Drawing on the ancient and often-forgotten sources of esoteric Christianity, Valentin Tomberg reflects on the mysteries of humanity's covenant with God in history. The power of these meditations is that they reflect the author's personal spiritual journey into the depths of God's kingdom within-within the soul, within personal relationships, within nature and the cosmos. Part one of Lazarus, Come Forth -"The Miracle of Raising Lazarus in World History"-looks at an encounter with the Father through the miracles of Creation and the Fall and through Moses and the Old Testament Covenant and the Ten Commandments. Part two, "The Ten Commandments: The Revelation on Mt. Sinai," is a meditation on the seven miracles of Christ as described in the Gospel of St. John, culminating in the raising of Lazarus, the miracle of being raised from forgetfulness, sleep, and death to remembrance, wakefulness, and resurrection. Lazarus thus becomes a paradigm for understanding the spiritual and cultural history of humanity. In part three, "Thy Kingdom Come: The Three Kingdoms of Nature, Humanity, and God," we consider the encounter with the Holy Spirit and living out the life of Christ through the Church. We are asked to reflect on the three kingdoms of God, humankind, and nature, which give natural order and meaning to the Christian life. The union of love and prayer in the Spirit is the focus of the first section of part four, "The Breath of Life," in which we are invited to see our natural breathing as breathing the breath of God. And part four ends with "Natural and Supernatural Images of the Holy Trinity," which discusses the message of the starry heaven at night, the message of the setting Sun, and the message of the birth of a new day. This volume should not be missed by anyone with a serious interest in esoteric Christianity or who merely wishes to go more deeply into the meaning of the Holy Scriptures. A previous edition of this work was titled Covenant of the Heart. It is a translation of Lazarus, komm heraus. The current edition has been revised.

The focus of this book is the spiritual work in the "school"-the community-of Michael. What does this mean? At the end of the eighteenth century, the Archangel Michael revealed the new mystery that has manifested on Earth as spiritual science, or anthroposophy. Its essence involves the renewal of our knowledge of the mysteries of karma and human destiny. Those who are drawn to this school have a special relationship to the human faculty of thinking-their inner feeling for truth has the strength of iron. This feeling for truth helps them to become companions of Michael at the threshold of the spiritual world. These talks deal with the spiritual path of anthroposophy in its Christian Rosicrudian aspect. Tomberg speaks openly and honestly about meditation, the various stages of consciousness (imagination, inspiration, and intuition), the "guardian of the threshold," and the esoteric trials one encounters along the way. He concludes by describing the life of Rudolf Steiner as the life of a Christian initiate.

These wisdom-filled articles are gems offered us by the Russian esotericist Valentin Tomberg (1900-1973). Written in the 1930s, at the time he was also writing important studies on the Old Testament, New Testament, and the Apocalypse, these early articles presage Tomberg's later, more mature works on Christian Hermeticism. This was the 'anthroposophical' phase of his life, which ended during World War II, when he followed Christ's call to join the Catholic Church in order to bring the Christian esotericism of the Church of John into the exoteric Church of Peter - a step that truly represented a sacrifice on the part of this remarkable man. For in following this call of Christ to the Catholic Church, Tomberg took the step of leaving his karmic community-that of the anthroposophical movement founded by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). This step was a fulfillment of the words of Christ, of the Risen One, to Peter concerning John: 'If it is my will that he should wait until I come again, what is that to thee?' (John 21:22). These words relate to the task of the Church of John to 'wait'-that is, to cultivate the esoteric teachings 'behind the scenes'-until the onset of Christ's Second Coming, which began during the 1930s, when they could begin to emerge by bringing the esoteric teachings into the Church. For students of Christian Hermeticism, these early articles by the founder of this new spiritual stream reveal in particular something of the esoteric teachings underlying the author's Russian spirituality. The penetrating insights they offer are seeds that subsequently blossomed in his later works. As well as being of interest to students of Christian Hermeticism, these essays are relevant to anyone interested in Russian spirituality and, moreover, to everyone interested in esoteric perspectives concerning the present situation of humanity. The author of this work was a spiritually enlightened teacher whose care and concern extended beyond the plight of the Russian people under Soviet communism to include the challenges facing every human being in our time. Understood as a manual for enlightenment, to be worked with meditatively over and over again, this work is one of the great treasures of humanity's spiritual literature-a priceless jewel for every spiritual seeker in our time.

