The Birth of the Sun Hero
December 15, 2024by Karin Wietrzykowski
This Christmas, we are deeply grateful for the outpouring of financial support that we have received from the anthroposophical community during our fundraiser. With these gifts, we are committed to making Rudolf Steiner's teachings more accessible online in English. Through Advent and Christmas, we continue this work by offering highlights from Dr. Steiner's lectures on the greatest gift to humanity—the birth of Christ in Man.
The Rescue of Mankind from Death and DevolutionTo comprehend this magnificent event, one might first contemplate why it was necessary. Why did Jesus Christ incarnate on Earth? It was not merely to teach humanity right from wrong. It was to save mankind from perishing forever. This mystical fact was the turning point in time that reset the course of human evolution.
You see, after the perfectly created, immortal Adam succumbed to Lucifer's temptation and partook of the Tree of Knowledge, Man assumed a material form subject to decay and death. Over time, the human etheric body lost its contact with spiritual forces and the physical body began to dry and harden. Steiner explains how this happened.
Advent as a Reflection of EvolutionHad the Luciferic beings not intervened in Earth evolution, man would have developed no such interests in the physical world that drags him down beneath his true status; and if, as a result of the Luciferic influence, the Mephistophelian, the Ahrimanic, the Satanic beings had not taken a hand, man would know, and would always have known, that underlying every object of the senses there is spirit, and he would look through the surface of the sense world upon the spirit. But Ahriman infused into human observation something like a dark smoke cloud that prevents penetration to the spiritual. Through Ahriman's agency, man is enmeshed in lies, in maya, in illusion. [...]
But what outer form did all this have to take? What was it that entered the physical body through the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings? The tendency to decay, to dissolution—in short, the tendency to die. The germ of death had entered the physical body. Had no Christ come, this death germ would have developed its full power only at the end of Earth evolution, for then the etheric body would be for all time powerless to reanimate man; and at the completion of Earth evolution, that which had come into being as human physical body would fall into decay and the earth's mission itself would end in death. 1
With the perfect birth of Jesus and the fulfillment of his mission through the Mystery of Golgotha, humanity was graced with a path out of the dark realms of material world. He made spiritual immortality possible yet again for mankind. No longer would we be subject to death and eternal entombment in this material world. We were granted the possibility of eternal life with the rest of the cosmic realms should we choose to develop ourselves appropriately through our free will.
Long preparations were required for such an exalted, spiritual being as the Christ to incarnate here on Earth as a man. 2 This is reflected in the Christmas festival today. In his lecture entitled Birth of Light, Steiner explains how the four weeks of Advent represent the four prior Post-Atlantean cultural periods (Indian, Persian, Chaldean, Greco-Roman). 3 Advent signifies the evolution of the universe itself—from Unity to Duality to Trinity and, ultimately, to the present four-fold human being. We are the only beings on earth with a physical body like the highest body of the minerals, an etheric body like the plants, an astral body like the animals, and a human I/ego.
| Week 1 | UNITY | In the beginning was the Word/Brahman | Indian (Rishis) | Physical Body; Minerals |
| Week 2 | DUALITY | The Fall, Good/Evil, Light/Darkness Division of the Sexes |
Persian (Zarathustra) | Etheric Body; Plants |
| Week 3 | TRINITY | Father, Son, Holy Spirit | Egyptian-Chaldean (Isis, Osirus, Horus) | Astral Body; Animals |
| Week 4 | CHRIST BORN IN MAN | The Word Made Flesh | Greek-Roman (Christ Jesus) | Ego; Human Being |
Not only is Advent a symbol of human evolution, but it also shows us our path to return to God (the Word or Logos) through the Christ being born in us each Christmas.
We are now in the fifth cultural period of the Post-Atlantean epoch. Through the prior deeds of the Christ, we can now evolve as human beings to once again become fitting raiment for the original Word of God that rang forth in the beginning. With the light of the Christ shining within us, we can rejoin the Harmony of the Spheres. Much of Steiner's work instructs us how to do that as was done in the old Mystery Schools.
Christmas as a Continuation of the Ancient MysteriesIn Signs and Symbols of the Christmas Festival, Steiner shows us the relationship of the ancient mysteries and to the Christmas mystery.4 He explains that while the custom of decoration a Christmas tree is a relatively recent phenomenon, the celebration of Christmas is old. In the darkness of winter, the most ancient Mysteries of all religions everywhere celebrated this sun festival. It was not merely a festival of the sun in the sky, but one that leads us to "a divination of the sources of existence." Great detail is offered describing the process by which initiates would enter a dark cave, to witness around midnight, the “Harmony of the Spheres” and the rainbow colors that would light up the dark space. This was referred to as "Seeing the sun at the midnight hour." In such initiates, the sun of the Spirit alone would then live in their inner being and radiate over all darkness of matter. While we now speak of a Christos, the ancient Mysteries spoke of a Sun Hero "who embodies the same ideal as is connected with the Christos in Christianity."
Today, we follow these same rhythms of the sun with our festivals. Christ Jesus, a Sun Hero, brings light into the dark winter through our very souls if we accept Him. The Christmas tree symbolizes the Tree of Paradise, which represents all material nature here in the Earthly realm. Steiner also offers symbols to adorn the tree which represent the stages of earthly and human evolution.
