The Rudolf Steiner Archive

14. Ancient Initiation and Esoteric Christianity

[ 1 ] If we wish to shed light on two ideas at the very heart of the Christian worldview—sin against the Holy Spirit and the concept of Christian grace—we must first familiarize ourselves a little with the fundamental questions and underlying currents of Christianity. You know from other lectures that the teachings of commonly proclaimed Christianity are based on what is known as esoteric Christianity. You also know that hints of such a Christianity can be found in the Gospel itself, simply in the words: “When the Lord was with the people, he spoke in parables, but when he was alone with the disciples, he explained these parables to them.” — There was simply one teaching for those who were still unable to understand much, to whom one had to speak in hints, for whom one could not yet go deeper; and there was another teaching intended for the initiated. In this sense, Paul, the great propagator of Christianity, taught the people what we know from his letters. In addition to this teaching of Paul, which was an external one for the people, there was also an esoteric teaching from him. Paul—something unknown to external history—founded the esoteric school in Athens under the leadership of Dionysius. Within this esoteric school of Christianity, intimate disciples were taught the secret doctrine that you are rediscovering today through spiritual science.

[ 2 ] Scholars know very little about the teachings that were imparted at that time by St. Paul’s esoteric companions in Athens to a select group of disciples. There is even talk of a “false Dionysius,” because it is said that there is no evidence that any of these teachings were written down at that time. The one who taught this esotericism in the 6th century is called Pseudo-Dionysius. Only those who do not know what was customary with such intimate teachings in ancient times say this. It is only in our time that it has become customary for everyone to rush to entrust everything to Scripture. In ancient times, what was the holiest truth was kept from public disclosure. One would first assess the person to whom it was revealed. It was taught only in esoteric schools, only from person to person, provided that the recipient was truly worthy of it. In the same way, the teachings of esoteric Christianity were transmitted from person to person, and some were written down in the 6th century. Because it was customary for the head of such a school to always bear the name Dionysius, the head of this school in Athens in the 6th century also bore this name—the same as his great ancestor in Athens, the friend of Paul. In the spirit of this esoteric school—truly as it was taught there—let us consider the concept of sin against the Holy Spirit, or rather, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and the concept of Christian grace.

[ 3 ] If we wish to grasp the original meaning of Christianity, we must go far back into the history of human development and realize that, with the appearance of Christ Jesus, something entirely new was truly imprinted upon the spiritual history of humanity. What was imprinted there finds its most intense expression in the initiation of Paul himself. The fact that a man like Saul, through such a sudden enlightenment, came to hold the full conviction of the truth of Christianity would not have been possible before the appearance of Christ Jesus. We have spoken often before about what initiation was like before the appearance of Christ Jesus on Earth. Let us do so once more in order to understand what the Spirit of Truth actually means in the Christian sense. If we wish to grasp what took place in the ancient places of initiation, then we must briefly call to mind the nature of the human being.

[ 4 ] You know that human beings consist of seven constituent parts. The physical body is composed of the same elements as the inanimate substances of the physical world. The etheric body brings these forces to life; it works at every moment of our lives to counteract the decay of the physical body. Only at death does the etheric—or life—body separate from the physical body. A crystal holds its substance together by its own power; the living body decays as soon as it is left to itself. Truly, at every moment there is a fighter against death within it. If it ceases to fight, then death sets in. The third member is the astral body, the body of consciousness. The fourth member is the “I”; through this, the human being is the crown of creation. All esoteric teachings have conceived of the human being as composed of these four members. In the Pythagorean school, every student first had to be initiated into this teaching of the fourfold human being. Only when this teaching had become his deepest conviction could he be initiated into higher wisdom. He therefore had to vow: “I vow by that which is deeply imprinted in our hearts, the sacred Fourfold, the spiritually sublime symbol, the primal source of all natural and spiritual creation.”

[ 5 ] Even the most undeveloped human being possesses these four members. Human beings evolve through various incarnations toward ever greater perfection as the “I” works on these three members of the being. In the astral body, the “I” first works on everything that constitutes cultural progress and logical, scientific learning—that which serves to move away from the animal stage. This is the work of the “I” on the astral body. In every developed human being whose “I” has already worked on the astral body, the astral body divides into two parts: the given part and the part that the “I” has created. This part, which grows larger and larger the further the human being advances, is called Manas or the spiritual self. Christian esotericism refers to this part as the Holy Spirit, in contrast to the spirit, the unpurified and unhallowed part of the astral body. Thus, we have come to know the fifth member.

