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'''Christian Rosenkreuz''', also '''Christian Rosenkreutz''', '''Christianus Rosencreutz''' or '''Christian Rose Cross''' (* 1378; † 1484[1]) is, according to Rudolf Steiner, one of the highest Christian initiates and founder of the Rosicrucian initiation, who is of fundamental importance for the present consciousness-soul age, and thus also for Anthroposophy.
'''Christian Rosenkreuz''', also '''Christian Rosenkreutz''', '''Christianus Rosencreutz''' or '''Christian Rose Cross''' (* 1378; † 1484<ref>In the [[Confessio Fraternitatis]] the birth and death dates of Christian Rosenkreutz (C.R.) (1378-1484) of that incarnation are mentioned for the first time, in which he received the initiation through which he could become the founder of the Rosicrucian movement. In this life on earth Christian Rosenkreutz reached the remarkable age of 106 years.</ref>) is, according to [[Rudolf Steiner]], one of the highest Christian initiates and legendary founder of the [[Rosicrucian initiation]], who is of fundamental importance for the present [[consciousness-soul age]], and thus also for [[anthroposophy]].
 
== Christian Rosenkreutz and the writings of Johann Valentin Andreae ==
 
The name Christian Rosenkreutz was first publicly mentioned in three works that were initially distributed in manuscript and then published anonymously, namely the [[Fama Fraternitatis]] (''Allgemeine und General Reformation, der gantzen weiten Welt. Beneben der Fama Fraternitatis, deß Löblichen Ordens des Rosencreutzes, an alle Gelehrte und Häupter Europae''), the [[Confessio Fraternitatis]] (''Confession oder Bekandnuß der Societet und Brüderschaft R. C. An die Gelehrten Europae'') published in 1615 and in the [[Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz]] published in 1616 by Lazare Zetzner in Strasbourg under the title ''Chymische Hochzeit des Christiani Rosencreutz Anno 1459'' , which describes the [[initiation]] of Christian Rosenkreutz in the form of an [[Alchemy|alchemical]] novel. Earlier handwritten versions of the Chymical Wedding may have been circulated from around 1604. In this year, according to the account of the Fama, the tomb of Christian Rosenkreutz was rediscovered and at the same time, according to [[Rudolf Steiner]], the [[mission of the Buddha on Mars]] initiated by Christian Rosenkreutz was also fulfilled.
 
{{GZ|The outer world has been repeatedly pointed to Rosicrucianism by the two writings which date from the beginning of the seventeenth century. In 1614 the so-called 'Fama Fraternitatis' appeared and a year later the so-called 'Confessio' - two books about which there has been much dispute among scholars. And not only about what is usually disputed with so many books, whether that Valentin Andreae, who in his later years was a quite normal superintendent, really wrote the book - but with these books it has also been disputed whether they were taken seriously by the authors or whether they were only meant to be a mockery of the fact that there was a certain mysterious Rosicrucian brotherhood which had such and such tendencies and aims. Then, in the wake of these writings, there is a whole series of others which tell all kinds of things about Rosicrucianism. If you take the writings of Valentin Andreae and also other Rosicrucian writings in your hand, then, if you do not know the actual basis of Rosicrucianism, you will find nothing special in these writings. For it has not been possible until our time to become acquainted with even the most elementary aspects of this spiritual current, which has really existed since the fourteenth century and still exists today. All that has passed into literature, all that has been written and printed, are individual fragments, individual lost things which have come to the public through betrayal, which have been inaccurately and in many ways perverted through charlatanry, swindling, ignorance and stupidity. The true, genuine Rosicrucianism has, ever since it has existed, only been the subject of verbal communication to those who had to take an oath of secrecy. For this reason, nothing of significance has passed into the public literature. Only then, when one knows what can be communicated publicly today - for certain reasons which would go too far to explain now - in elementary Rosicrucianism and what we will be able to speak of today, can one find some sense in the often grotesque, often merely comic, but often also dizzy and seldom harmonious communications of literature.|55|176f}}
 
All three works are attributed to [[Johann Valentin Andreae]] (1586-1654) and his circle of friends in [[w:Tübingen|Tübingen]]. Concerning the spiritual authorship of these works, Rudolf Steiner states:
 
