THE MARY QUESTION

In the Luke Gospel we are presented with the enigmatic figure of Mary of the Luke Gospel, the Mother of the Nathan Jesus; that is, the Jesus that descended from the David/Nathan genealogy. Regardless of her mysterious nature, she has always been venerated through the centuries. Rudolf Steiner's spiritual research into the Akashic Records has established that her incarnation 2,000 years ago was her first and only incarnation. If the Nathan Jesus only incarnated once also (according to Rudolf Steiner's research), who then was this soul that incarnated as the Mother of Nathan Jesus? In contrast, we find that the Mary of the Matthew Gospel has had many incarnations. This difference in terms of reincarnation raises the questions: who was Mary of the Luke Gospel and why was her incarnation a one-time event? Sergei Prokofieff may have provided an answer in addressing the Vidar Mystery, though he does not make any claim that Mary of the Luke Gospel is connected with Vidar.

In his book The Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation Prokofieff addresses two lectures of Steiner. In the chapter entitled The Vidar Mystery , Prokofieff refers to Steiner speaking of a Being from Teutonic mythology in his lectures of June 17, 1910 in Christiania and December 21,1913 in Bochum. This Being is named Vidar. Prokoffiev proposes that this Being was the guardian angel of the Gautama-Boddhisattva. This angel was freed to ascend to the ranks of the archangels when the Gautama-Boddhisattva became a Buddha in the 6th. century B.C. According to Prokofieff, Vidar renounced its ascent for 2,500 years as a sacrifice, but retained the form of an archangel. During this time,Vidar was an angel with the inner nature of an archangel with Spirit-Self and Life-Spirit spiritual sheaths. This Being later became an archangel in 1879 and took the place of the archangel Michael among the ranks of the archangels as the leader of the archangels and as the "guardian of the Nathan Jesus" in the spiritual world.

The Luke Gospel mentions an angel and the host of angels that appeared before the shepherds in the fields tending their flocks ( this is a 'mystery' reference to initiates of the inner path of inspiration) who "announce" to them the tidings of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. According to Steiner's studies of the Luke Gospel it was the Nirmanakaya (Spirit-Self) of Buddha that appears to the shepherds. Prokofieff adds that the angel which appeared before the shepherds was the angel-archangel Vidar. He then goes on to say that Vidar is also the angel that appeared to Christ -Jesus and rejuvenated the body of Christ-Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. This appearance of the angel in the Garden is only mentioned in the Luke Gospel (Luke 22:43). Throughout this chapter, The Vidar Mystery, Prokofieff identifies the angel at the beginning of the Luke Gospel and the angel in the Garden of Gethsemane as one and the same angel.

Prokofieff strongly argues that Vidar is the former angel of Buddha. He also presents an "inseparable connection" between the Nathan Jesus and Vidar.Steiner mentions that the maternal astral-soul sheath of the Nathan Jesus separates from him at the age of twelve and unites with the Nirmanakaya of Buddha. This Nirmanakaya of Buddha now overshadows and inspires John the Baptist in his later ministry. Another point of interest is Steiner's account of how the Nirmanakaya of Buddha, working through the Nathan Jesus, activates the embryo of John the Baptist and advances and develops the EGO-I AM of John the Baptist. Mary was present at the enlivening of the Baptist's EGO-I AM and it was the maternal astral-soul sheath of Jesus which descended from Mary that was later taken up by the Buddha. Prokofieff adds to this that the maternal etheric (formative life-body) sheath of the Nathan Jesus is taken up by Vidar at approximately seven years of age and as Vidar is the angel in the Garden as Prokofieff claims, it is these etheric life forces which rejuvenate Christ Jesus. He continues that this maternal etheric sheath contains to a "high degree" the unfallen, youthful, human etheric forces of the Adam soul (the Tree of Life). Could it possibly be that the angel-archangel Vidar that gave life sustaining forces to the Nathan Jesus body at the end of its mission also gave life to this body at its beginning through birth?

Since Vidar can be strongly considered the guardian of the Nathan Jesus in the spiritual world, can this same Being be considered the guardian of the Nathan Jesus in the physical realm? Prokofieff says that the Nathan Jesus was directed and guided by the archangel Michael in three previous pre-Golgotha sacrifices which transpired in the spiritual world before Christ's incarnation into Jesus of Nazareth at the Baptism in the Jordan and that Vidar will guide and direct the Nathan Jesus in three post-Golgotha stages. Further, he states that the Nathan Jesus was completely on his own in the physical realm; that is, no guidance from Michael or Vidar on earth. However, Prokofieff says that the mission of Vidar is to fashion the etheric form of the Etheric Christ(which is more commonly referred to as the Second Coming) now and in the future. If this is the mission of Vidar, then contrary to Prokofieff, did Vidar also possibly have the mission of fashioning the physical, etheric, and astral-soul bodies of the Cosmic Human (the soul of the Nathan Jesus) into its microcosmic form of Jesus of Nazareth?

Could Vidar perhaps have been the guardian of the maternal astral and etheric sheaths which would have directly descended from him if he,( the guardian of the Nathan Jesus), was profoundly connected with the Mary of the Luke Gospel? It should also be noted that although Zarathustra (who according to Rudolf Steiner's research of the Akashic Records incarnated as the Solomon Jesus of the Matthew Gospel; that is, he descended from the David/Solomon genealogy) at that time was a very advanced human individuality, he was not able to incarnate into the bodies of the Nathan Jesus until after the maternal sheaths had separated from the Nathan Jesus. Zarathustra incarnated into the Nathan Jesus at the Temple when the Nathan Jesus was twelve years of age. What lived in the Nathan Jesus up to that age was a "provisional" EGO-I AM. In the Temple Zarathustra's EGO-I AM incarnates in the soul of the Nathan Jesus as the "provisional" EGO-I AM is withdrawn. Before this time these maternal sheaths were too powerful even for Zarathustra. They were endowed for the first twelve years with the "provisional" EGO-I AM that streamed down from the spiritual sphere of the Sun and which was directed by Manes, the high initiate. If these maternal sheaths were so spiritually potent, did they then belong to a Being such as Vidar? The question then is this: was there a sacred avatar connection between Vidar(the angel-archangel) and Mary of the Luke Gospel, the Mother of the Nathan Jesus?

Return To Main Menu