[ 6 ] However, the “I” can also work into the denser etheric body. In a certain sense, this already happens in the ordinary person—that is, unconsciously. It has often been said that one must distinguish between working on the astral body and working on the etheric body: the former—given the rapidity of its progress compared to the latter—can be compared to the movement of the minute hand relative to that of the hour hand. When a person surrenders to the impression of a sublime work of art, that work of art has a transforming effect on the life body and the consciousness body. Every great artistic impulse exerts this effect. The strongest effect is that of the religious impulses brought into the world by the founders of religions, which direct the “I” toward the eternal. The clairvoyant eye can see when a person’s etheric body becomes ever more beautiful and pure.

[ 7 ] The part of the human etheric body that the “I” spiritualizes is called the Buddhi, the life spirit; it is the transformed life body. In Christian esotericism, this part, which has been transformed by the ego, is called the Christos. The fifth member of the human being is the Holy Spirit; the sixth member is the Christ, the inner Christos.

[ 8 ] It has already been pointed out that there have always been so-called secret initiations for human beings, and that through them a person can become an initiate and gain insight into the spiritual world itself. This is based precisely on a higher transformation of the etheric or life body. That is why you must also realize that any higher training is not merely the absorption of concepts and teaching material. Rather, secret training consists in the transformation of the qualities of our life body. Anyone who has transformed their temperament has accomplished far more than if they had absorbed an infinite amount of scientific knowledge.

[ 9 ] There is an even higher transformation that occurs only after advanced training. In this process, the human being refines and purifies his physical body. What does the human being know about his physical body? By dissecting it in an anatomical laboratory, one does not yet gain an understanding of the laws governing it, nor any inner mastery of those laws. There is, however, a way to look within oneself so that the movements of the nerve fibers, the pulse, and the respiratory currents become clear, enabling one to consciously work with them. If, through so-called esoteric training, a person is also able to transform their physical body, then this transformed, dense body is called Atma, because the process begins with the regulation of the breathing process. The seventh member of the human being is Atma; in Christian esotericism, it is the Father.

[ 10 ] Thus, one first comes to the Holy Spirit, the transformed astral body; through the Holy Spirit, to Christ, the consciousness of the etheric body; and through Christ, to the Father, the consciousness of the physical body.

[ 11 ] Once you have understood how these seven aspects of human nature are connected, you will also understand what initiation was like in ancient times before Christ and what it was like after Christ Jesus appeared on Earth. When a person sleeps, only the physical and etheric bodies lie in bed; the astral body is outside. When a person dies, they leave the physical body behind, and the part that they have already transformed from the physical body emerges—forces, not matter. Very little is what a person takes with them. Yet it is precisely this that serves, in a new incarnation, to form the new physical body. Materialism calls this part the “permanent atom.” First, the part that the person has transformed from the physical body itself emerges; the etheric body emerges, the body of consciousness emerges, and the “I” emerges. After some time, the part of the etheric body that the person has not yet worked on detaches itself. Thus, the person enters the Kamaloka, the place of purification. After some time, that part of the astral body on which the “I” has not yet worked also detaches. Then comes the time when, of the three bodies, only that which the “I” itself has developed remains attached to the human being. This passes through the spiritual realm. It is the eternal core of the human being’s being. The more the “I” has developed, the greater this core becomes.

[ 12 ] The Holy Spirit is the eternal spirit within man. Christ is the eternal part of the living body; the Father is the eternal aspect of the physical body. These three accompany man through all, all times as his eternal part.

[ 13 ] Before the Christian era, the initiation process was such that the student was first prepared for all that esoteric science has to offer, to the point where he was familiar with all the concepts and ideas, all the habits and feelings necessary to live in the higher worlds and to perceive within them. Then came what was called the “awakening,” which lasted three and a half days and three nights. This consisted of the temple priest using his art to artificially induce a death-like sleep in the person for three and a half days. Whereas normally the physical and etheric bodies remain connected during sleep, the etheric body of the initiate was, for this period, separated from the physical body through the art of the initiating priest, so that only a loose connection remained between the physical body and the other bodies. It was a deep trance-like sleep. During this time, the person’s “I” lived in the higher worlds. Since the student had been given knowledge of the higher world, he was familiar with it. The priest guided him. First, the priest had to free the etheric body from the lethargic physical body in order to lead the student out into the spiritual worlds. In a fully conscious state, the person would never have been able to ascend into those higher worlds. He had to be lifted out of this state.