{{GZ|But no one who knows the biography of Valentin Andreae will be in any doubt that the Valentin Andreae who later became a philistine pastor and wrote unctuous other books did not write the " Chymical Wedding." It is sheer nonsense to believe that Valentine Andrea wrote the "Chymical Wedding". For just compare the "Chymical Wedding" or the "Reformation of the Whole World" or the other writings of Valentinus Andrea - physically it was already the same personality - with the unctuous, greasy-oily things that the pastor Valentin Andrea, who only bears the same name, then wrote in his later life. That is a most strange phenomenon! We have a young man, who has hardly finished school, who writes down such things as the "Reformation of the Whole World", like the " Chymical Wedding of Christiani Rosencreutz", and we have to make an effort to fathom the inner meaning of these writings. He himself does not understand any of it, because he shows that later: he becomes an unctuous oily pastor. That is the same man! And if you only take this fact, you will find plausible what I have just described: that the "Chymical Wedding" was not written by a man, or was written by a man only in so far as, well, Napoleon's secret secretary, who was always full of fear, wrote his letters. But Napoleon was, after all, a human being who stood strongly with his feet, with his legs on the ground, was a physical personality. The one who wrote the "Chymical Wedding" was not a physical personality, and he made use of this "secretary" who later became the oily Pastor Valentin Andrea.|232|143}}
 
In contrast to Rudolf Steiner, [[a:Gerhard Wehr|Gerhard Wehr]] argues that Christian Rosenkreuz was not a historical personality but an invention by Johann Valentin Andreae. {{LZ||Gerhard Wehr, Christian Rosenkreuz, p. 24}}. This thesis loses its force, however, with the detailed descriptions by Rudolf Steiner (in [[GA 130]]), which clearly reports of a real person who also appeared historically under the name Christian Rosenkreutz.
 
== See also ==
 
* [[Fama Fraternitatis]] (1614)
* [[Confessio Fraternitatis]] (1615)
* [[Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz]] (1616)
 
