körperlichkeit ausdrückte. Zwar schwach und kränklich, aber wunderbar durchsichtig wurde sein Körper. Es wuchs heran und enrfaltete sich zu jener Sonderbarkeit, dass ein leuchtender, glänzender Geist in einem durchsichtigen Körper wohnte. Durch Vorgänge einer ungeheuer weisen Erziehung wurde eingestrahlt in seine Seele dasjenige, was aus den vor- und nachatlantischen Zeiten von den zwölf weisen Männern herkommen konnte. Durch die tieferen Seelenkräfte, nicht durch den Intellekt, waren alle Weisheitsschätze in der Seele dieses Kindes vereint. Dann kam ein ganz besonderer Zustand über dieses Kind. Es hörte in einer ganz bestimmten Zeit auf zu essen, es zeigte sich wie eine Lähmung aller äußeren Lebenstätigkeiten, und es strahlte wie zurück auf die Männer die ganze vom Kinde empfangene Weisheit. Jeder bekam das zurück, was er gegeben hatte, aber in umgewandelter Gestalt. Da empfanden die zwölf Männer: Jetzt haben wir erst die zwölf Religionen und Weltanschauungen als eine zusammenhängende Einheit empfangen! Und es lebte von da an in den zwölf Männern dasjenige, was wir nennen das rosenkreuzerische Christentum.
Nur kurze Zeit noch lebte das Kind. In der äußeren Welt nennen wir diese Individualität Christian Rosenkreutz. Genannt wurde sie erst so im vierzehnten Jahrhundert. Im vierzehnten Jahrhundert kam diese Individualität wieder und wurde da über hundert Jahre alt. Auch dann, wenn sie nicht im Fleisch verkörpert war, wirkte sie durch den Ätherleib, und zwar immer in dem Sinne, dass durch ihren Einfluss das wahre Christentum sich weiter entwickeln soll, dass es die Synthesis von allen großen Weltanschauungen und Religionen werden soll. Und bis in unsere Zeit hinein wirkte er, entweder als Mensch oder von seinem Ätherleib aus, erleuchtend in dasjenige hinein, was ins Abendland floss als Begründung der Synthesis der großen Religionen. Heute wird sein Einfluss immer größer. Mancher, dem wir es nicht ansehen, ist ein Auserwählter dieses Christian Rosenkreutz. Wir können heute schon ein Zeichen anführen, durch welches Christian Rosenkreutz sich überall seine Bekenner auswählt. Dieses Zeichen können viele Menschen in ihrem Lebensgang entdecken. Es kann sich auf tausenderlei Weise äußern, aber diese verschiedenen Arten werden alle auf einen Typus zurückgehen, den wir mit der folgenden Schilderung charakterisieren können.
Es kann zum Beispiel die Auswahl in der folgenden Art geschehen. Nehmen wir an, da sei jemand, der irgendetwas unternimmt. Er strebt nach dem Gelingen dieser Unternehmung hin und steuert darauf los, um ans Ziel zu kommen. Und während er so in die Welt hinausstürmt — es kann ein ganz materiell gesinnter Mensch sein da hört er plötzlich eine Stimme: Halt ein mit dem, was du willst! Und er wird gewahr werden: Das war keine physische Stimme. Aber nehmen wir an, er sei zurückgetreten, hätte das Vorhaben unterlassen - und nun kann er gewahr werden: Wenn er losgestürmt wäre auf sein Ziel, wäre er ganz sicher in den Tod gegangen.
Diese zwei Elemente sind notwendig, dass man klar erkennt: Erstens dass das, was einen gewarnt hat, aus der geistigen Welt kam, und zweitens, dass dann der Tod gekommen wäre, wenn man das Unternehmen wirklich durchgeführt hätte. Es zeigt sich dem künftigen Schüler also: Du bist eigentlich gerettet worden, und zwar durch eine Warnung aus einer Welt heraus, in der du zunächst nicht bist. Du bist in Wahrheit durch die Verhältnisse dieser irdischen Welt, in der du bist, eigentlich schon gestorben, und du hast dein weiteres Leben als eine Gabe, die dir aus der geistigen Welt heraus geschenkt worden ist, anzusehen, das Leben ist dir geschenkt worden. - Und wenn nun der betreffende Mensch auf all das kommt, dann wird er den Entschluss fassen, in einer spirituellen Bewegung zu arbeiten. Wird dieser Entschluss gefasst, so ist die Erwählung geschehen. So beginnt Christian Rosenkreutz sich seine Bekenner zu sammeln, und viele würden bei genügender Aufmerksamkeit auf ein solches inneres Ereignis kommen.
