Four Mystery Plays

by Rudolf Steiner

Scene 7

A chamber in the castle whose exterior was shown in the preceding scene. Decorated throughout with symbols of a Mystic Brotherhood. (For costumes, see note on page 145.) Columns, arches, and vaulted roof with the mystic symbols shown in the Author’s ‘Occult Symbols.’ First the Knights assemble; then the Monk and one of the Knights; later appears the spirit of Benedictus who has passed away about fifty years earlier. Then Lucifer and Ahriman. The Grand Master seated with four Brothers at a long table.

Grand Master:

Ye who are joined with me in comradeship

To seek the goal appointed unto man,

And bring that knowledge from the spirit-realm

Into the scope of earth’s activities,

As is appointed to our brotherhood,

Must also truly help me in this hour

When heavy trials impend. Then, know ye all

That since our venerated master fell,

A victim by the Powers of Darkness claimed,

Who draw their strength from Evil, helping on

The plan of Wisdom by their natural means,

That is by means of Opposition’s strength,

Since Wisdom turneth Evil into Good:

Since that sad loss we strive on earth in vain,

For many a castle of our brotherhood

Hath by our enemies been overwhelmed,

And many brothers dear to us have fallen

In fight, and followed our great Master home

Into the realm of everlasting light.

For us too doth the hour approach apace

When these stout walls that shelter us shall fall.

Our foes already spy the country round

To find a pretext under which they may

Rob us of our possessions, ne’er acquired

For our own use, but as a means to draw

Around us individuals, in whose souls

We could implant the germs of things to come.

These germs shall ripen when those men themselves

Find their way back from out the spirit-land

To live anew in future days on earth.

First Master of Ceremonies:

That this our brotherhood should be o’erthrown

By some obscure design of destiny,

Is something nowise inconceivable.

But that the fall of our community

Should doom so many brothers’ single lives,

Would seem to contravene the cosmic law.

I do not wish my words to make complaint,

Since willingly our brothers suffer death.

But still my soul desires to comprehend

The sacrifice demanded from these men

Who have allied themselves unto a whole,

Because the powers of destiny decree

The overthrow and ruin of that whole.

Grand Master:

The separate life of individual men

Is linked most wisely to the world’s design.

Amongst our brothers there will surely be

Some who have given proof of competence

To serve our brotherhood with their soul’s power

And yet whose nature still shows many a stain.

The errors and misdeeds of such a heart

Must find their expiation in the pain

Suffered by it in service for the whole

And he who, blameless both in act and deed,

Must none the less walk in the thorny way

Traced by the Karma of the brotherhood,

Will find his pain requited by the power

To mount aloft unto the higher life.

First Master of Ceremonies:

So then the brotherhood may tolerate

Within its ranks souls not yet purified

Who vow themselves to its exalted aims?

Grand Master:

He who to lofty works is dedicate

Doth mark alone the goodness in men’s souls;

He lets the evil work its ransom out

As cosmic justice in its course decides.

My brothers, I have bid you meet me here

In order to remind you with grave words

That we have duties in our days of grief.

We must be ready to lay down our lives

For those high purposes to which we swore

Lifelong allegiance. Ye then are indeed

My brothers, if undauntedly your souls

Repeat the motto of our brotherhood:

‘Both separateness and life must be forsworn

By those who would set eyes on spirit-goals

Through occult senses unto them revealed;

Who dare to let the spirit’s will pour down

And flood their individual purposes.’

First Preceptor:

Exalted Master, shouldst thou deign to test

The heart of each man in our brotherhood,

It would repeat that motto loud and clear!—

Yet do we beg thee to explain to us

Why, not content with robbing us of life

And our possessions, now our enemies

Would rob us also of those humble souls

Whom we have tended with unselfish love.

For every day affords new evidence

That not alone compulsion makes our folk

Submit themselves unto our conquerors;

But that indeed they too have learned to hate

The spirit-path which we had shown to them.

Grand Master:

That which we have implanted in men’s souls

May die indeed today; but these same men,

Who once have breathed our spirit-radiance,

Will come again to earth, and then bestow

Upon the world the fruitage of our work.

