Masters of Esoteric Christianity

Rudolf Steiner and the Masters of Esoteric Christianity by Sergei O. Prokofieff. Wynstones Press, 2018, 409 pages.

review by Stephen Usher, PhD

Through unusual circumstances, this work which was nearly complete in 2005 was only published in 2018. It is a deep study of seven spiritual masters of esoteric Christianity: Manes, Scythianos, Guatama Buddha, the Maitreya Bodhisattva, Novalis, and Christian Rosenkrutz; and of an eighth Christian master: Rudolf Steiner. In the early pages of the book, a section is devoted to each of the seven. Of these masters the author states: “[F]or the meaning of earthly evolution consists in the gradual discovery by each human individual of a conscious connection between his individual ego and his cosmic archetype—the world Ego of Christ. This is an aim that is served by all masters of esoteric Christianity.”

In trying to find an image that captures this huge work, the following came to mind. The biography of Rudolf Steiner is traced in key events of his life and this life is presented in an enormous cosmic context. “[O]ne can affirm that in the last third of the 19th Century all the fundamental supersensible events associated with the preparation for the appearance of Christ in an etheric form were reflected in Rudolf Steiner’s destiny as real inner experiences. Only by consciously experiencing them was he able to establish a firm foundation for modern spiritual science.” Key events from Rudolf Steiner’s biography include these:

1. When he was 18, meeting the Rosicrucian master; he was advised to climb inside the skin of the dragon in order to defeat it.

2. In full freedom, renouncing the fulfillment of his own tasks over the course of 14 years (1880-1894), and living the destiny of Karl Julius Schröer. (1) Steiner stated, “I decided at that time to take on Schröer’s destiny as my own, at the cost of living out the path of my own destiny.”

3. From this free deed he was able to write his Philosophy of Spiritual Activity which appeared in 1894. In his autobiography Steiner states, “My Philosophy of Spiritual Activity was born from the experience of ideas that encompassed spiritual reality. The experience involving the whole human being contains the spiritual world in a much more direct and living way than the idea experience. Yet when ideas are experienced directly, it represents a higher stage than the ordinary, conceptual understanding of the sensory realm. Through directly experienced ideas, one comprehends not the sense world but the spiritual world, adjoining the sense world.”

4. At the age of 36 in 1895—when Rudolf Steiner entered the period of the Consciousness Soul—he underwent a dramatic soul transformation. Until this time, Steiner reported (Autobiography) that he had great difficulty observing the natural world. Witnesses stated that he could hardly manage a hammer. Steiner states, “It was as though I was unable to infuse the mental experience into the organs of sense with sufficient energy to make what they experienced entirely one with my mind.” In contrast, he experienced throughout his early years ready access to the spiritual world. Then, in his 36th year, all this changed and his experience of the sense world became very acute.

Steiner’s transformation at age 36 has led some anthroposophists to seek an explanation by “identifying Rudolf Steiner with teachers such as, for example, Zarathustra or the Maitreya Bodhisattva.” Prokofieff rejects this idea. “Rudolf Steiner was neither the bearer of the ego of Zarathustra, nor the bearer of the forces of his sheaths (as, for example, his astral and etheric bodies, as Hermes and Moses were in their time), nor of the sheaths of other Masters, but in the course of his initiation received into his ego something infinitely higher, that is, the forces of the creative Word in its absolute creative potential.”

Indeed, a major theme of the book is that Rudolf Steiner achieved all that he did through the power of his own ego—which means he had learned to live the “Not I but Christ in me.” (Galatians 3:20)

5. By 1898, according to his Autobiography, Steiner was aware that work with natural science could lead to the development of a science of the spirit (Geisteswissenschaft). The natural scientist—when immersed in scientific activity—experiences his thinking as mental activity. Upon entering the spiritual world while engaged in this activity, Steiner met Ahrimanic beings for whom “it was an absolute reality that the world must be a machine. Their realm borders directly upon the sense-world.” It is the striving of these Ahrimanic beings to develop science into a strictly “mechanical, materialistic way of thinking.” Rudolf Steiner sought to develop natural scientific activity into perception of the spirit.

In this period, Steiner states that he had to “rescue [his] spiritual world-conception through inner battles” with these spirits. Through contemplation of the Mystery of Golgotha, Rudolf Steiner passed through this period of testing and trials.

