Rudolf Steiner And The Founding Of The New Mysteries

In this revised and expanded edition of his classic debut, Sergei O. Prokofieff investigates the deepest mysteries of Rudolf Steiner’s life and individuality, from ‘the years of apprenticeship’ and ‘the great Sun period’ to ‘the path of the Teacher of Humanity’ and ‘the birth of the New Mysteries’. He discusses the earthly and supersensible aspects of the first Goetheanum, the implications of the Christmas Conference of 1923-24, and the Foundation Stone meditation that Steiner left as a legacy to members of the Anthroposophical Society. In his very personal Introduction, Prokofieff describes, in moving detail, the events in his life which led to his discovery of anthroposophy whilst living in Communist Russia, and how eventually he came to write this extraordinary study of Rudolf Steiner. The resulting volume – a work of secondary anthroposophical literature unprecedented in its depth and significance – was first published in Germany in 1982, meeting with equal amounts of acclaim, astonishment and controversy. It is published in this paperback edition to mark the 35th anniversary of the original publication.

"It is my personal conviction that the question of our relationship to Rudolf Steiner is fundamental to the life of Anthroposophy itself." -- Sergei O. Prokofieff Even within the Anthroposophical Society and the anthroposophic movement, people's relationship to Rudolf Steiner is weakening and dissipating. This is problematic, says Prokofieff, as the future of both the Society and movement depends on a sufficient number of people aspiring to and realizing a true spiritual connection with the founder of Anthroposophy. Prokofieff deals in detail with this issue and asks, "Can one be an anthroposophist without being Rudolf Steiner's pupil?" In the second part of this book, Prokofieff elaborates on the mysteries surrounding the laying of the spiritual Foundation Stone at the Society's Christmas Meeting that began 1923. That event, he asserts, ensured that a personal relationship with Rudolf Steiner "would not remain within the realm of the generally abstract or intellectual, but would become a real inner deed." Thus, Steiner gave each anthroposophist the possibility of connecting with him through free inner work on the Foundation Stone. Both parts of this book are linked, in the sense that once a relationship with Steiner is established, an inner longing to work with the "new mysteries" will follow. In Prokofieff's words, "The will to take the foundation of the new mysteries seriously leads to a real, inner connection with Rudolf Steiner." Relating to Rudolf Steiner includes an essay on the "problem" of digitally publishing Steiner's most important esoteric texts and the esoteric background of the internet and electronic media in general. In response to readers' questions about how to counteract the harmful consequences of these developments, Prokofieff has expanded and developed his original essay on this subject.

‘And however paradoxical it may seem today, the “Grail mood” is in the fullest sense to be found in Russia. And the future role that Russia will play in the sixth post-Atlantean epoch... rests firmly upon this unconquerable “Grail mood” in the Russian people.’ – Rudolf Steiner Although Eastern Europe has been part of the Christian world for more than a thousand years, its spiritual identity remains a mystery. This mystery, says Sergei Prokofieff, can only fully be solved by looking behind external events and seeking spiritual – meta-historical – dimensions of reality. In illuminating the maya of outer history, Prokofieff reveals the forces that have been at work to hinder the progress of mankind: the materialistic Brotherhoods of the West and the occult aspects of both Jesuitism and Bolshevism. These adversary groups have created a ‘karma of materialism’, that the eastern Slavic peoples have taken upon themselves out of their ‘exalted willingness for sacrifice’. Prokofieff shows how, from the earliest times, the future ‘conscience of humanity’ flowed from hidden mystery centres in Hibernia, to the eastern Slavic peoples. As a result, qualities of ‘compassion, patience and willingness for sacrifice’ developed in their souls, creating a truly Christian ‘Grail mood’. Despite incalculable suffering – from the persecutions of the Mongol hordes to the Bolshevik experiment of the last century – this quality has become an unconquerable force. Will humanity be able to use the present opportunity granted by this sacrifice to fulfil the primary purposes of the present cultural epoch? Can the future mysteries of the Holy Grail be fulfilled? In this momentous work, breathtaking in its scope and detail, the author attempts a truly esoteric approach, penetrating to the spiritual wellsprings of Eastern Europe in the light of Rudolf Steiner’s research.