[ 14 ] As magnificent and awe-inspiring as the experience was for the individual, he was nonetheless entirely at the mercy of the priest. Another ruled over him, and only at this price could he enter the higher worlds. You can imagine what he was like after that time if you consider that on this occasion the person was able to experience his Eternal Self. He was freed from that part of finitude—the physical body—which he could not use if he was to move in the higher worlds. From this experience, such a person emerged as one who knew—as one who could bear witness from personal experience to the victory of life over death. These were the initiates who could bear witness to this. The etheric body had to be lifted out of the physical body in order to experience the Christ within the human being. These initiates could say: “I have experienced it myself—that there is a part within the human being that is eternal, that outlasts all incarnations. I know it; I have experienced this eternal core of being myself.”—To achieve this, they had to enter into a three-day state of complete dream sleep.

[ 15 ] There was something else connected to this; this type of initiation was also linked to something else. The further back we go, the more we recognize this. I have already described it once before when I spoke of how, in ancient times, there existed what we call “close marriage” as opposed to “distant marriage.” Among all peoples, there were small communities that were related to one another. People married within these communities; stepping outside them was considered immoral. Marriages always involved related bloodlines. Only gradually was “close marriage” replaced by the principle of “distant marriage.” Even for initiations, very special measures were necessary: one had to carefully select previous incarnations in order to bring about the best possible blending of bloodlines. From this lineage was born the one who could undergo the high initiations. With blood relatives, it is particularly easy to lift the etheric body out of the physical body. With distant marriages, this is not nearly as easy. There were entire generations of priests who ensured that the bloodline was preserved in a very specific way.

[ 16 ] Human life is complicated; it does not always follow a straight path. One must delve deeper into the mysteries of existence. More and more, the principle of kinship was transcended, and the tribe expanded into a nation. Among the Israelites, we see how the tribal principle was elevated entirely into a national community. Christ extends this perspective into the distant future: “Whoever does not leave father, mother, brother, and sister for my sake cannot be my disciple.”

[ 17 ] Cruel as it may be, this word most accurately reveals the tendency of Christianity. In the context of the national community, people used to say: “This is my brother, born within the nation.” — In the context of the brotherhood of humankind, which must encompass the entire human race, it is said: “Because you are human, you are my brother.” - This is the deepest principle of Christianity. All the narrow-mindedness of other forms of kinship must be torn apart, and a common bond must be forged from person to person. But in doing so, the old principle of initiation, which is based on blood kinship, has also been torn apart.

[ 18 ] We see the new principle of initiation—which from now on is no longer bound to any physical attribute—hinted at by Paul himself: He is initiated in the light, not in the darkness of the temple. That could not have happened in the past. When we consider this, we will be able to recognize the great transformation brought about by Christ Jesus. It was prepared by Moses, Zarathustra, Buddha, and Pythagoras, and it was brought about by Christ Jesus.

[ 19 ] Thus, in the Christian schools of initiation, we see for the first time the principle put into practice: not to lead a person into the higher worlds by withdrawing them from the physical body, but to initiate them while they are still in a fully conscious physical body. This was the case in the Christian-esoteric schools. In contrast to this, among the ancients—and thus for a large part of humanity even today—there is the initiating temple priest, to whose strict authority the initiate submits. Only by submitting oneself entirely to the authority of such an initiator could one ascend.

[ 20 ] The principle of coercive authority was also evident in external social life: the priests were the rulers. All rules of governance, the entire structure of the state, stemmed from the initiating power. This was possible from the blood-based community within the tribe all the way to the nation. By abolishing the old initiating principle, a completely different kind of authority was ushered in: free authority, based solely on trust. “You shall believe in the one you trust”—that is the highest Christian ideal to which one can aspire, where each person stands before the other as a brother, and the one who stands higher is recognized as the one in whom one places one’s trust.

[ 21 ] “Watch and pray”—that is the Christian principle. The new initiation takes place while one is awake. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”—these are profound Christian words. They offer a perspective on the future of Christianity. Christianity is only at the beginning of its development.

[ 22 ] Consider the intense connection between the initiating teacher in the ancient temple sleep and the student who, over the course of three and a half days, receives the final stage of the initiation. This relationship was such that we cannot even imagine it today. The relationship between a hypnotist and the hypnotized gives us a faint glimpse of the way in which the initiating temple priest first awakened the Holy Spirit and then the Christos. The student reflected the Holy Spirit and the Christos of the teacher; they had merged, and the clairvoyant could observe this process. During those three days, teacher and student were one. The teacher’s “I” lived on in all his disciples, deeply fused with them through the three and a half days. Consider the social pyramid: at the bottom, the people; above them, the initiates; above them, the teachers of the initiates. A spirit flowed down through all the levels. Much lived on in those thus initiated, including things that were foreign.

[ 23 ] Through the principle of Christianity, individuality came into its own. Hence the fundamental principle of Christian initiation: The student must never merge with the teacher in this way. They must not become one person during the initiation. The Holy Spirit must arise and be awakened within the “I” of each individual. This has become the principle of Christian initiation. This is also symbolically expressed in the miracle of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles. The possibility of initiation was thereby made possible when they all began to speak in different tongues.

