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A RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION CHALLENGE

Discovery of the Prophecies of Joachim of Fiore regarding the Holy Trinity and his notion of three epochs of time with the corresponding three phases of Christianity, (scroll down or check the archive for the article on Joachim, below) intriguing as they were, prompted questions on how this one view compares with the writings of Heindel.  What did Max Heindel tell us about the Holy Trinity?  What is the Holy Spirit, known also as the human spirit and as the Holy Ghost; the third segment of the tripartite manifestation of God?

To do a thorough study on the subject, we first may examine writings about Fiore and his life and ideas and then search through the Heindel works for passages relating to the topic.  The internet provides a good start for a study on Fiore, even if we reference only Wikipedia, a most popular source of information on any topic.  For the Heindel writings, The Rosicrucian Fellowship provides the downloadable Collected Works of Heindel with an integrated search engine, free, at its website, http://www.rosicrucian.com/ebooks/ebooks.htm. 

To save you some of the trouble of the search, The Rosicrucian Fellowship MMX recently created a new brochure titled, The Holy Trinity and The Lord’s Prayer.  You can find this brochure with added illustrations under the same title below at this site if you scroll down or check the archive.

This brings us to the next source of study and enlightenment, which would be other artistic or literary works on the topic.   Some of us are more visual in our perceptions and some are more left-brain or logic-oriented in the cognitive processes.  Therefore, to do a group study on any topic, it helps to have both, words and illustrations; hence, the works of art that you see in the article, below. 

Paintings abound on the topic of the second of the tripartite manifestation, the Son, but the Holy Spirit is not so easy to paint, because not many artists have sufficient imagination.  Therefore, it is often given only in symbolism.  That still may be better than just words.  Now, let’s take a look at the first illustration that approaches the topic of The Holy Trinity.   

Disputation Over the Trinity - Andrea del Sarto 1517

We found one which will not give answers to our questions but it will instead lead us on a treasure hunt of ideas as it alludes to “A Disputation Over the Holy Trinity” among saints who lived in different eras and did not know each other personally, but who had opposing ideas, evidently, about The Holy Trinity.   

Now, we have quite a task, indeed.  How do Fiore’s and Sebastian’s and Peter’s and Lawrence’s and Augustine’s and Francis’ and Magdalene’s ideas differ or compare with Heindel’s ideas about The Holy Trinity?  This seems to be what the artist is suggesting – that we investigate the question. 

To get you started, there are a few well-known facts about each of these individuals that may help you to identify who they were.

Sebastian:  is most often depicted in art and literature tied to a post and shot with arrows; however, he was rescued and healed by Saint Irene of Rome before criticizing the emperor and ultimately being clubbed to death; he died in c.288.

Peter:  was the impetuous apostle who was named “the rock” by Christ. 

Lawrence:  was one of the seven deacons of ancient Rome who were martyred during the persecution of Valerian in 258.  He was grilled to death and so is associated with the “gridiron.”  His name in Latin means laurelled. 

Augustine: in his early years was heavily influenced by Manicheaeism and neo-Platonism and later was considered to be independent in his theology and philosophy.  He believed that the grace of Christ was indispensable to human freedom and formed the concepts of original sin and just war.  Born November 13, 354.

Francis:  was the gentle Italian Catholic friar who had the audacity to want to reform the vatican; he received an audience from the pope.  Died October 3, 1226.

Magdalene:  was the most important female disciple in the movement of Jesus who cleansed her of seven demons.  She was present at the cross during the crucifixion and she was the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection.

If this challenge stimulated your curiosity, it is for you only to decide how to and when to pursue the challenge or begin your own independent study.  ………….Comments?

The Holy Trinity

and

The Lord’s Prayer

And so it is in the very truest and most literal sense a NEW-BORN CHRIST that we hail at each approaching Yule-feast, and Christmas is the most vital annual event for all humanity, whether we realize it or not.
Max Heindel

What is meant by the Second Aspect of the Triune God?