== Literature ==
 
*Hinricus Madathanus Theosophus: ''Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer'', 1785 [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=header&id=HistSciTech.GeheimeFiguren]
*Viktor Stracke: ''Das Geistgebäude der Rosenkreuzer'', Vlg. am Goetheanum, Dornach 1993
* [[Johann Valentin Andreae]]: ''Die Bruderschaft der Rosenkreuzer. Esoterische Texte'' (Diederichs Gelbe Reihe; 53). Diederichs, München 1995, ISBN 3-424-00793-5 (hrsg. von Gerhard Wehr)
*[[Johann Valentin Andreä]]: ''Die Chymische Hochzeit des Christian Rosencreutz'', gedeutet und kommentiert von Bastiaan Baan, Verlag Urachhaus, Stuttgart 2001
*[[Johann Valentin Andreae]]: ''Die Chymische Hochzeit des Christian Rosenkreuz Anno 1459''. 5. Auflage, Ins neudeutsche übertragen von Dr. Walter Weber. Mit Anmerkungen von Walter Weber und einem Aufsatz von Rudolf Steiner, Zbinden Vlg., Basel 2004, ISBN 978-3859891937
* Hella Krause-Zimmer: ''Christian Rosenkreutz: Sich kreuzende Lebenswege mit Johannes dem Täufer zum Inkarnationen-Kreuz'', Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 2015, ISBN 978-3-7235-1547-1
* Christiane Haid, Wolf-Ulrich Klünker, Mechtild Oltmann: ''Johannes-Lazarus: Die Geistselbstberührung des Ich'', Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 2016, ISBN 978-3-7235-1554-9
* Sergej O. Prokofieff: ''Zwei Johannes-Gestalten an der Zeitenwende: Johannes der Täufer und Johannes der Evangelist. Eine esoterische Betrachtung'', Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 2017, ISBN 978-3-7235-1543-3
*Bernard Lievegoed: ''Über die Rettung der Seele'', Verlag Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart 1994
*Peter Selg: ''Rudolf Steiner und Christian Rosenkreutz'', Vlg. des Ita Wegmann Instituts, Arlesheim 2011
*Willy Schrödter: ''Die Geheimkünste der Rosenkreuzer'', Verlag Baumgartner, Warpke-Billerbeck 1954
*Jostein Saether: ''Christian Rosenkreutz und die islamische Welt - 400 Jahre Fama Fraternitatis'', Tredition, Hamburg 2015, ISBN 978-3732308019
*[[a:Gerhard Wehr|Gerhard Wehr]]: ''Rosenkreuzerische Manifeste''. Fama Fraternitatis (1614), Confessio Fraternitatis (1615), Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosenkreuz: Anno 1459 (1916), J. W. von Goethe: Die Geheimnisse, Novalis Vlg., Schaffhausen 1980
*[[a:Gerhard Wehr|Gerhard Wehr]]: ''Die Bruderschaft der Rosenkreuzer: Die Originaltexte'', Edition Pleroma 2014, ISBN 978-3939647225; eBook ASIN B00NFFGXIK
*[[a:Gerhard Wehr|Gerhard Wehr]]: ''Christian Rosenkreuz: Urbild und Mysterium der Rosenkreuzer'', Edition Pleroma 2008, ISBN 978-3939647065
*Rolf Speckner: ''Christian Rosenkreutz und Rudolf Steiner'', ein Vortrag, Hörbuch-CD, ISBN 978-3-03752-034-5
*[[Rudolf Steiner]], [[a:Paul Regenstreif|Paul Regenstreif]]: ''Christian Rosenkreutz und seine Mission''. Als Studienmaterial auf der Grundlage von Hinweisen Rudolf Steiners zusammengestellt und bearbeitet von Paul Regenstreif, Verlag Die Kommenden, Freiburg i. Br. 1977 (Neu herausgegeben beim Kaspar-Hauser-Verlag, 2014)
*[[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Philosophie und Anthroposophie'', [[GA 35]] (1984) {{Lectures|35}}
*[[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Wo und wie findet man den Geist?'', [[GA 57]] (1984) {{Lectures|57}}
*[[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Natur- und Geistwesen – ihr Wirken in unserer sichtbaren Welt'', [[GA 98]] (1996) {{Lectures|98}}
*[[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Die Theosophie des Rosenkreuzers'', [[GA 99]] (1985) {{Lectures|99}}
*[[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Das esoterische Christentum und die geistige Führung der Menschheit'', [[GA 130]] (1995) {{Lectures|130}}
*[[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Erfahrungen des Übersinnlichen. Die drei Wege der Seele zu Christus'', [[GA 143]] (1994) {{Lectures|143}}
*[[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Bausteine zu einer Erkenntnis des Mysteriums von Golgatha'', [[GA 175]] (1996) {{Lectures|175}}
*[[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Mysteriengestaltungen'', [[GA 232]] (1998) {{Lectures|232}}
*[[Rudolf Steiner]] / Marie Steiner-von Sivers: ''Briefwechsel und Dokumente 1901–1925'', 2., völlig überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage, [[GA 262]] (2002) {{Lectures|262}}
*[[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Zur Geschichte und aus den Inhalten der ersten Abteilung der Esoterischen Schule 1904 bis 1914'', [[GA 264]] (1987) {{Lectures|264}}
*[[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Zur Geschichte und aus den Inhalten der erkenntniskultischen Abteilung der Esoterischen Schule von 1904 bis 1914'', [[GA 265]] (1987) {{Lectures|265}}
*[[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Aus den Inhalten der esoterischen Stunden, Band I: 1904 – 1909'', [[GA 266/1]] (1995) {{Lectures|266a}}
 