Die Menschen, von denen man sagen kann, dass sie auf eine solche Weise mit Christian Rosenkreutz verbunden waren oder es jetzt werden, das sind diejenigen, in welchen zuerst entstehen sollte eine tiefere Auffassung des esoterischen Christentums. Aus dieser geistigen Strömung, die anknüpft an Christian Rosenkreutz, geht die mächtigste Hilfe hervor für ein Verständlich-Machen des Christus-Impulses in unserer gegenwärtigen Zeit. Angebahnt wurde das schon viel früher: Ein Jahrhundert vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha durch Jeshu ben Pandira, dessen Hauptmission es war, auf den Christus vorzubereiten. Er hatte einen Schüler, Mathai, dessen Namen sich später übertrug auf seinen Nachfolger, der zur Zeit des Jesus von Nazareth lebte. Das Wichtigste, was dieser Jeshu ben Pandira getan hat, bestand darin, dass er vorbereitet hat das Matthäus-Evangelium. Das, was sich darauf bezieht, ist einem Einweihungs-Ritual alter Zeiten entnommen. Die Niederschrift ist so verfasst, dass der Inhalt herübergenommen wurde aus alten Mysterien, so zum Beispiel was sich bezog auf die Versuchung und anderes. Alle diese innerhalb der Menschheitsentwicklung vorgehenden Vorgänge sollten sich auch auf dem physischen Plan abspielen. Das wurde dann skizzenhaft aufgeschrieben von seinem Schüler.
Dem Jeshu ben Pandira wurde das Schwere nicht verziehen, das er voraussagte, er wurde gesteinigt und dann ans Kreuz gehängt. Für einige Bekenner blieb - wenn auch tief verborgen - dieses Urkundenbuch erhalten. Was nun später damit geschehen ist, wird uns am besten klar dadurch, dass wir wissen, was Hieronymus, der große Kirchenvater, selbst darüber erzählt hat: Er habe das Matthäus-Evangelium aus einer christlichen Sekte erhalten. Es hat damals einen kleinen Kreis gegeben, in welchem das Buch geheim gehalten wurde, und durch besondere Verhältnisse kam es an Hieronymus. Dieser erhielt von seinem Bischof den Auftrag, es zu übersetzen. Er erzählt das selbst. Er sagte aber auch zugleich, es sei so geschrieben, dass es nicht an die außenstehenden Menschen kommen solle. Er wolle es trotzdem so übersetzen, dass das darin Verhüllte weiter verhüllt bleibe. Ferner sagt er, dass er es auch nicht verstehe. - Dasjenige, was in dieser Weise zustande kam, war in solchen Charakteren geschrieben, dass der eine es so, der andere es anders in profaner Sprache ausdrücken konnte. Es ist auch in dieser Art auf die Nachwelt herübergekommen. Es verhält sich also damit so, dass die Welt eigentlich die Evangelien noch gar nicht hat. So ist es denn wohl berechtigt, wenn heute aus der Theosophic heraus die Evangelien neu erklärt werden, wenn auf die Akasha-Chronik zurückgegangen wird, weil dort allein ihre ursprüngliche Gestalt zu finden ist.
Wir müssen uns klar sein, dass das Christentum in seiner wahren Gestalt erst aus dem Schutt herausgeholt werden muss. Wie notwendig das ist, zeigt uns unter anderem auch die Tatsache, dass zum Beispiel 1873 in Frankreich gezählt worden sind diejenigen, von denen man noch sagen konnte, dass sie dem Innern nach noch dem Katholizismus angehörten. Ein Drittel fand sich, zwei Drittel hängen nicht mehr damit zusammen. Und das waren gewiss nicht solche, die überhaupt kein Bedürfnis nach Religion gehabt hätten. Wir leben eben so, dass die religiösen Sehnsüchten nach dem Christus hintendieren, aber es müssen die wahren Quellen des Christentums wiedergefunden werden. Und nach diesem Ziel hin sehen wir zusammenfließen die geistige Strömung, die ausgeht von Jeshu ben Pandira, und jene, die im Beginn des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts an Christian Rosenkreutz anknüpft.
