Entombment

Rembrandt, Entombment of Christ, c. 1639

Caravaggio, The Entombment of Christ, c. 1603

The entombment and burial rest is the sixth stage of the Christian initiation. It can be experienced in the mystical re-experiencing of the Entombment of Christ respectively the burial of Jesus as it is described in the Gospel of John. One feels united with the whole Earth and deeply united with the Christ who said: "Those who eat my bread trample me underfoot" (John 13:18). In some lectures Rudolf Steiner also includes the after-experience of the resurrection in this stage of the Christian initiation; the seventh stage is then called the Ascension. In individual lectures, however, he also refers to the 7th stage as "resurrection", in which case the Ascension is not mentioned.

38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

– John 19:38–42

Rudolf Steiner describes the entombment as follows:

„The entombment: There the man feels pervaded by the sense that his own body has become alien to him and that he is completely one with the planet. He has merged with the Earth and finds himself again in the life of the planet.“ (Lit.:GA 94, p. 59)

„Then follows the entombment, an experience in which one feels at one with the planets, and the seventh stage, which cannot be spoken of because only he who can separate his mind from his brain can suspect anything. It is the ascension.“ (Lit.:GA 97, p. 233)

„The sixth is what is called the "Entombment and Resurrection". This is the stage where the pupil feels at one with the whole body of the earth; he feels as if he were placed in and belonged to the whole earth-planet. His life has expanded into planetary life.“ (Lit.:GA 103, p. 193)

Literature

• Rudolf Steiner: Kosmogonie. Populärer Okkultismus. Das Johannes-Evangelium. Die Theosophie an Hand des Johannes-Evangeliums, GA 94 (1979) English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Das christliche Mysterium, GA 97 (1998), ISBN 3-7274-0970-3 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Das Johannes-Evangelium, GA 103 (1995), ISBN 3-7274-1030-2 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated. Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com. Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English. Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA) Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.