{{GA}}
 
== Weblinks ==
* [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=header&id=HistSciTech.GeheimeFiguren Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer, aus dem 16ten und 17ten Jahrhundert] (1785)
* [http://www.odysseetheater.com/jump.php?url=http://www.odysseetheater.com/ftp/bibliothek/Alchemie/Geheime_Figuren_der_Rosenkreuzer.pdf Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer, aus dem 16ten und 17ten Jahrhundert] (1785) als PDF-Dokument (ca. 15 MB)
*[http://www.odysseetheater.com/jump.php?url=http://www.odysseetheater.com/ftp/bibliothek/Alchemie/Johann_Valentin_Andreae_Chymische_Hochzeit_Christiani_Rosencreutz_Anno_1459.pdf Johann Valentin Andreae: ''Chymische Hochzeit des Christiani Rosencreutz Anno 1459'']
*[http://www.odysseetheater.com/jump.php?url=http://www.odysseetheater.com/ftp/anthroposophie/Rudolf_Steiner/DIE_CHYMISCHE_HOCHZEIT_DES_CHRISTIAN_ROSENKREUTZ.pdf Rudolf Steiner: ''Die Chymische Hochzeit des Christian Rosenkreutz'']
* [http://www.odysseetheater.com/jump.php?url=http://www.odysseetheater.com/ftp/bibliothek/Alchemie/Fama_Fraternitatis.pdf Fama Fraternitatis]
* [http://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb10919630_00005.html Allgemeine und General Reformation der ganzen weiten Welt. Beneben der Fama Fraternitatis des löblichen Ordens des Rosencreutzes] (gedruckt zu Cassel durch Wilhelm Wessel anno 1614)
* [http://www.odysseetheater.com/jump.php?url=http://www.odysseetheater.com/ftp/bibliothek/Alchemie/Confessio_Fraternitatis.pdf Confessio Fraternitatis]
* [http://www.hermetik.ch/ath-ha-nour/site/hermetikfama.htm Fama Fraternitatis] auf [http://hermetik.ch hermetik.ch]
* [http://hermetik.ch/ath-ha-nour/site/hermetikconfessio.htm Confessio Fraternitatis] auf [http://hermetik.ch hermetik.ch]
* [http://www.anthroweb.info/erweiterungen/quellen/fama-fraternitatis.html Fama Fraternitatis des löblichen Ordens des Rosencreutzes] (translated into German by [[a:Lorenzo Ravagli|Lorenzo Ravagli]])
* [http://www.anthroweb.info/erweiterungen/quellen/confessio-fraternitatis.html Confessio Fraternitatis] (translated into German by [[a:Lorenzo Ravagli|Lorenzo Ravagli]])
*[http://www.anthroweb.info/erweiterungen/quellen/chymische-hochzeit.html Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosenkreutz] (translated into German by [[a:Lorenzo Ravagli|Lorenzo Ravagli]])
* [http://archive.org/details/famafraternitati00andr Fama fraternitatis, oder, Entdeckung der Brüderschafft des löblichen Ordens dess Rosen Creutzes: beneben der Confession, oder, Bekantnus derselben Fraternitet, an alle Gelehrte und Häupter in Europa geschrieben : auch etlichen Responsionen von Haselmeyern und anderen gelehrten Leuten auff die Famam gestellet], Danzig 1615 auf [http://archive.org archive.org]
*[http://www.alchemylab.com/christian_rosenkreutz.htm Christian Rosenkreutz: Founder of the Rosicrucian Movement]
 
== References ==
 
<references />
 
[[Category:Christian Rosenkreuz]]
[[Category:Rosicrucianism]]
[[de:Christian Rosenkreutz]]

Latest revision as of 07:27, 23 May 2021

Christian Rosenkreuz, also Christian Rosenkreutz, Christianus Rosencreutz or Christian Rose Cross (* 1378; † 1484[1]) is, according to Rudolf Steiner, one of the highest Christian initiates and legendary founder of the Rosicrucian initiation, who is of fundamental importance for the present consciousness-soul age, and thus also for anthroposophy.

Christian Rosenkreutz and the writings of Johann Valentin Andreae

The name Christian Rosenkreutz was first publicly mentioned in three works that were initially distributed in manuscript and then published anonymously, namely the Fama Fraternitatis (Allgemeine und General Reformation, der gantzen weiten Welt. Beneben der Fama Fraternitatis, deß Löblichen Ordens des Rosencreutzes, an alle Gelehrte und Häupter Europae), the Confessio Fraternitatis (Confession oder Bekandnuß der Societet und Brüderschaft R. C. An die Gelehrten Europae) published in 1615 and in the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz published in 1616 by Lazare Zetzner in Strasbourg under the title Chymische Hochzeit des Christiani Rosencreutz Anno 1459 , which describes the initiation of Christian Rosenkreutz in the form of an alchemical novel. Earlier handwritten versions of the Chymical Wedding may have been circulated from around 1604. In this year, according to the account of the Fama, the tomb of Christian Rosenkreutz was rediscovered and at the same time, according to Rudolf Steiner, the mission of the Buddha on Mars initiated by Christian Rosenkreutz was also fulfilled.

