Mary, mother of Jesus

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Raphael: Sistine Madonna, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Dresden)

Mary (Hebrew: מרים Mirjam; Aramaicܡܪܝܡ; Arabic مريم Maryam, Mariam, Meryem or Marjam; Greek: Μαριάμ Mariam), also called Madonna (Italian: "my lady") in artistic representation, is, according to the tradition of the New Testament and the w:Quran, the mother of Jesus of Nazareth, more precisely of the Nathanian Jesus. After her heavenly transfiguration, she is venerated as the Queen of Heaven (Latin: regina caeli or regina coeli) and is depicted in the Apocalypse of John in the image of the "woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars" (Rev 12:1ESV).

The Virgin Sophia

→ Main article: Virgin Sophia

In esoteric Christianity, the mother of Jesus was always called the "Virgin Sophia", as also by John the Evangelist; only exoterically does he call her the "Mother of Jesus". In Christian esotericism, this refers to the astral body purified of lower sensual desires (→ catharsis) and elevated to the spiritual self. The fact that Mary's virginity must not be misunderstood as an external miracle in the bodily sense is also emphasised by the apocryphal Gospel of Philip, which belongs to the Valentinian gnosis:

„Some said, "Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit." They are in error. They do not know what they are saying. When has a woman ever become pregnant by a woman? Mary is the virgin whom no power stained. She is a great sanctuary for the Hebrews, that is the apostles and the disciples of the apostles. This virgin who stained no power, the powers stained themselves. And the Lord would not have said, "My Father who is in heaven," if He had not had another Father, but He would simply have said, "My Father!"“

– Gospel of Philip: Proverb 17

The Two Jesus Boys and the Two Figures of Mary

Raphael's Madonna Terranuova with John the Baptist and the two Jesus boys.

Rudolf Steiner pointed out that at the begin of the Common Era not one but two Jesus boys were born, the Nathanian Jesus and the Solomonic Jesus. Accordingly, there were also two sets of parents. Rudolf Steiner states that the parents of both Jesus boys were called Joseph and Mary, which is not unusual, since these names were widespread in Palestine at that time. The figure commonly identified with Mary is the mother of the Nathanian Jesus boy whose birth story is described in the Gospel of Luke. The Nathanian Jesus, as is clear from the genealogical register of Luke's Gospel, came from the Nathanian line of the House of David. He descended to an earthly birth for the very first time at the dawning of the new age, but long before that he had a close relationship with the Christ in the spiritual world and prepared with Him through the preliminary stages to the Mystery of Golgotha His earthly incarnation, which only took place with the Jordan baptism in the 30th year of Jesus of Nazareth's life. The story of the second boy Jesus, the Solomonic Jesus, who descended from the Solomonic line of David, is described in the Gospel of Matthew. According to Rudolf Steiner, he was the reborn high Persian initiate Zarathustra.

„Let us take the facts for a moment. The writer of the Gospel of Matthew describes that the birth of the Creator of Christianity is proclaimed in advance, that this birth takes place, that magi come from the East who have perceived the star, that the star has led them to the place where the Redeemer is born. He also describes that Herod is made aware of this and that, in order to escape Herod's measure, which consists of the Bethlehemite infanticide, the parents of the Redeemer flee with the child to Egypt. When Herod was dead, Joseph, the father of Jesus, was told that he could return, and he did not return to Bethlehem for fear of Herod's successor, but went to Nazareth. - Today I want to refrain from the announcement of the Baptist. But I would like to point out that if we compare the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew with each other, in the two Gospels the proclamation of Jesus of Nazareth is made quite differently: in one case it is made to Joseph, in the other to Mary. We then see from Luke's Gospel how the parents of Jesus of Nazareth originally live in Nazareth and then go to Bethlehem on one occasion, namely for the census. While they are there, the Jesus is born. Then after eight days the circumcision takes place - nothing of a flight to Egypt - ; and after some time, which is not far after, the child is presented in the temple. We see that the sacrifice is offered, which is customary, and that afterwards the parents go back with the child to Nazareth and live there. And then we are told of a strange procession, the procession of how the twelve-year-old Jesus stays behind in the temple during a visit that his parents have made to Jerusalem, how they search for him, how they then find him again in the temple among those who interpret the Scriptures, how he confronts them there as an expert in the interpretation of the Scriptures, how he appears intelligent and wise in the circle of the scribes. Then we are told how they take the child home again, how he grows up; and we hear nothing more special about him until John's baptism.

There we have two stories of Jesus of Nazareth before the reception of the Christ.“ (Lit.:GA 114, p. 27f)

Literature

German
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.
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