Disputation Over the Trinity - Andrea del Sarto - 1517

God is one, just as the light is one, but, as the light passing through the atmosphere is refracted into three primary colors–red, yellow and blue–so also God, when he manifests or reflects himself in nature, is threefold in his manifestation. There is first the Creative principle, next there is the Preservative principle, and in the third place there is the principle of Destruction of the forms which have been created, preserved for a time while useful, then to be destroyed in order that the material from which they were constructed may be used in the building of new forms.

These three principles of God have been called by different names in different religions, and much ink and many goose quills have been used in latter years to defend or decry the idea of a Trinity, though that ought to be manifest to anyone who will look about him in nature with a thoughtful mind. In the Western World, we have been used to calling the Second Aspect of the Triune God, the unified preserving principle, Christ; and it is very appropriate in a certain sense, because the Christ came as the teacher of Love and Universal Brotherhood which was to supersede nations that war against one another, and He Himself said that there was a still higher stage when the kingdom He was to establish should be delivered to the Father and all should be one in Him. Questions and Answers I, 150 – 151.

Trinity - detail - Lucas Cranach, the Elder 1515-1518

To pray to a purpose we must pray aright, and in the Lord’s Prayer we have a most wonderful pattern, for it caters to the needs of man as no other formula could do. Within a few short sentences it encompasses all the complexities of the relationship of God to man.

To properly understand this sublime prayer and to be able to render it understandingly and efficiently, let us briefly state some of the teachings given in earlier lectures.

The Father is the highest Initiate of the Saturn Period.

The Son is the highest Initiate of the Sun Period.

The Holy Spirit is the highest Initiate of the Moon Period.

The Divine Spirit and the dense body of man started their evolution in the Saturn Period and are therefore under the special care of the Father.

The Life Spirit and the vital body started their evolution in the Sun Period and are consequently the particular charges of the Son.

The Human Spirit and the desire body commenced to evolve in the Moon Period and are therefore the special wards of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the creative energy in nature, and the sex energy is its reflection in man.

The Mind was added in the Earth Period and is not cared for by other or outside beings, but is to be subdued by man himself, without any outside assistance.

In the Lord’s Prayer there are seven prayers; or rather, there are three sets of two prayers and one single supplication. Each of the three sets has reference to the needs of one of the aspects of the threefold spirit and its counterpart in the threefold body. The opening sentence, “Our Father who art in Heaven,” is merely as the address upon an envelope. It relates the Trinity to the threefold Spirit, the three-fold body, and the mind. Each aspect of the Spirit connects with the prayer as specifically suited to its counterpart in the threefold body and addresses its guardian aspect in the Trinity.

The Human Spirit lifts itself upon wings of devotion to its parent aspects in the Holy Trinity and intones the opening incantation, Hallowed be Thy name.

The Life Spirit raises itself upon pinions of love and addresses the fount of its being, The Son: Thy Kingdom come.

The Divine Spirit soars with superior insight to the fountainhead whence it sprang at the dawn of time, The Father, and manifests its confidence in that all-embracing Intelligence in the words, Thy Will be done.

Having thus reached the Throne of Grace, the threefold Spirit in man profers its requests concerning the personality, the threefold body.

The Divine Spirit prays to The Father for its counterpart, the dense body, Give us our daily bread.

The Life Spirit prays to The Son for its counterpart, the vital body, Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

The Human Spirit utters the supplication for the desire body in the words, Lead us not into temptation.

Then all join in a concentrated appeal concerning the mind, Deliver us from Evil.

The affix, For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever,
are not given by Christ and are not prayers.

Looking at the foregoing explanation from the analytical standpoint, we find that there are three religious teachings to be given to man in helping him to attain to perfection. One is the Religion of The Holy Spirit, the next is the Religion of The Son, and the last is the Religion of the Father.

Under the regime of the Holy Spirit the human race was divided into nations and peoples segregated by their adherence to one group from fellowship with other nations. Each group was further cut off from the rest because of speaking another language. They were all put under certain laws and were taught to reverence The Name of their God.

