Meeting with the Circle of Seven
The Executive Council at the Goetheanum and the Circle of Seven, the leadership of the Christian Community, met from 18 to 20 January to discuss questions of collaboration.
There have been regular meetings of the Executive Council at the Goetheanum and the Circle of Seven for many decades. Over the years a human foundation has grown from these meetings that allows for the discussion and consultation on topics that concern both groups.
Both leadership groups are concerned with spiritual aspects of life and the way we live and this year their questions in this respect focused on the soul life and spiritual needs of young people. Johannes Kronenberg from the Youth Section at the Goetheanum cited as examples the longing for a spirituality that is effective in life and the growing tendency towards burnouts that is caused by general stress.
Common tasks and boundaries
One of the main topics was the relationship between the two movements, given that many priests are also members of the School of Spiritual Science. And yet, the Christian Community is a religious movement and the General Anthroposophical Society is one that is non-religious and non-denominational.
The cultic rituals of the free religion lessons were given by Rudolf Steiner before the Christian Community was founded and they belong to the General Anthroposophical Society; the Christian Community works on the basis of the sacraments. Where do they have common tasks and where are the boundaries, considering that Waldorf Schools are not religious institutions either? A group of physicians and priests who take responsibility for questions of anthroposophic pastoral medicine constitutes another long-established working context.
In the autumn of 2022 it will have been a hundred years since the Christian Community was founded at the Goetheanum and the occasion will be marked by an international synod being hosted there. The request to celebrate the ordination of priests at the Goetheanum, as it was done a hundred years ago, was unanimously declined as unsuitable by both leadership groups.
Source: Executive Council at the Goetheanum
Clarification (27.3.2020)
A reader has pointed out that the offering service was only given after the foundation of the Christian Community.
The Sunday Children’s Service was first celebrated on 1 February 1920; the Christmas Service on 25 December 1920 and the Youth Service on 20 March 1921. The first offering service was given after the foundation of the Christian Community, on 16 September 1922, and first celebrated on 25 March 1923. Thank you for the clarification. | Sebastian Jüngel