- □ symbolizes the fourfold nature of man: physical body, etheric body, astral body, and ego
- △ symbolizes the higher man: spirit self, life spirit, and spirit man
- above the triangle is the symbol for the Tarot (a T combined with the Greek Ρ symbol for rho) which records all world events from beginning (alpha Α) to end (omega Ω).
- ☥ the Tao (I am) is placed above as one rises higher in spiritual development
- ⛤ the star of mankind adorns the pinnacle. Steiner states, "It is the star that all wise men follow as did the priest-sages in ancient ages."
The stages of Earth evolution flow through the human evolutionary path upward. One might contemplate our current position in the center of the cross. See how the half circle below the cross of the T in the Tarot moves to the top of the T in the ankh. We must enliven the spiritual Sun within our hearts and raise it into heartfelt thinking. Thus, the Tao or the Ankh represents everlasting life in the Sun Hero, Christ.
Shining the Light of Christ this Christmas
Christmas is the birth of Christianity itself—changing the path of human evolution from death to eternal life in Christ. Steiner's message delivered in 1906 rings true today.
[The star atop the Christmas tree] symbolizes the earth that is born on the Night of Consecration, because the most sublime light radiates from the deepest darkness. Man lives on toward a state when the light shall be born in him, when one significant saying shall be replaced by another, when it will no longer be said, “The Darkness does not comprehend the Light” but when the truth will resound into cosmic space with the words, “Darkness gives way to the Light that radiates toward us in the Star of Mankind, Darkness yields and comprehends the Light.”
This shall resound from the Christmas celebration, and the spiritual light shall radiate from it. Let us celebrate Christmas as the festival of the most lofty ideal of the Idea of Mankind, so that in our souls may rise the joyful confidence: Indeed, I, too, shall experience the birth of the higher man within myself. The birth of the Savior, the Christos, will take place in me also.
In Festivals of the Seasons, Steiner further elaborates on the meaning of the Christmas tree as not only representing the evolution of humanity, but also the meaning of the Holy Trinity itself.5 The Christ is born three times: 1) once as God the Father, the Word, the Logos Who permeates the world; 2) once as Man with the birth of Jesus Christ and Christianity; and 3) again and again, within the souls of those who can awaken the Word of the Spirit in their innermost being — the Holy Spirit. He continues:
For without this last birth Christianity would not be complete, nor would Anthroposophy be capable of grasping the Christian Spirit did it not understand that the Word brought home to us year after year is not intended to remain theory and dogma, but is to become both Light and Life—a force, indeed, by which we may contribute spirituality to life in this world as well as gather spirituality for ourselves—and so be one with the other—incorporated with the Spirit for all Eternity.
Thus, it is up to us to rise to the occasion during the darkness of winter to accept the spiritual Sun within our own hearts. Steiner leaves us with this beautiful verse, beckoning us to accept this mission:
See the Sun
About the midnight hour,
And build with stones
Amid the lifeless clay,
Finding that as we pass
To the dark night of Death
Creations new come forth—
Young morns arise to power—
The heights above reveal
The Gods’ eternal Word,
And depths below shall guard
The peaceful Place of Rest.Dwelling in Darkness,
Oh! create a Sun!
And while ye weave the web,
Oh I recognise
The blissfulness of Spirit.
This Christmas, we invite you to explore our collection of Dr. Steiner's lectures pertaining to the season, some of which are highlighted on our Festivals page.6 Please also explore our Christmas articles from previous years.7
This is a transformative time for the Rudolf Steiner Archive as we work to discover, innovate, and create solutions to make the work of Rudolf Steiner more accessible online in English. If you value this service, please give generously to help us continue to offer this service at no cost to the public. Together, we can help bring Anthroposophy to life.
Resources
- The Gospel of St. John in Relation to the Other Three Gospels, GA 112, Lecture 12, July 5, 1909.
- For a description of the planetary incarnations (Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus, Vulcan), epochs (Polaric, Hyperborean, Lemurian, Atlantean, Post Atlantean, 6th and 7th), and cultural periods of the Post Atlantean Epoch (Ancient Indian, Ancient, Persian, Egyptian-Chaldean, Greco-Roman, 5th/present, future 6th & 7th), see An Outline of Occult (Esoteric) Science, Chapter IV, GA 13.
- Birth of the Light, Signs and Symbols of the Christmas Festival, GA 90a, 19 December 1904, Berlin. See also Pre-Earthly Deeds of Christ, GA 152, 7 March 1914, Pforzheim, in which Steiner outlines three stages of this preparation taking place in the Lemurian and Atlantean epochs.
- We are pleased to offer three different translations of Signs and Symbols of the Christmas Festival for comparison: (i) Lisa D. Monges, (ii) Dorothy S. Osmond, and (iii) Anna R. Meuss
- The Festivals of the Seasons, Lecture 5. The Christmas Tree: A Symbolic Rendering December 21, 1909.
- Visit our Festivals Topic page to find selected lectures on the significance and meaning of Christmas.
- Past articles on Christmas: Christmas: The Birth of the Light for the Redemption of Humanity, December 10, 2023 and Christmas: A Turning Point in Human Evolution, December 2, 2022.