Thus speaks unto my spirit oftentimes

Our mighty leader from the realm of death,

When in my quiet hours, I do sink down

Into my soul’s deep places, and arouse

Strength to abide awhile in spirit-lands.

Then may I feel the master’s presence near

And hear his words, as in the life of sense

I often heard them. Never doth he speak

About our work as drawing to a close;

But only of fulfilment of our aims

In later days that are to come on earth.

(Exeunt the Grand Master and two Brothers.)

First Preceptor:

He speaks of spirit-worlds in just such words

As men may speak of villages or towns.…

The way in which our loftiest brothers speak

Of other states of life oppresseth me.

And yet I am devoted fervently

Unto the progress of our earthly aims.

Second Master of Ceremonies:

My firm reliance is our master’s words.

The man who cannot hear with perfect faith

The tale of spirit and of spirit-worlds,—

Is nowise lacking in the faculties

To grasp a revelation of this kind.

The things he lacks are of a different mould.

He may well guess, unwilling to admit,

That he is conscious of unworthiness

To be a member of the higher worlds.

A soul must be defiled by secret stain

And eager to deny that they are there,

That will not bow before the spirit-lore.

(Exeunt.)

(Enter the Monk; the Second Preceptor enters and steps up to him.)

Second Preceptor:

What errand bringeth thee to this our house

Which is for thee the home of enemies?

Monk:

I must include amongst my friends all those

Who bear the form of men. This is our rule.

But hostile thou mayst well esteem the claim

Which I, by duty bound, must here present.

Those who are over me have sent me here.

And their desire is that the property

Belonging to the Church, as by old deeds

Is well attested, should be given back

To them without dispute. Yon tract of ground

Upon which ye have sunk your mine, belongs

In law and equity unto the Church.

The manner in which ye possessed yourselves

Of this estate confers no legal rights.

Second Preceptor:

Whether in law we have a right to call

It ours or no, would constitute a case

For legal disputation long drawn out.

But certain ’tis that it belongs to us

If we refer it to a higher law.

Yon tract of ground was lying lost and waste

When it was purchased by our brotherhood:

Not e’en an inkling had ye of the fact

That far below rich treasure lay concealed.

This have we won for human industry.

Its treasures travel far and wide today

To distant lands, to further human weal.

And many honest souls are now at work

In shaft and tunnel underneath the ground

Which in your hands lay waste and desolate.

Monk:

Then it doth not seem fair and right to thee

To urge upon thy brotherhood the need

Of peaceably accepting our demand

That so we may regain our property?

Second Preceptor:

Since we are not aware of any guilt,

But are convinced our cause is wholly just,

We can but wait in quiet confidence

To see if ye are really bent on strife,

When as before, yourselves are in the wrong.

Monk:

Then will ye have to thank your headstrong will

If we are driven to a sterner course.

Second Preceptor:

The honour of our brotherhood demands

That only when defeated, sword in hand,

Do we allow ourselves to be despoiled.

Monk:

So be it! Now my mission is fulfilled.

Between us there is no more need of words.

Will it be possible for me to have

An audience with thy lord, who here commands?

Second Preceptor:

The master doubtless will concede thee this;

Yet wait, I pray three, for a little while.

He cannot at this moment come to thee.

(Exit.)

Monk:

O, that mine office forceth me to tread

The halls of this detested brotherhood.

Turn where they may, my eyes must contemplate

Sinful devices and satanic spells.

Almost a horror seizeth hold on me;

A crackling and a rumbling fill the air;

I feel the powers of ill are gathered round.

(Noises heard.)

But as my conscience is entirely clear

I will defy the enemy.

(Noises heard.)

I will defy the enemy. Oh, this

Is terrible.…

(The spirit of Benedictus appears.)

Is terrible.... Defend me, Saints in Heaven!

Benedictus:

Collect thyself, my son. I often came

To meet thee, when the fervour of thy prayers

Transported thee unto the spirit-world.

Take therefore courage in this present hour

And learn a truth which thou must realize

If spirit clearness is to hold its sway

And drive away the darkness from thy soul.

Monk:

When in my trials I prayed to Heaven for light,

And when my supplication winged its way

To realms celestial, and won response,

Thou, venerated master, didst appear.