One people worshiped him as Iao, another as Tao, others as Bel.  Everywhere the name of this Lawgiver was holy. The method of segregation had the advantage that the Race Spirit in chief, Jehovah, could use one people to punish another who had transgressed his law, but it has the disadvantage that if fosters egotism and separates humanity in a manner detrimental to universal good.

It is an axiomatic truth that what does not benefit all cannot really benefit any.  Therefore ways and means must be found to reunite the scattered nations and weld them into one universal Brotherhood. That is to be the work of the Religion of the Son–Christianity. The warring of nations is fostered by the Race Spirit, but the Christian Religion will eventually unite them, cause them to beat their swords into ploughshares and bring peace and good will on Earth when the Kingdom of the Son has superseded the tribes and races.

Then a still higher religious teaching, the religion of the Father, is to unite
mankind still closer. In the Kingdom of the Son there will be a Universal
Brotherhood of separate individuals having varying interests, but ready
to give and take through love, sinking individual preferences for the common
good, but when the religion of the Father becomes a fact in life, the self will
be entirely submerged in a common purpose, a single will. The Will of God
will then be done on earth as it is in heaven, where there is neither me nor
thee, but where God is All and in All.  Rosicrucian Christianity Lectures, 301 –
303.

THE NEWBORN CHRIST

It has often been said in our literature that the sacrifice of Christ was not an event which took place on Golgotha, and was accomplished in a few hours once and for all time, but that the mystic births and deaths of the redeemer are continuous cosmic occurrences. We may therefore conclude that this sacrifice is necessary for our physical and spiritual evolution during the present phase of our development. As the annual birth of the Christ Child is
now approaching, it presents again a never old, ever new theme for meditation from which we may profit by pondering it with a prayer that it may create in our hearts a new light to guide us upon the path of regeneration.

The apostle gave us a wonderful definition of Deity when he said that “God is Light,” and therefore “light” has been used to illustrate the nature of the Divine in the Rosicrucian teachings, especially the mystery of the Trinity in Unity. It is clearly taught in the Holy Scriptures of all times that God is one and indivisible.
At the same time we find that as the one white light is refracted into three
primary colors, red, yellow, and blue, so God appears in a threefold role
during manifestation by the exercise of the three divine functions of Creation, Preservation, and Dissolution.

Immaculate Conception - The Beuronese Murals

When He exercises the attribute of Creation,God appears as Jehovah, the Holy Spirit; He is then Lord of law and generation and projects the solar fertility indirectly through the lunar satellites of all planets where it is necessary to furnish bodies for the evolving beings.

When He exercises the attribute of Preservation for the purpose of sustaining the bodies generated by Jehovah under the laws of nature, God appears as the Redeemer, Christ, and radiates the principles of love and regeneration directly into any planet where the creatures of Jehovah require this help to extricate themselves from the meshes of mortality and egoism in order to attain to altruism and endless life.

When God exercises the divine attitude of Dissolution, He appears as the Father who calls us back to our heavenly home to assimilate the fruits of experience and soul growth garnered by us during the day of manifestation. This Universal Solvent, the ray of the Father, then emanates from the invisible Spiritual Sun.

The Resurrection - William Blake

These divine processes of creation and birth, preservation and life, and dissolution, death, and return to the Author of our being we see everywhere about us, and we recognize the fact that they are activities of the Triune God in manifestation. But have we ever realized that in the spiritual world there are no definite events, no static conditions; that the beginning and the end of all adventures of all ages are present in the eternal “here” and “now”? From the bosom of the Father there is an everlasting out-welling of the seed of things and events which enters the realm of “time” and “space.” There it gradually crystallizes and becomes inert, necessitating dissolution that there may be room for other things and other events.

There is no escape from this cosmic law; it applies to everything in the realm of “time” and “space,” the Christ-ray included. As the lake which empties itself into the ocean is replenished when the water that left it has been evaporated, and returns to it as rain to flow again ceaselessly toward the sea, so the Spirit of Love is eternally born of the Father, day by day, hour by hour, endlessly flowing into the solar universe to redeem us from the world of matter which enmeshes us in its death grip. Wave upon wave is thus impelled outward from the sun to all the planets giving a rhythmic urge to the evolving creatures there.

