Easter Watercolor by Rudolf Steiner
Dear Friends,
Those of us who were surrounded by stacks of Anthroposophical books and journals as we entered titles into the catalog for the new library found ourselves enthusiastic, energized, and interested in what we were seeing! The challenge was to keep to the task at hand and not just dive into each piece we picked up.
Still, treasures were uncovered. I was particularly intrigued by an address1 that had been given by Emil Bock, one of the priest founders of the Christian Community in 1921. In it he proposed that, It is of spiritual- historical significance that in our circles the continuing remembrance of the dead finds a culmination in the days when we also recall the death of Christ on Golgotha.
Since I have helped to organize the November All Souls observance in our community for several years, my curiosity, as you may imagine, was aroused. Why a culmination at Easter of the continuing remembrance of the dead?
As he concludes his address, Bock notes that Rudolf Steiner has on occasion taken a position against the old customs of memorial days for the dead, the commemoration in November of All Souls Day – as those who have died need the continuous companionship throughout the year of those of us here on the earth. Bock speculates that the old memorial days for the dead may be nothing more than remnants of the pre-Christian festival traditions. He suggests
that there is a good reason to commemorate the Death of Christ and remember the dead in a special way during Holy Week. In doing so we could strive to experience a soul mood in which we could experience the death of Christ as …an ever-present, vast universal mystery – not just an event that took place more than 2,000 years ago.
In trying to penetrate Bock’s meaning here I consulted with Rev. Sanford Miller, to find out if there is any special activity at Easter relative to the dead in the Christian Community. He said that there is not, and suggested that I look at what Steiner had to say about what Christ accomplished for all of us – for all of creation – when he descended into hell on Holy Saturday, known as the harrowing of hell. With this an imagination began to percolate.
So I went exploring. Rudolf Steiner tells us that as ancient Atlanteans “we still entered the spiritual worlds with full consciousness at death, but this was gradually lost, until the Greeks were very afraid of the realm of the shades.”2 So this was our condition, our perspective before the deed of the Christ, the Mystery of Golgotha. Ergo the Greek saying, “Better to be a beggar in the upper world than a king in the realm of the shades.”
Evelyn Francis Capel (the first woman in Britain to be ordained within the Christian Community) describes the change wrought by the Christ for us in this almost poetic way: At the time when the Spirit of Christ passed into the region of death, the souls of men and women who had died had come into a tragic state. In the early ages of Mankind’s history, when human souls were still so near to the Divine World that they could throughout their lifetime recollect their existence before birth, they had returned to their homeland of the Spirit at death. As the world of earth became in time much more separated from the Heavens and the souls forgot their place of origin, the return became more difficult. Instead of entering the community of the spiritual beings and dwelling in the many mansions of the starry spheres, they were imprisoned in the region where the pictures of the past life on earth surround those who have died. They found themselves in a land of shades, where they were aware of being only the shadows of their former selves. Hades, or Hell, was the old name for the realm of shadows where the souls met the tragic experience of death.
When Christ died, He came to the imprisoned souls of the dead and, having overthrown the prince of death, He wrought a transformation in their existence. He released them from the land of shades and gave them the strength to go on into the worlds of the Father. There they could find the experience of the universe, out of which their being had been born at the beginning of creation, and the healing of the infirmities caused by the sickness of sin. Since then, Christ has become the guide of human souls on the journey between this and the other world. He takes them into His care and goes with them to the dark Gate of Death, showing them the light shining from the other side, leading them out into the eternal realms of the Father…By His descent into Hell, Christ changed the destiny of the souls of the dead. 3
In an essay on Holy Saturday Bock describes the deed of the Christ in the underworld on our behalf in this way: While on Earth the dark Sabbath of the grave prevails, in the realm of the dead the Sun rises. This is the meaning of Christ’s Descent into Hell. In the kingdom of the departed a glimmer of hope lit up. The spell of death was loosened, and the prospect opened towards a future victory of the human soul over the spell of the underworld.
While it was still Holy Saturday on Earth, it was already Easter in the Kingdom of the Dead. Rudolf Steiner describes the results for us in this way: A new substance was created through the Mystery of Golgotha that could give consciousness to men when they were in the spiritual world after death. This substance flowed out of the Mystery of Golgotha. A man can develop consciousness in the spiritual world after death through an immersion in this Christ substance. That’s why every evening when we go to sleep and into the spiritual world we should remind ourselves of this and permeate ourselves with the feeling: We die in Christ. — For only the Christ impulse can keep us conscious in the spiritual world after death through its death- overcoming vital force.4
Immersing myself in the richness of these ideas brought me to the point of wondering whether the ‘so-called’ dead, and maybe the angelic hierarchies, engage in a joyous celebration each Easter, one that we here on earth can join in with, celebrating this magnificent deed of the Christ which rescued us as spiritual beings. Could this be what Bock was pointing to? I am trying to pay attention, and to see how I might participate. As with many others over time, I am sure this is not the last that I have seen of this topic now that it has come to my attention.
(As an aside) Bock notes in his address that It is not to be taken as something merely external that certain individuals have passed across the threshold in March, during the time of the approach of Good Friday. He recounts that Rudolf Steiner had pointed to these relationships, certain personalities for whom it appears to be meaningful and willed by destiny that they died at this time of year. April 3 is the date of Jesus Christ’s death; Raphael was born and died on Good Friday, and Thomas Aquinas, Goethe, Novalis, Beethoven and Steiner are among those who crossed in March.
1 This address to members of the Society in Stuttgart was reprinted in News from Anthroposophical Work in Germany in 1964, and again where I found it in the Spring, 1983 Newsletter of the Anthroposophical Society in America. There is no indication of the date of the address by Bock.
2 From the contents of Esoteric Classes, Rudolf Steiner 3 The Christian Year by Evelyn Francis Capel
4 From the contents of Esoteric Classes, Rudolf Steiner