1 Lecture, Cologne, December 25, 1907

In this lecture, given on Christmas day, Rudolf Steiner reflects on the deep mysteries of the events surrounding Christ's incarnation, death, and resurrection on Earth. The foundation of his message was the three magi from the East and Goethe's poem "The Mysteries," told from the perspective of a kind of archetypal pilgrim of esoteric Christianity:

"Here, in Goethe's poem, we have a wonderful phenomenon. We encounter a person who, in the simplest childlike words, not spoken out of his intellect and formed ideas, imparts to us...