Madonna & Child with John the Baptist - Botticelli

And so it is in the very truest and most literal sense a NEW-BORN CHRIST that we hail at each approaching Yule-feast, and Christmas is the most vital annual event for all humanity, whether we realize it or not. It is not merely a commemoration of the birth of our beloved Elder Brother, Jesus, but the advent of the rejuvenating love-life of our Heavenly Father, sent by Him to redeem the world from the wintry death grip.
Without this new infusion of divine life and energy we must soon perish
physically, and our orderly progress would be frustrated so far as our present
lines of development are concerned.  The Mystical
Interpretation of Christmas, 41 – 43.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory
forever.  Amen

Tags: Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, immaculaate conception, Lord's Prayer

Our Devoted Friend

Marie-Jose Clerc epitomized in full measure one important characteristic of all ardent followers of the Rosicrucian teachings—adherents to the philosophy as outlined by Max Heindel.  That is, she recognized the peerless quality of the philosophy, and with respectful reverence, she gave deference to the initiate, author, and messenger who brought these teachings to the western world.  In a recent announcement by Allen E:

Marie-Jose Clerc passed away suddenly on December 17, 2011 at 2:19 pm. Marie was my boss when I worked at the Fellowship and she was a wonderful person.

Charles W wrote this, “May Marie Jose’s spirit soar to the heavens where it has so long aspired. Surely she was one of Max Heindel’s most devoted, productive and influential students, one of the Fellowship’s most generous, long-term benefactors, unswervingly faithful to the letter of the Teachings, and an enduring friend to many of us. Surely her Spirit will rest in peace; though inactive she will not be.”

Good luck, Marie, with your work on the higher planes. It was my rich fortune to be able to know you and work with you on this physical plane. Thank you for everything.

From Ross D: “Marie-Jose was a strong supporter of the Fellowship for decades.  She worked to the very end making sure that Max Heindel’s books would be reprinted.  May she enjoy the new challenges and joys that life on the inner planes offers her.”

Christophe G:  “We recognize Christ’s followers by their fruits. Marie-José passed away but her fruits, her works bear witness to her. The Fellowship owes her much. There are two things we take with us – the knowledge and love given to others. Of the two, she had many. Thank you for everything you brought me and thank you for your friendship, Dear Marie-José.”

Daniel K:  “Through this medium, “Friends” I have just
learnt that our dear friend Marie-Jose Clerc has passed away to the other world where she would continue her valuable-love-filled work for TRF and all humanity. We are happy for the beautiful spirit who was known to us as
Marie-Jose Clerc, for her love of the Western Wisdom Teachings and her
indomitable spirit. I never met her personally, but I knew her from her work in France, Ghana and indeed at Mount Ecclesia. I recall with fondness and respect when Centers Ghana wanted to print the Como for the first time. As soon as she knew of our plight she quickly sent some money to us that enabled us to produce copies of the Cosmo. She was a true custodian of Max Heindel’s legacy at Mt Ecclesia, fighting to retain what was right for TRF. We shall surely miss this beautiful individual. But who are we to resist what God and the Elder Brothers want?  May her dear spirit find true balance in the Desire World and may she look down upon us left behind with love and compassion so that we can continue with the Great and Good Work of the Elder Brothers. Fare Thee Well, Marie. We shall forever remember you!”

Jorge R:  “May God bless you, dear Marie-Jose for your wonderful and great works in favor of the Education and the Fellowship with persistence until the end, the Job; now the Higher Planes will welcome you with the Temple music you loved so much; and from the higer spheres help us to construct the new ways to spread the Truth, Till we meet , Till we meet, The Rosy Cross to Greet, Till we meet, Till we meet, God be with you till we meet again.”

Myriam, Jorge and Children

Carlos Z:  “May she rest  in Peace, surrounded by Christ’s Light, so that she goes along with much  important and needed works on the Higher Planes, May the Roses bloom upon Your Cross.”