In the unfolding of a true spiritual mission upon the Earth, the great teachers of humanity work together. An example of this working together to fulfill a spiritual mission for humanity is presented to us in this book. It is a matter in this work of a collaboration between two great spiritual teachers of humanity in the twentieth century: Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) and Valentin Tomberg (1900-1973). Rudolf Steiner's life work culminated in the 'baptismal event' for the Second Coming of Christ expressed in the Foundation Stone of Love and clothed in the words of the Foundation Stone meditation. Valentin Tomberg, after his spiritual awakening in 1932, entered into the Mystery of Christ's Second Coming. His Studies on the Foundation Stone Meditation, published in critical years of world history (1936-1939), were written just a few years after his spiritual awakening. They penetrate into the Mystery of Christ's Second Coming by offering the reader access from within to the Foundation Stone meditation given to humanity by Christ through Rudolf Steiner. Every sentence of these studies - born of living experience undergone by Valentin Tomberg - leads the reader into the sublime mystery of the spirit awakening of humanity through Christ in our time. Understood as a manual for enlightenment, to be worked with meditatively over and over again, this work is one of the great treasures of humanity's spiritual literature - a priceless jewel for every spiritual seeker in our time.

In 1982 there appeared a remarkable book, written by an author who wished to remain anonymous, entitled Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism. This book was destined to become a spiritual classic of the twentieth century. Distinguished scholar Antoine Faivre called it "the most beautiful and instructive book of the twentieth century concerning western esotericism." Father Bede Griffiths said "to me it is the last word in wisdom." Trappist Abbot Basil Pennington wrote "it is such a rich collection of wisdom drawn from such a staggering number of diverse sources that it leaves the mind almost reeling. Besides the Bible we find the Upanishads, the Cabbala, the Hermeticists, and men as diverse as Origen and Chardin, Plato and Bergson, Jung and John of the Cross, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. It is without doubt the most extraordinary work I have ever read." And Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthasar described the author as "a thinking, praying Christian of unmistakable purity." Students of Meditations on the Tarot now have cause for celebration, for in 2007 a collection of the author's notes was published - preliminary studies of the images of the Tarot cards, illustrating the method he followed. This methodology is now revealed for the first time in English translation through the inclusion of material published in Part Two of this volume. Unfortunately, the notes cover only the last nine Arcana, from XIV to XXII, the notes to the first thirteen Arcana having gone missing. Part One comprises three lectures held by Robert Powell, the translator of Meditations on the Tarot into English from the original French manuscript. These lectures, held in California in 2006, 2007, and 2008, were delivered to an audience of friends of Christian Hermeticism, who gather every year to converse and share concerning the path of Christian Hermeticism. The second lecture, in particular, serves as an introduction to Part II. Also included is additional background material from the Luxembourg (Kairos) and German (Achamoth) editions.

In der zweiten Lebenshalfte, etwa ein Jahrzehnt nach seiner Hinwendung zum Katholizismus entstanden, dokumentiert diese Schrift eine wesentliche Station im Schaffen Tombergs. Er legte sich mit ihren Reflexionen Rechenschaft ab, inwieweit und auf welche Weise er sich hinsichtlich der grossen Fragen der Menschheit einer Sache wahrhaft sicher sein durfe. Diese Fragen, "die wie Hunger und Durst sind," betreffen den "Ursprung und die Bestimmung der Welt, das herrschende Prinzip oder Wesen der Welt, das Wesen der menschlichen Personlichkeit, ihr Schicksal und ihre Bestimmung im Leben und im Tod." Das Motiv des Erwachens durchzieht den gesamten Text: Menschsein umfasst schlafende Schichten, ein Weisheit bergendes nachtliches Bewusstsein und von der Vernunft gepragte Schichten des Tagesbewusstseins. Die Harmonie beider Spharen ist notwendig, um seelische und korperliche Gesundheit zu finden und zu bewahren. Man kann mit Hilfe der Symbole noch schlafende Schichten wecken, wobei "die wahre personliche Gewissheit das Ergebnis der Ubereinstimmung des Wachbewusstseins und des tieferen oder schlafenden Bewusstseins ist." Tomberg, dem im vorliegenden Fragment die grossere Okumene spiritueller Traditionen ein Anliegen ist, reflektiert diese Idee des Erwachens auch hinsichtlich des Buddhismus, in dem sie die zentrale Rolle spielt. Wer sich mit dem Werk Tombergs beschaftigt, erkennt im vorliegenden Text uber personliche Gewissheit manche Aspekte des spateren Werks. Weil das Fragment in einer fruhen Phase den Blick auf diese und weitere Motive gestattet, darf mancher Gedanke im Kontext seines Entstehens verfolgt werden. Dabei findet sich manche Aussage pragnanter gefasst als in den jeweiligen komplexen Zusammenhangen der folgenden Bucher. Eine gehaltvolle Einfuhrung von Friederike Migneco und Volker Zotz findet sich am Anfang des Buches, wahrend der letzte Teil eine bisher unveroffentlichte Studie von Volker Zotz uber Tomberg und seine Beziehung zum Buddhismus enthal