„The outer world has been repeatedly pointed to Rosicrucianism by the two writings which date from the beginning of the seventeenth century. In 1614 the so-called 'Fama Fraternitatis' appeared and a year later the so-called 'Confessio' - two books about which there has been much dispute among scholars. And not only about what is usually disputed with so many books, whether that Valentin Andreae, who in his later years was a quite normal superintendent, really wrote the book - but with these books it has also been disputed whether they were taken seriously by the authors or whether they were only meant to be a mockery of the fact that there was a certain mysterious Rosicrucian brotherhood which had such and such tendencies and aims. Then, in the wake of these writings, there is a whole series of others which tell all kinds of things about Rosicrucianism. If you take the writings of Valentin Andreae and also other Rosicrucian writings in your hand, then, if you do not know the actual basis of Rosicrucianism, you will find nothing special in these writings. For it has not been possible until our time to become acquainted with even the most elementary aspects of this spiritual current, which has really existed since the fourteenth century and still exists today. All that has passed into literature, all that has been written and printed, are individual fragments, individual lost things which have come to the public through betrayal, which have been inaccurately and in many ways perverted through charlatanry, swindling, ignorance and stupidity. The true, genuine Rosicrucianism has, ever since it has existed, only been the subject of verbal communication to those who had to take an oath of secrecy. For this reason, nothing of significance has passed into the public literature. Only then, when one knows what can be communicated publicly today - for certain reasons which would go too far to explain now - in elementary Rosicrucianism and what we will be able to speak of today, can one find some sense in the often grotesque, often merely comic, but often also dizzy and seldom harmonious communications of literature.“ (Lit.:GA 55, p. 176f)

All three works are attributed to Johann Valentin Andreae (1586-1654) and his circle of friends in Tübingen. Concerning the spiritual authorship of these works, Rudolf Steiner states:

„But no one who knows the biography of Valentin Andreae will be in any doubt that the Valentin Andreae who later became a philistine pastor and wrote unctuous other books did not write the " Chymical Wedding." It is sheer nonsense to believe that Valentine Andrea wrote the "Chymical Wedding". For just compare the "Chymical Wedding" or the "Reformation of the Whole World" or the other writings of Valentinus Andrea - physically it was already the same personality - with the unctuous, greasy-oily things that the pastor Valentin Andrea, who only bears the same name, then wrote in his later life. That is a most strange phenomenon! We have a young man, who has hardly finished school, who writes down such things as the "Reformation of the Whole World", like the " Chymical Wedding of Christiani Rosencreutz", and we have to make an effort to fathom the inner meaning of these writings. He himself does not understand any of it, because he shows that later: he becomes an unctuous oily pastor. That is the same man! And if you only take this fact, you will find plausible what I have just described: that the "Chymical Wedding" was not written by a man, or was written by a man only in so far as, well, Napoleon's secret secretary, who was always full of fear, wrote his letters. But Napoleon was, after all, a human being who stood strongly with his feet, with his legs on the ground, was a physical personality. The one who wrote the "Chymical Wedding" was not a physical personality, and he made use of this "secretary" who later became the oily Pastor Valentin Andrea.“ (Lit.:GA 232, p. 143)

In contrast to Rudolf Steiner, Gerhard Wehr argues that Christian Rosenkreuz was not a historical personality but an invention by Johann Valentin Andreae. (Lit.: Gerhard Wehr, Christian Rosenkreuz, p. 24). This thesis loses its force, however, with the detailed descriptions by Rudolf Steiner (in GA 130), which clearly reports of a real person who also appeared historically under the name Christian Rosenkreutz.

See also

Literature

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.

Weblinks

References

  1. In the Confessio Fraternitatis the birth and death dates of Christian Rosenkreutz (C.R.) (1378-1484) of that incarnation are mentioned for the first time, in which he received the initiation through which he could become the founder of the Rosicrucian movement. In this life on earth Christian Rosenkreutz reached the remarkable age of 106 years.