Tags: devotion, Marie-Jose Clerc

The Life Spirit and the vital body started their evolution in the Sun Period and are consequently the particular charges of the Son.  

The Vital Body, p11, Max Heindel.

   Last year’s Gingerbread Temple by Roger and Cindy Cosio delighted our RF friends, especially those who have been privileged to attend Temple and Healing Services at Mount Ecclesia. [See story in December 2010 Archive]  As the Life
Spirit of Christ fills that very special place on earth and also fills our hearts to abundance in this most sacred of all seasons, we felt it timely to revisit, if not by pilgrimage, at least by our joyous reverence.

The Wisconsin State Journal  printed a recipe for gingerbread recently which included the construction how-to for building the confectionary structures.  That brought it to mind, so we thought, why not bring those charming pictures back for all who did not see them last year and as a sweet remembrance for those who did.  After all, nostalgia feeds on repetition, and repetition builds the vital body.

Vixen

Now, at Christmas 2011, you will  also have the recipe and instruction of how to build either a Gingerbread House,  a Gingerbread Temple, or possibly a church with a  steeple; whatever suits the architectural skill and design preference of your “Master Builder.”

Donner

            Once you form the vision in your mind and draw the plan of your intended structure, thus creating the archetype;  then, it is time to begin the other labor, that of mixing the ingredients for the dough.

 Gingerbread

2 3/4     cups flour

1/2       teaspoon salt

1          teaspoon ginger

1/8       teaspoon cloves

1          teaspoon cinnamon

1          tablespoon baking powder

2/3       cup molasses

1          egg, slightly beaten

1/2       cup brown sugar, packed

1/2       cup vegetable oil

Sift together the dry ingredients.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix  together thoroughly for dough.  Chill overnight or longer.

Roll the dough out in an 11 x 15-inch  rectangle on an oiled piece of foil and place it on a cookie sheet.  Bake at 300° for 30 minutes.

Gingerbread House Plan

After baking, place the paper or cardboard  pattern on the hot gingerbread (the pattern on the right can be scaled to your  project).  Cut it with a sharp  knife.  Lift the pieces carefully and place them on a cake rack to cool.  The gingerbread  should be very hard when cool.  If necessary, the pieces can be put back on the cookie sheet and placed in the oven for five or ten minutes to make them stiffer, as pieces will break during assembly if not thoroughly baked.

Royal Icing

3          egg whites, at room temperature

1          pound confectioner’s sugar

½         teaspoon cream of tartar

Beat thoroughly in a bowl.  The icing is ready to use when it forms firm peaks that stick to the beaters when lifted.   It should have a dull sheen but not be shiny.

Use immediately, keeping the icing in a bowl covered with a damp cloth, because it will quickly dry out and harden.  Food coloring may be added to color it green or other colors for decorating.

For a stiffer royal icing, add more egg whites or reduce the amount of sugar.  If  you plan to eat the house, use meringue powder (available at specialty stores) instead of egg whites.  See assembly instructions at http://host.madison.com/photos-gingerbread-house-making/collection_50b12598-21d2-11e1-b628-001871e3ce6c.html?mode=image&photo=1

Some masons prefer using white chocolate for the mortar to hold the sections together and use the royal icing only for decorating.

For the temple, Roger writes:  “As I recall we winged it quite a bit.  In fact, Cindy  made the 12 sides too tall and they had to be trimmed.  The circle windows should be cut out of the gingerbread dough BEFORE being baked (so much easier before).  The white cake frosting helped in so many ways; it was glue for broken parts; it was glue for non-broken parts coming together; it made the brown temple white; it coated the rice krispy dome.

“From memory, for the stained glass, cindy and I crushed some lifesaver candies, shaped the crumbs into windows on wax paper, then melted them in the oven.  I think we had to trim them into shape after they came out of the oven.

“The star on top of the dome was done with melted, yellow lifesavers only …with a toothpick melted into the star and poked into the dome at the top.