6. Shortly before the turn of the Century, Rudolf Steiner achieved an inner breakthrough, “This experience culminated in my standing in the spiritual presence of the Mystery of Golgotha in a most profound and solemn festival of knowledge.” (Autobiography)

Through these six life events, and others, the author concludes that Steiner is a unique Christian master and, moreover, that he plays an essential role in the evolution of the (current) Fifth Post-Atlantean Epoch. This is connected with Rudolf Steiner’s unique connection with the world of the Holy Spirit which is found in the sphere of the bodhisattvas:

“For all proclamations, all aspects of wisdom in the world, go back ultimately to this single source, to the source of primal wisdom possessed by [this] being—the Spirit of the bodhisattvas” (CW 113, August 31, 1909). Prokofieff continues, “And when Rudolf Steiner says that in the School of Michael the ancient initiation wisdom was “worked through” (CW 240, July 20, 1924) in order that it might become the foundation of a new knowledge of Christ, we must seek its source in the sphere of the bodhisattvas. What had in this way been prepared in the supersensible School of Michael was then implemented by Rudolf Steiner. He was the first to be able to encompass the wisdom of the bodhisattvas with the spiritualized intelligence of Michael and, hence, to make it accessible to all human beings.”

Sergei O. Prokofeiff goes on to characterize in detail the realm of the bodhisattvas. Here one learns the concept of the Cosmic Bodhisattvas as distinct from the human bodhisattvas who progress to buddhahood. A normal bodhisattva is a human being who has advanced “to such an extent that he can in full consciousness work together with the angelic being who guides him, while receiving inspiration for his work from the archangelic being who stands at an even higher level.”

The Cosmic Bodhisattvas are twelve in number. The twelve constitute the vehicle for the working of the Holy Spirit and they receive their inspiration from the Christ. Each of these Cosmic Bodhisattvas is composed of a specific set of angels, archangels, and archai. Prokofieff uses the Russian term sobornost to describe a higher community founded on the spirit. One could say that each Cosmic Bodhisattva is such a community of angels, archangels, and archai, and when these twelve work together they form an even higher sobornost: the lodge of the Twelve Cosmic Bodhisattvas which is in the realm of providence. Rudolf Steiner was able to consciously enter this lodge of the Twelve Cosmic Bodhisattvas.

Additionally, the book describes the formation of a 13th Cosmic Bodhisattva in the period from 1879-1900. This was made possible through the advance of the Nathan Soul (2) to the rank of angel, of Vidar (a god of the Norse Mythology, CW 121) to the rank of archangel, and of Michael to the rank of archai. These three had a “quite particular connection to the Spirit Self, Life Spirit, and Spirit Man of Christ.” This new Cosmic Bodhisattva has the “particular task of being the instrument of the etheric Christ from the 20th Century onwards. … And for the fulfillment of their mission, which was at the same time the mission of the etheric Christ Himself, all these three hierarchic beings working together in the spiritual worlds needed one human being who ... had the capacity of receiving them in full consciousness into himself, that is, of enabling them to work through all three of his sheaths. In other words, this new ‘thirteenth’ bodhisattva needed his human bearer, his particular human ‘bodhisattva’ who was at the level of a master and had certain qualities belonging already to the stage of ‘buddhahood’, and who thereby made it possible for this ‘thirteenth’ bodhisattva to incarnate into him while fully maintaining his individual ego consciousness, imbued and pervaded as it was by Christ Himself. This human being—the greatest Christian initiate of our time and the individual bearer of the mysteries of the etheric Christ in the 20th century—was Rudolf Steiner.” (3)

This review concludes with a quote of Maria Röschl (4) reported in the book. She asked Rudolf Steiner “whether there was an initiate in his time whose perception [in the spiritual world] extended as high and as far as his own … he answered that there was, but there was no one with the capacity to clothe what he beheld in the form of thoughts that enable others to comprehend it with their own powers of thinking: for this required bringing what had been spiritually perceived into the brain, and this was a sacrifice that no one else had been able to make.”

Stephen E. Usher, PhD (seusher@sbcglobal.net) is an an economist with expertise in money, banking, and financial markets. He was for eight years managing director of Anthroposophic Press, and has lectured and written widely on anthroposophical topics.

1. Schröer was a distinguished professor who recommended the very young Rudolf Steiner as editor of Goethe’s scientific works for an important new edition. Steiner’s later research made him aware of Schröer’s mission to bring a new, evolved Platonism. – Editor

2. According to Rudolf Steiner’s research, the “Nathan Soul” is the individuality whose first incarnation was as the Jesus Child of the line of Nathan, described in the Luke Gospel. —Editor

3. Prokofieff distinguishes between Eastern and Western bodhisattvas. The Western ones do not change their individuality at age 30 as Eastern bodhisattvas do. Further the Western bodhisattvas can continue to incarnate after attaining buddhahood.

4. Maria Röschl taught at the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart and was first leader of the Youth Section of the School of Spiritual Science. —Editor