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[[File:Rembrandt The Three Crosses 1653.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[w:The Three Crosses|The Three Crosses]], etching by [[w:Rembrandt van Rijn|Rembrandt van Rijn]], 1683]]
[[File:Rembrandt The Three Crosses 1653.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[w:The Three Crosses|The Three Crosses]], etching by [[w:Rembrandt van Rijn|Rembrandt van Rijn]], 1683]]


The actual significance of the Mystery of Golgotha lies not in the external events but in their spiritual backgrounds. It must be grasped as a supersensible '''mystical fact'''. [[Rudolf Steiner]] already pointed this out in his fundamental writing "[[[Christianity as Mystical Fact and the Mysteries of Antiquity]]".
The actual significance of the Mystery of Golgotha lies not in the external events but in their spiritual backgrounds. It must be grasped as a supersensible '''mystical fact'''. [[Rudolf Steiner]] already pointed this out in his fundamental writing "[[Christianity as Mystical Fact and the Mysteries of Antiquity]]".


{{GZ|Only when we have the ideas, the concepts, which lead into the supersensible, can we also understand the Mystery of Golgotha, which is precisely an event that has to do with the supersensible, not with the sensuous world. What took place in the sensuous world of the Mystery of Golgotha is only the outer reflection.|198|243}}
{{GZ|Only when we have the ideas, the concepts, which lead into the supersensible, can we also understand the Mystery of Golgotha, which is precisely an event that has to do with the supersensible, not with the sensuous world. What took place in the sensuous world of the Mystery of Golgotha is only the outer reflection.|198|243}}

Revision as of 09:51, 25 May 2021

Crucifixion, Michelangelo 1540

The Mystery of Golgotha, which took place with the crucifixion, the death on the cross, the burial, the descent into hell and the resurrection of Christ, is the central event of the entire development of the Earth and of humanity. With it, the actual birth of the human I took place.

„Without the Mystery of Golgotha, sibylism, which is connected with the elementary forces of the Earth, which work in the subconscious of the soul and push themselves out in a passionate way, would have triumphed over the conscious I-forces, would have pushed back the I-forces. The I would have been lost to the development of humanity. As a force we see the Christ-impulse working in the course of humanity, even without human consciousness having taken it up.“ (Lit.:GA 152, p. 97)

The crucifixion of Christ on 3 April 33

→ Main article: Crucifixion

Rudolf Steiner's spiritual research confirms that the death of Christ on the cross actually took place on Friday, April 3, 33, at the ninth hour, that is, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, according to the Julian calendar:

„On a Friday, the 3rd of April of the year 33, three o'clock in the afternoon, the Mystery of Golgotha took place. And there also took place the birth of the I in the sense in which we have often characterised it. And it is quite indifferent on which point of the Earth the human being lives, or to which religious confession he belongs, that which came into the world through the Mystery of Golgotha applies to all human beings. Just as it is true for all the world that Caesar died on a certain day, and not another day for the Chinese and yet another day for the Indians, so it is a simple fact of occult life that the Mystery of Golgotha took place on that day and that one has to do there with the birth of the I. This is a fact of a quite international kind. This is a fact of a quite international kind.“ (Lit.:GA 143, p. 163)

The Mystery of Golgotha as a mystical fact

The Three Crosses, etching by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1683

The actual significance of the Mystery of Golgotha lies not in the external events but in their spiritual backgrounds. It must be grasped as a supersensible mystical fact. Rudolf Steiner already pointed this out in his fundamental writing "Christianity as Mystical Fact and the Mysteries of Antiquity".

„Only when we have the ideas, the concepts, which lead into the supersensible, can we also understand the Mystery of Golgotha, which is precisely an event that has to do with the supersensible, not with the sensuous world. What took place in the sensuous world of the Mystery of Golgotha is only the outer reflection.“ (Lit.:GA 198, p. 243)

Through death on Golgotha, the Christ united himself with the Earth and thereby gave it its meaning.

„Just as life is inaccessible to human knowledge, so is this the case with death towards the true knowledge which is attained in the supersensible worlds. In the whole realm of the supersensible worlds there is no death. One can only die on earth, in the physical world or in the worlds which resemble our Earth in their development, and all the beings who are hierarchically higher than man have no knowledge of death, they only know different states of consciousness. Their consciousness can temporarily be so lowered that it is similar to our earthly state of sleep, but it can wake up again from this sleep. There is no death in the spiritual world, there are only changes of consciousness there, and the greatest fear that man has, the fear of death, cannot be felt by one who has ascended to the supersensible worlds after death. There is therefore no death for beings belonging to the higher Hierarchies, with only one exception, that of the Christ. But in order that a supersensible being like the Christ might pass through death, he had first to descend to Earth. And this is what is of such immeasurable importance in the Mystery of Golgotha, that a being which in its own realm could never have experienced death in the sphere of its will, had to descend to Earth in order to undergo an experience peculiar to man, namely, to experience death. A being, unique in its kind, which until then had only been cosmic, united itself with earth evolution through the Mystery of Golgotha, through the death of the Christ. Since then it has lived on Earth in such a way, is so bound to Earth, that it lives in the souls of men on Earth and experiences life on Earth with them. Therefore, the whole time before the Mystery of Golgotha was only a time of preparation in the evolution of the earth. The Mystery of Golgotha gave the Earth its meaning. When the Mystery of Golgotha took place, the earthly body of Jesus of Nazareth was given over to the elements of the Earth, and from that time the Christ was connected with the spiritual sphere of the Earth and lives in it.“ (Lit.:GA 152, p. 39f)

Literatur
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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