“For the dome, we also used wax paper on the outside, bottom of one of our big bowls ; thenformed a fresh batch of rice crispy treat around it, enough to be sticking up out of the top of the raised “dodecahedron” (12) sides of the temple.

“Later we cheated and used pieces of cloth or a small towel (not edible) under the dome to bring it up to the correct height and also to support it.”

The Masonic legend relates that the Queen of Sheba journeyed from afar to see the wise Solomon of whom she had heard so much. She was also shown the beautiful temple and wanted to see the cunning craftsman, the master builder and his workmen who had wrought such a marvel.  The Rosicrucian Philosophy in Questions and Answers, p445, Max Heindel.

Tags: Gingerbread, Master Builder, Temple

Whatever Is Is Best

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I know as my life grows older,
And mine eyes have clearer sight,                                  
That under each rank of wrong, somewhere
There lies the root of right;
That each sorrow has its purpose,
By the sorrowing oft unguessed,
But as sure as the sun brings morning,
Whatever is – is best.

I know that each sinful action,
As sure as the night brings shade,
Is somewhere, sometime punished,
Though the hour be long delayed.
I know that the soul is sided
Sometimes by the heart’s unrest,
And to grow means often to suffer –
But whatever is – is best.

I know there are no errors,
In the great Eternal plan,
And all things work together
For the final good of man.
And I know as my soul speeds onward,
In its grand Eternal quest,
I shall say as I look back earthward,
Whatever is – is best.

Tags: Ella Wheeler Wilcox, eternal quest, heart's unrest, sorrow, whatever is

The Prophecies of Joachim of Fiore

[Source: Wikipedia]

Born in the small village of Celico near Cosenza in Calabria, at the time part of the Kingdom of Sicily, Joachim was the son of Mauro the notary, who was well placed, and Gemma, his wife. He was educated at Cosenza, where he became first a clerk in the courts, and then a notary himself, and worked in 1166-1167 for Etienne du Perche, archbishop of Palermo and chancellor of Marguerite, regent for the young William II of Sicily.

A 1573 fresco depicting Gioacchino da Fiore, in the Cathedral of Santa Severina, Calabria, Italy

About 1159 he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, an episode about which very little is known, save that he underwent a spiritual crisis and conversion in Jerusalem that turned him from the worldly life. When he returned, he lived as a hermit for several years, wandering and preaching before joining the ascetic Cistercian Abbey of Sambucina near Luzzi, Calabria, as a lay brother, where he devoted his time to lay preaching. Under pressure from the ecclesiastical authorities, he joined the monks of the Abbey of Corrazo, and was ordained priest, apparently in 1168. He applied himself entirely to Biblical study, with a special view to uncovering the arcane meaning concealed in the Scriptures, above all in Revelation. To his dismay, he was acclaimed abbot by the monks of Corazzo (c. 1177). He then attempted to join the monastery to the Cistercian Order, but was refused because of the community’s poverty. In the winter of 1178, he appealed in person to William II, who granted the monks some lands.

In 1182 Joachim appealed to Pope Lucius III, who relieved him of the temporal care of his abbey, and warmly approved of his work, bidding him continue it in whatever monastery he thought best. He spent the following year and a half at the Cistercian Abbey of Casamari, engaged upon his three great books, his dictations keeping three scribes busy night and day; there the young monk, Lucas (afterwards Archbishop of Cosenza, who acted as his secretary, was amazed to see so famous and eloquent a man wearing such rags, and the wonderful devotion with which he preached and said Mass.

In 1184 he was in Rome, interpreting an obscure prophecy found among the papers of Cardinal Matthew of Angers, and was encouraged by Pope Lucius III.  Succeeding popes confirmed the papal approbation, though his manuscripts had not begun to circulate. Joachim retired first to the hermitage of Pietralata, writing all the while, and then founded the Abbey of Fiore (or Flora) in the mountains of Calabria; Flora became the center of a new and stricter branch of the Cistercian Order, approved by Celestine III in 1198.