Continuing from his first book Rudolf Steiner and the Founding of the New Mysteries, Sergei Prokofieff researches the working of seven Masters of esoteric Christianity: Manes, Master Jesus, Scythianos, Gautama Buddha, The Maitreya Bodhisattva, Novalis and Christian Rosenkreutz. In this profound study he shows how the Masters have guided humanity over millennia, their working with Rudolf Steiner and the founding of anthroposophy, with particular reference to the Christ Being and the events at the Turning Point of Time. Also considered are particular aspects of Rudolf Steiner's own development and Initiation, his founding of the new mysteries during the Christmas Conference of 1923-24, and Rudolf Steiner's own position within the circle of Masters. "What has for nearly two millennia belonged only to a narrow circle of Christian initiates can, thanks to Anthroposophy, from our time onward become accessible to every person of goodwill who wants to understand through it the 'intentions of the living Christ, ' in order, out of freedom, to further their fulfillment on the Earth. As a result, it has for the first time become possible for human beings to unite their spiritual aims with the spiritual aims of the leading Masters of esoteric Christianity and, on this path, to enter the circle of the true 'friends of God.'" Following the death of the translator and other obstacles, this book was never published within Sergei Prokofieff's lifetime, and the publishing of it has only now become possible following the completion of its translation from the original Russian.

"We live today at a time when the full mystery of the Resurrection body can become manifest to human beings out of the inspirations of Michael.... This was accomplished by Rudolf Steiner not just in a theoretical sense but also practically, and came about through the establishing of a path, accessible to all human beings, which leads to a union with the forces of the Resurrection body." Sergei Prokofieff approaches the deepest mysteries of the Turning Point of Time (the Christ event) through Rudolf Steiner's spiritual research. At its heart stands the question of the restoration of the "phantom" of the physical body and its transformation into the resurrected body of Christ through the Mystery of Golgotha. The author draws a broad and differentiated picture of the tasks and possibilities that the Easter event--as well as Ascension and Pentecost--present, both for the individual and humanity. The final chapter considers the mystery of Easter Saturday, through which the two polar aspects of the Mystery of Golgotha--death and resurrection--interconnect, also explaining the relationship between the Earth Spirit and the interior of the Earth. An appendix tackles the phenomenon of stigmatization from a spiritual-scientific perspective.

This new publication is a continuation of the book written by Sergei O. Prokofieff, The Mystery of the Resurrection in the Light of Anthroposophy (2008). In studying Rudolf Steiners work, many questions arise that warrant further research, whereas Steiner only suggests a direction in which the subject may be carried forward. This can be seen especially in the field of anthroposophic Christology. When researching this subject, the many questions that arise can lead to being confronted by conundrums. However, studying the work again later, such seemingly impossible questions may suddenly become clear, resulting in completely new and surprising perspectives. Some of these new perspectives will be found in this volume.

Meditative reflection--strengthening thinking and feeling through the will--is one of the main methods of experiencing Anthroposophy. Prokofieff writes: "The best path to this goal is inner work with the Foundation Stone Meditation, because this meditation is the quintessence of the whole of Anthroposophy, given in meditatively inspired form by means of earthly words." Rudolf Steiner described the substance of the "Foundation Stone Meditation" as spoken by him "out of the will of the spiritual world," and as "verses heard from the Cosmic Word." Owing to its spiritual and mantric form, the text of this meditation represents an archetype and is thus a key to the most diverse areas of world and human existence. Depending on "which spiritual portal is opened with this key," explains Prokofieff, "one arrives at one result or another, and one and the same line of the meditation becomes a reply to the most varied questions." The author applies this method in this work and, in the process, illuminates and opens up many dimensions of spiritual science. His research embraces, among other aspects, the relationship of the "Foundation Stone Meditation" to the being Anthroposophia, the spiritual hierarchies, human karma, the Rosicrucian, Michaelic and Grail streams, the Mystery of Golgotha, the two Jesus children, the three spiritual sources of Anthroposophy, and even the Constitution of the General Anthroposophical Society.

The reign of the Michael-mysteries has held sway in humanity since the beginning of the contemporary Michael epoch in 1879. At the center of those mysteries is the true spiritual path to Christ, on which Michael, as the current Time spirit and cosmic countenance of Christ, would like to guide human beings. The Michael-mysteries, moreover, represent the key for the entire future development of Earth evolution, with the aim that the Earth may become a new Sun in our cosmos, for Michael was the Archangel of the Sun from the beginning. In a special way his mysteries are connected with the karma of the anthroposophic movement. Anthroposophy was prepared suprasensorially in the Sun kingdom of Michael as a gift to humanity. Today, this secret must be revealed. In this is contained the task of Anthroposophy. As its founder, Rudolf Steiner dedicated his entire life and work to this task. The culmination and, at the same time, a testament of this spiritual teacher is the Michael Meditation, also called the Michael Imagination, with which Steiner concluded his final address to anthroposophists the evening before Michaelmas 1924. In this book, by way of Steiner's spiritual research, a summation of the Michael mysteries is given in connection with the content of the Michael meditation, as well as the foundation of the eurythmic presentation according to the forms that Rudolf Steiner created during his final days on his sick bed.