Thou, who wast aye our Order’s ornament,

The while thou wert amongst us here on earth,

And out of higher realms didst speak to me,

Enlightening my mind and strengthening me.

My soul beheld thee with its inner eye,

My spirit ear was open to thy words.

In this hour also then, will I receive

The revelation with humility

Which thou shalt cause to flow into my soul.

Benedictus:

Thou art within that brotherhood’s abode

Whom thou dost charge with wicked heresies.

They seem to hate what we are taught to love

And hold in honour what we count as sin.

Our brethren feel themselves in duty bound

To haste the spirit-brethren’s overthrow,

And think their action sanctioned by the words

I spake myself whilst I was still on earth.

Yet do they not imagine that these words

Can only hold the living truth so long

As they are rightly acted on by those

Who have been my successors in my work.

So let those thoughts which I once held on earth

Rise up afresh and live within thy soul

In harmony with needs of newer times.

And thus behold this Order, which doth seek

Its goal in mystic realms, as I should judge

And look on it, if it had been my lot

To dwell on earth and work with thee today.

This brotherhood is vowed to lofty aims.

These individuals who have joined its ranks

Have premonitions of the days to come;

Their leaders see with a prophetic eye

The fruits that shall grow ripe in future times;

Science and daily life shall undergo

A change of form and seek ideals new;

And what this brotherhood doth now achieve,

Whom thou hast lent a hand to persecute,

Are deeds which serve to bring this change about.

Alone by peaceful union of the aims

Sought by our brethren and these heretics

Can good be made to blossom on this earth.

Monk:

This warning, of which I am worthy found,

How can I act upon it? It departs

Amazingly from all that I have held,

Up to this moment, to be right and good.

(Ahriman and Lucifer appear.)

But other beings now are drawing nigh!

Why do they come and stand beside thee now?

Ahriman:

This further message comes from other realms.

It cannot seem an easy thing for thee

Thy predecessor’s bidding to obey.

Reflect—he dwells in everlasting bliss.

And actions by decree and duty there

Desirable, may well upon the earth

Lead to confusion at the present time.

Lift up thine eyes to where he dwells on high

If thou wouldst seek for comfort from the bliss

That, when the latter days of earth draw near,

By cosmic spirits is to be bestowed.

But if at present thou wouldst act aright,

Be guided only, in the choice of paths,

By that which reason and the senses teach.

Thou hast been able clearly to discern

The sinful ways of yonder brotherhood

Which they would fain keep secret from the world;

Thus hast thou learned that laws for future life

Can well be framed by souls now steeped in sin!

How canst thou wish, now that thou knowst these things,

To live in friendship with the brotherhood?

For error is a poor and sterile soil

Where good fruit cannot come to ripening.

Lucifer:

Thy pious mind hath shown the road to thee.

It is most true that times and objects change;

But none the less ’tis not for heretics

To trace the paths on which mankind must tread.

The error of this spirit-brotherhood

Is dangerous, because it speaks the truth,

And yet expresses it in such a way

As makes the truth more deadly than a lie.

A man who openly avowed he lied

Would have to be bereft of common sense

’Ere he could bring himself to such belief

That men would gladly follow where he led.

The spirit-knights indeed are shrewd of mind;

They do not fail to speak about the Christ

Because this name can open every door

That gives admission to the souls of men.

But ever can men easiest be led

Into the service of the Antichrist

When in the name of Christ he is proclaimed.

Monk:

Conflicting voices from the world of souls

Assail mine ears, as often heretofore,

And always with an aim to counteract

The pious promptings of a mind devout.

How shall I find the paths that lead to good

If by the Powers of Evil they be praised?

Almost it seems to me as if indeed …;

But no, such words shall not be thought by me—,

The wisdom of my master shall reveal

The meaning of his words, so dark to me.

Benedictus:

I can direct thee to the proper path,

If thou wilt let the words which once I spake

On earth possess thee in thine inmost soul.

And if thou art resolved to find the life

That lives within those words upon those planes

On which thou now canst see me face to face,

The proper path shall be made plain to thee.

Curtain, while the Monk, the Spirit of Benedictus, Lucifer, and Ahriman are still on the stage