In 1200 Joachim publicly submitted all his writings to the examination of Innocent III, but died before any judgment was passed. The holiness of his life was widely known: Dante affirmed that miracles were said to have been wrought at his tomb, and, though never officially beatified, he is still venerated as a beatus on May 29.

He theorized the dawn of a new age, based on his interpretation of verses in the Book of Revelation, in which the Church would be unnecessary (which, of course, was considered Heresy) and infidels would unite with Christians. Members of the spiritual wing of the Franciscan order acclaimed him as a prophet.

His popularity was enormous in the period, and some sources hold that Richard the Lionheart wished to meet him to discuss the Book of Revelation before leaving for the Third Crusade.

His famous Trinitarian “IEUE” interlaced circles diagram was influenced by the different 3-circles Tetragrammaton-Trinity diagram of Petrus Alfonsi, and in turn led to the use of the Borromean rings as a symbol of the Christian Trinity (and possibly also influenced the development of the Shield of the Trinity diagram).

Theory of the three ages

The mystical basis of his teaching is his doctrine of the “Eternal Gospel,” founded on an interpretation of the text in Revelation xiv, 6.  And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

His theories can be considered Millinarian; he believed that history, by analogy with the Trinity, was divided into three fundamental epochs:

• The Age of the Father, corresponding to the Old Testament, characterized by obedience of mankind to the Rules of God;
• The Age of the Son, between the advent of Christ and 1260, represented by the New Testament, when Man became the son of God;
• The Age of the Holy Spirit, impending (in 1260), when mankind was to come in direct contact with God, reaching the total freedom preached by the Christian message. The Kingdom of the Holy Spirit, a new dispensation of universal love, would proceed from the Gospel of Christ, but transcend the letter of it. In this new Age the ecclesiastical organization would be replaced and the Order of the Just would rule the Church. This Order of the Just was later identified with the Franciscan order by his follower Gerardo of Borgo San Donnino.

According to Joachim, only in this third Age will it be possible to really understand the words of God in its deepest meanings, and not merely literally. He concluded that this age would begin in 1260 based on the Book of Revelation (verses 11:3 and 12:6, which mention “one thousand two hundred and sixty days”). In this year, instead of the parousia (second Advent of Christ), a new Epoch of peace and concord would begin, thus making the hierarchy of the Church unnecessary.

[John Hogue, in The Last Pope Revisited comments: Prophecy Scholars estimate that since this Second Era lasted 2,000 years, the advent of the Third Age of the Holy Spirit should manifest any time after the year 2000.]

Joachim distinguished between the “reign of justice” or of “law”, in an imperfect society, and the “reign of freedom” in a perfect society.

Condemnation

Thomas Aquinas confuted his theories in his Summa Theologica, but in The Divine Comedy, Dante placed him in paradise. Among the more spiritually-inclined of the Franciscans, a “Joachite” group arose, many of whom saw Antichrist already in the world in the person of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (who died, however, in 1250). The ‘Doctor Mirabilis’, Roger Bacon, was one of their number.

As the appointed year approached, spurious works began to circulate under Joachim’s name: De Oneribus Prophetarum, an Expositio Sybillae et Merlini (“Exposition of the Sibyl and Merlin”) and commentaries on the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah. The Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215 condemned some of his ideas about the nature of the Trinity. Finally Pope Alexander IV condemned his writings and those of his follower Gerardo of Borgo Donnino and set up a commission that in 1263 at the Synod of Arles declared Joachim’s theories heretical.

His theories also inspired subsequent heresies like dulcinians and Brethren of the Free Spirit.

The Borromean Rings as a symbol of the Christian Trinity, based on an illustration in a 13th-century French manuscript found at Chartres, as reproduced in Didron’s book, “Christian Iconography” (1843).

Tags: Holy Spirit, Millenia, prophecy, revelation

The Rosicrucian

MysterySchool

October 28-29-30, 2011

Our Roots and

Spiritual Heritage

Click on Image for Program Brochure

Centennial Founder’s Day

Celebration 1911 – 2011

Tags: Rosicrucian Fellowship Founder's Day