Something was accomplished that no one had thought was possible in recent months: holding a conference of the School of Spiritual Science in the Russian capital Moscow on Pentecost weekend.
50 people traveled, some from very far away, to participate in this meeting, which was awaited with great hopes. They came from Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Samara, the Altai Mountains 3,000 kilometers away, as well as from Moscow’s near and far surroundings. Like last year, Astrid Prokofieff for eurythmy and Christian Breme for lectures and drawing exercises were welcomed, coming from Dornach. The theme of the conference: ‹The Building and the Path of Michael›.
Small scenes from the Fourth Mystery Drama had been prepared by the Russian members and were woven into the lectures at certain points. This was amended by drawings of floor plans and the southern view of the First Goetheanum, as well as capitals and architrave motifs. In eurythmy, the connection between the human and the hierarchical world, as expressed in all plastic forms, was explored through motion. There was a Pentecost mood living in a world on the brink.
Again and again, the focus was on the painting ‹The Golden Temple› by Hermann Linde. 100 years ago, it was painted in Dornach in a studio next to the recently completed building. Shortly afterward, it fell victim to the fire. We found the characters of Goethe’s fairy tale: the snake, the kings, the old man with the lamp and his wife, and the ferryman. In the center, we recognized the young man standing in front of the Representative of Humanity under the small dome. He is turned to the viewer, to the red window, to his earthly task… The signs in the architrave of the small dome indicate the midnight hour of the world. We were very moved by the idea that we ourselves stood in this place of the spiritual world before our incarnation and made decisions for the coming path on the Earth. During our conversations, we were kept busy by the question of where we can find traces in our souls and memories of these decisions. The focus was always on the question: Is there an intensified awakening for this layer of fate? The 13th and 16th Class Lessons were read by the lecturers Pyotr Chaikovsky (Moscow) and Oleg Bogarjev (St. Petersburg). These hours became highlights of the conference.
The song performed by a participant at the end was moving: ‹Michael’s Call› by Stephan Degtyarev. Previously, she had told me about the state of war that has prevailed in her hometown of Donbas for eight years (!), about the difficult living conditions of the Russian population to which she and her family belong. At the farewell, many participants expressed great gratitude for the attempt to build a bridge between below and above together at a time when many bridges on earth are being broken – towards the Pentecost spirit.
Image Pillars in the model of the First Goetheanum. Photo: Xue Li – Translation: Monika Werner
