Festival of Easter
GA 233a
Rudolf Steiner leads us to an understanding of the true meaning of Easter by tracing its history from the pre-Christian era to our time. He shows it is ultimately through knowing the true significance of Easter that we come to understand our relationship to spiritual reality.
A course of four lectures given at Dornach, from the 19th to the 22nd of April, 1924. This is the authorised English translation, taken from shorthand notes, unrevised by the lecturer. It is presented here with the kind permission of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach, Switzerland and Marie Steiner.
| Lecture I | April 19, 1924 | |
| The development of the Festival out of the Mysteries. The Mystery of Adonis. The continuance of the Mystery-thoughts into rightly understood Easter-thoughts | ||
| Lecture II | April 20, 1924 | |
| Moon-birth and Sun-birth. Constraint through the natural necessity of the paternal Moon-forces, liberation through the dissolving Sun-forces. Stage of ancient Easter initiation. Resurrection of the man of soul and spirit out of the physical body into the Cosmos. | ||
| Lecture III | April 21, 1924 | |
| Observation of relationships on the heavens. The secret of the moon. The planets and their influence on the etheric body of man. The moon's influence on man. Man as bearer of the Sun-light. Moon-initiation: the decline of spirituality in spring. Sun-initiation: the rise of spirituality after the death experience in autumn. | ||
| Lecture IV | April 22, 1924 | |
| Decline of the life of the Ancient Mysteries and the development of freedom. The carry over of what is once experienced into knowledge. The Ephesian Mysteries. The descent of the spirit into the light-ether body. J O A equals man. Tone is light. Reading in the Cosmic script. The Easter atmosphere in Anthroposophy which leads back to the Mysteries, but also to the conviction of immortality and repeated resurrection in the spirit. | ||