Notwendig ist noch zu wissen: Es gehört zu den Eigentümlichkeiten der Verkörperungen des Bodhisattva, dass man ihn in seinen Jugendjahren nicht erkennen kann. Zwischen seinem dreißigsten und dreiunddreißigsten Jahre geschieht eine gewaltige Umwälzung, wodurch diese Persönlichkeit eine ganz andere wird. Es kann zum Beispiel eine Moses- oder Abraham-Individualität in dieser Zeit Besitz ergreifen von einer solchen Bodhisattva-Persönlichkeit.
Ungefähr dreitausend Jahre nach unserer Zeit wird dieser Bodhisattva erhoben zum Maitreya-Buddha. Und er wird dann von der geistigen Welt aus so wirken, dass es wie magische Moralität in die Herzen der Menschen einfließt. So wirken zusammen die Strömung des Maitreya-Buddha mit der abendländischen Strömung, die anknüpft an Christian Rosenkreutz.
The Christ Impulse as Real Life
The Christ impulse that entered human evolution was so powerful that its waves continue to reverberate into future epochs. In the fourth cultural epoch, it manifested itself in the incarnation of Christ in a physical human body. And now we are approaching an age in which the impulse will be lived out in such a way that people on the astral plane will perceive Christ as an etheric form.
Yesterday we heard that in even later ages he will be perceptible in even higher forms in the aesthetic and moral sphere. But when we speak of the Christ impulse in this way, we are really dealing with ideas that the Christian churches in particular will reject most vehemently. In order to gradually make the Christ impulse understandable, important events were and are necessary within the progress of human development. Until now, what has been lacking is precisely the ability of people to gain an understanding of it. And anyone who takes a look at the newer theologies will see how helpless the opponents of Christianity are on the one hand, but also how helpless those are who believe they stand on the ground of Christianity. The Western theosophical movement should have become the modern spiritual current that awakens an understanding of Christianity from the right and true sources. It encountered the most violent resistance in this endeavor.
We must form an idea of the sources of Christianity itself. All these sources cannot be mentioned here due to lack of time. Today, we will only refer to those that have been available to humanity since the thirteenth century. Since the thirteenth century, a spiritual movement has been incorporated into the spiritual life of humanity that is connected to the name Christian Rosenkreutz. In order for what is connected with this name to enter the spiritual movement of the modern era at all, a very specific spiritual event had to take place in the thirteenth century. At that time, when the spiritual world was completely closed to human perception, a significant group of twelve wise men came together. This group, divided into different departments, gathered together everything that could be gathered at that time in terms of spiritual insight into the world's connections. Seven of these twelve had, through certain occult processes, received what had been handed down by the holy Rishis as the wisdom of humanity from Atlantis. Four of these wise men had, through the corresponding occult processes, united within themselves what related to the sacred secrets of the Indians, the Persians, the Egyptians, and the Greek-Latin period. And what the fifth post-Atlantean period had been able to bring forth up to that point was the wisdom of the Twelfth. The entire scope of spiritual life was open to these twelve.
Now, at that time, it was known that an individuality that had participated in the time of the Mystery of Golgotha had to be reborn as a child. This individuality had meanwhile developed the deepest fervor, devotion, and love in various incarnations. The council of twelve wise men took this child into their care soon after it was born. Shut off from the exoteric outer world, it was solely under their influence; they were its educators, including in matters of physical care. The child developed in a very peculiar way, so that what it carried within itself as high spirituality from many incarnations was also expressed in its outer physicality. Although weak and sickly, his body became wonderfully transparent. He grew up and developed into such a peculiar being that a luminous, shining spirit dwelt in a transparent body. Through the processes of an immensely wise education, that which could come from the pre- and post-Atlantean times of the twelve wise men was radiated into his soul. Through the deeper soul forces, not through the intellect, all the treasures of wisdom were united in the soul of this child. Then a very special state came over this child. At a certain time, he stopped eating, all his external life activities seemed paralyzed, and he radiated back to the men all the wisdom he had received. Everyone received back what they had given, but in a transformed form. Then the twelve men realized: Now we have received the twelve religions and worldviews as a coherent whole! And from that moment on, what we call Rosicrucian Christianity lived in the twelve men.
