“There was one Oracle-sanctuary of special importance, which in the universal decline had preserved the ancient cult in its purest form. It was one of the Christ oracles; and on that account it was able to preserve not only the Christ Mystery itself but those of the other oracles as well. For in the manifestation of the loftiest of the Sun-spirits, were also revealed the regents of Saturn, Jupiter, and the other planets. In the Sun oracle the secrets of producing in some particular human being such human etheric bodies as had been possessed by the best of the Jupiter, Mercury, and other Initiates were known. By means of the methods used for this purpose, which cannot be further dealt with here, impressions of the best etheric bodies of the ancient Initiates were preserved in order that they might subsequently be stamped upon suitable individuals. The same process could be employed with the astral bodies of the Venus, Mercury, and Vulcan Initiates.
“At a certain time, the Leader of the Christ Initiates found himself isolated with a few associates, to whom he was able to impart, to a very limited extent only, the mysteries of the cosmos. For those individuals were endowed with the natural ability to permit the least possible degree of separation between the physical and etheric bodies. They were altogether, at that time, the best possible individuals for promoting the further progress of humanity.” ~Rudolf Steiner
Oracle-sanctuary
An oracle-sanctuary may be an ancient mystery school, a spiritual school, or a place where oracles gave predictions, such as the Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece. It would be a sanctuary if it was a safe place for mystics and oracle to practice their spiritual arts and sciences in peace, and give predictions without interference. They might also take in gifted children who were orphans or were sent by their parents because they were weird. In some cases, the parents wanted them to truly learn the divine arts, in other, they just wanted to be rid of their strange offspring.
Various religions and philosophies had an oracle-sanctuary, sometimes several. Today, probably the closest thing we have to them is some remote monasteries for monks. Most modern spiritual schools are not really sanctuaries and students are often forced to hide their membership in them for fear of losing their jobs in a materialistic world.
The term “Sanctuary” is often thought of as a refuge from the materialistic world, but it has another meaning. It is also the holiest part of a temple or church. So an oracle-sanctuary could be either of those and is usually both.
Christ Oracles
“Christ Oracles” and “Christian Oracles” doesn’t mean the same thing, so it is not clear which Steiner means here. A Christ oracle is an oracle who follows the Way of Christ and is developing his own inner Christ, while a conventional Christian oracle is any oracle that belongs to the Christian faith. But as Steiner is a spiritual teacher, I will assume he means a true Christ oracle who is trying to be one with the Christ spirit and follow the teachings of Christ as given by Jesus is secret to his apostles and closest disciples, but never shared in public or put into writing.
True Christ Oracles could, in fact, belong to any faith. The ancient Greek oracles were, in some cases, Christ oracles. They were not Christians, but they followed the Way of Christ nonetheless. And they sought to help people develop their own spiritual faculties, not to control them as so many Christian churches do.
Christ Mystery
The real teachings of Christ were a mystery, and for the most part, still are. Some were passed on to spiritual schools, primarily the Christian Gnostic schools, many of which had an oracle-sanctuary or two. The more conventional Christian churches, who can only honestly trace their beginning back to St. Paul, not St. Peter or Jesus, know little of those mysteries,
Monstrance By LaRedCultural – Own work
although hints of it remain such as in the use of a monstrance to hold the host in some of them. This is quite clearly a solar symbol.
The Sun Oracle
The Sun Oracle was always the highest oracle-sanctuary. When you consider the structure of the solar system, the sun is greater than Venus, Jupiter, or even earth, so the sun oracle is greater than any planetary oracles. Most of the well-known oracles were sun oracles, even if they were thought to be worshippers of some pagan god. Secretly, they all knew the source of spiritual power and energy, the spark that awakens the sleeping soul, came from the Spiritual Sun. And the only oracle-sanctuary we need to turn to for help in our spiritual quest is the Spiritual Sun.