[ 24 ] The teacher respects the other person’s individuality; he enters the student’s heart—he does not extract it from the student’s physical body.

[ 25 ] Consider how, for modern human beings, it is of paramount importance that the Holy Spirit and Christ be developed independently. Then you will understand that it is actually only through this principle of Christianity that the human personality has been conceived as a free being. It was Christianity alone that truly liberated human individuality, and therefore, through Christianity, a completely different relationship to truth and wisdom than in the past has become necessary.

[ 26 ] In ancient times, the spirit of wisdom reigned because it was centralized. With fragmentation, it becomes decentralized, but egoism takes its place. The more the principle of distant marriage prevails, the greater must be the power of that which brings the liberated people back together. What is that? If you look at what we are learning today in the elementary stages of spiritual science and go back in history, you will see that this knowledge was possessed only by small communities—and ultimately only by the very elite. As a result, the elite ruled according to the principle of coercive authority. We are approaching a time when wisdom is becoming more and more widespread. This will be a means of establishing the great brotherhood of humanity.

[ 27 ] Two spiritual researchers will never disagree on anything. If they do, then one opinion is wrong. Wisdom is a unified whole that is incapable of difference. The more individual people become, the more wisdom must be given to them; that wisdom will bring them together. Today we are in a transitional stage. The principle of taking sides ceases entirely with the increasing development of wisdom. The more individual humanity becomes, the wiser it must become, for knowledge will bring it together: this is the spirit of wisdom that Jesus Christ promises to His own. The sun of wisdom draws all points of view toward itself, just as the sun draws plants toward itself.

[ 28 ] The Spirit who will set people free is the Holy Spirit. A Christian must never sin against this Spirit. Whoever sins against it sins against Christianity itself, against the promised Spirit, who alone can unite individual human beings.

[ 29 ] The Gospels speak of Jesus the Christ casting out demons. Demons exist only as long as a person has not become free, as long as he has not yet absorbed this Spirit of Wisdom. A person is completely permeated with all manner of entities that flow in and out of his lower faculties. We call them phantoms, spectres, ghosts, and demons. To use a trivial comparison: it is like maggots migrating in and out of cheese. By presenting himself as the Spirit who casts out demons, Christ Jesus reveals himself as the Spirit of freedom. One can cast out demons only by invoking one Spirit against another—the Spirit of freedom against all other spirits.

[ 30 ] Now think for a moment about those ancient communities, from tribal to national communities. How can one bring together these people who have not become free as individuals? Imagine if everyone sitting here had become free, and the Spirit of Truth lived within them all! Would we ever argue, ever fall into discord? No, for there are no differing viewpoints when we are united solely by the Spirit.

[ 31 ] In ancient times, external laws had to be enforced to keep people together. Two people who know the spirit of truth will feel drawn to one another of their own accord. Thus, at the beginning of human development stands the law; at the end, peaceful, harmonious cooperation arising from within. In esoteric Christianity, this is called grace, in contrast to the law. Nothing other than the ability to empathize with others in complete peace—that is the deepest concept of Christianity.

[ 32 ] The astral body, filled with the Holy Spirit, is the same for everyone; the Spirit of Truth is the same in each person. Imagine this Spirit in a form of individuality in which Christos is also awakened—that principle which acts as the Spirit of Life within the body of life. When each person permeates the etheric body with this feeling, then you will have in every heart a sense of the unified Spirit, the individualities brought together by shared wisdom. And what you feel within yourselves—that is Caritas, that is grace.

[ 33 ] It was brought by Him who, at the beginning of our era, embodied the entire Christ within His individuality—He who was the first to fulfill the entire principle of humanity. Christ Jesus became what is meant to live within every single human being. Through Him, that which consists of freedom and peaceful cooperation has come into the world.

[ 34 ] “Come alive again in Christ; put to death the spirit of discord!” says Paul.

[ 35 ] A person can sin against anything that is not held within this Spirit itself. If he were to sin against this Spirit of universal humanity—if he were to deny it—then he would no longer be a Christian.

[ 36 ] Human beings must come to be conscious of the Spirit. As human beings develop more and more, their body of consciousness is transformed into the Holy Spirit. That is why the sin against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven.

[ 37 ] For the uninitiated, the transformation of the etheric body occurs unconsciously. As long as a person is not initiated, he can commit only in the astral body a sin that cannot be forgiven. The initiate must also not sin against the physical and etheric bodies. For those who have not yet been initiated, these sins can be forgiven. This occurs with the help of those who are the guides of humanity.