The child lived only a short time. In the outer world, we call this individuality Christian Rosenkreutz. It was not called that until the fourteenth century. In the fourteenth century, this individuality returned and lived to be over a hundred years old. Even when it was not embodied in flesh, it continued to work through the etheric body, always in the sense that through its influence, true Christianity should continue to develop, that it should become the synthesis of all great worldviews and religions. And until our time, he worked, either as a human being or from his etheric body, enlightening what flowed into the West as the foundation of the synthesis of the great religions. Today, his influence is growing ever greater. Many whom we do not recognize are chosen ones of this Christian Rosenkreutz. We can already point to a sign by which Christian Rosenkreutz chooses his followers everywhere. Many people can discover this sign in the course of their lives. It can manifest itself in a thousand different ways, but these different forms all go back to one type, which we can characterize with the following description.
The selection may take place in the following manner, for example. Let us assume that there is someone who undertakes something. He strives for the success of this undertaking and sets out to achieve his goal. And while he is rushing out into the world—he may be a very materialistic person—he suddenly hears a voice: Stop what you are doing! And he realizes that it was not a physical voice. But let us assume that he stepped back and abandoned his plan – and now he realizes that if he had rushed toward his goal, he would certainly have died.
These two elements are necessary for clear recognition: first, that the warning came from the spiritual world, and second, that death would have come if the undertaking had actually been carried out. It thus becomes clear to the future student: you have actually been saved by a warning from a world in which you do not initially exist. In truth, you have already died through the circumstances of this earthly world in which you find yourself, and you must regard your continued life as a gift that has been given to you from the spiritual world; life has been given to you. And when the person in question comes to realize all this, they will decide to work in a spiritual movement. Once this decision has been made, the election has taken place. This is how Christian Rosenkreutz begins to gather his followers, and many would come to such an inner event if they paid sufficient attention.
Those people who can be said to have been connected with Christian Rosenkreutz in this way, or who are becoming so now, are those in whom a deeper understanding of esoteric Christianity should first arise. From this spiritual current, which is linked to Christian Rosenkreutz, comes the most powerful help for making the Christ impulse understandable in our present time. This was initiated much earlier: a century before the Mystery of Golgotha by Jeshu ben Pandira, whose main mission was to prepare for Christ. He had a disciple, Mathai, whose name was later transferred to his successor, who lived at the time of Jesus of Nazareth. The most important thing that Jeshu ben Pandira did was to prepare the Gospel of Matthew. What this refers to is taken from an initiation ritual of ancient times. The text is written in such a way that the content was taken from ancient mysteries, for example, what related to temptation and other things. All these events taking place within the development of humanity were also to take place on the physical plane. This was then sketched out by his disciple.
Jeshu ben Pandira was not forgiven for the hardship he predicted; he was stoned and then hung on the cross. For some believers, this book of documents was preserved, albeit deeply hidden. What happened to it later is best understood by what Jerome, the great Church Father, himself said about it: He had received the Gospel of Matthew from a Christian sect. At that time, there was a small circle in which the book was kept secret, and through special circumstances it came into the possession of Jerome. He was commissioned by his bishop to translate it. He tells this himself. But he also said that it was written in such a way that it should not come into the hands of outsiders. Nevertheless, he wanted to translate it in such a way that what was veiled in it would remain veiled. He also says that he did not understand it himself. What came about in this way was written in such a way that one person could express it in one way and another in profane language. It has also been passed down to posterity in this form. The situation is therefore such that the world does not yet actually have the Gospels. It is therefore justified today to reinterpret the Gospels from a theosophical perspective, to refer back to the Akashic Records, because that is the only place where their original form can be found.
We must be clear that Christianity in its true form must first be rescued from the rubble. How necessary this is is shown, among other things, by the fact that in 1873, for example, a census was taken in France of those who could still be said to belong to Catholicism in their hearts. One third were found, two thirds no longer had any connection with it. And these were certainly not people who had no need for religion at all. We live in such a way that religious longings for Christ tend to recede, but the true sources of Christianity must be rediscovered. And toward this goal we see converging the spiritual current that emanates from Jeshu ben Pandira and that which, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, is linked to Christian Rosenkreutz.
It is also necessary to know that it is one of the peculiarities of the incarnations of the Bodhisattva that he cannot be recognized in his youth. Between the ages of thirty and thirty-three, a tremendous transformation takes place, whereby this personality becomes completely different. For example, an individuality such as Moses or Abraham may take possession of such a Bodhisattva personality during this time.
Approximately three thousand years after our time, this Bodhisattva will be elevated to Maitreya Buddha. He will then work from the spiritual world in such a way that it will flow into the hearts of people like magical morality. In this way, the current of Maitreya Buddha will work together with the Western current that is connected to Christian Rosenkreutz.