Sergei O. Prokofieff

This article is about the anthroposophist. For the composer, see Sergei Prokofiev.

Sergei Olegovich Prokofieff (16 January 1954 – 26 July 2014) was a Russian anthroposophist. He was the grandson of the composer Sergei Prokofiev and his first wife Lina Prokofiev, and the son of Oleg Prokofiev and his first wife Sofia Korovina. Born in Moscow, he studied fine arts and painting at the Moscow School of Art. He encountered anthroposophy in his youth, and soon made the decision to devote his life to it.

Prokofieff, who published as Sergei O. Prokofieff, wrote his first book, Rudolf Steiner and the Founding of the New Mysteries, while living in Soviet Russia. The book was first published in German in 1982 and in English translation in 1986. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he was a co-founder of the Anthroposophical Society in Russia. At Easter 2001, he became a member of the Executive Council of the General Anthroposophical Society in Dornach, Switzerland.

Prokofieff was a prolific author; at the core of his work is an attempt to develop a deepened understanding for Christianity on the basis of Rudolf Steiner's spiritual-scientific research. In 1989, Prokofieff wrote The Spiritual Origins of Eastern Europe and the Future Mysteries of the Holy Grail, a book which analysed the spiritual currents affecting Russia and the Slavonic world generally and in relation to worldly societal and geopolitical events and change.

Later in his life, Prokofieff wrote two works, The Case of Valentin Tomberg and Valentin Tomberg and Anthroposophy: a problematic relationship, in which he put forward the view that Valentin Tomberg, the Christian Hermeticist and author (like Prokofieff) of profound Christian occultic books, developed, in his later years, into an apologist for Jesuitism (that term being understood or used, however, in a specifically Anthroposophical sense, not simply relating to the Jesuits as usually understood).

Prokofieff's widow Astrid survived him.

Writings in English Translation (Chronology)

Works are prefaced by the original year of publication in German, prior to translation into English. Titles not yet translated into English are listed in German and full italics.

• 1982: Rudolf Steiner and the Founding of the New Mysteries, Temple Lodge Publishing, London [1986], 2nd Ed. 1994.
• 1986: The Cycle of the Year as Path of Initiation Leading to an Experience of the Christ Being. An Esoteric Study of the Festivals, Temple Lodge Publishing, London [1991, 1995, Rev. Ed. 2000], Reprinted 2014.
• 1986: The Twelve Holy Nights and the Spiritual Hierarchies, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row, UK, Rev. Ed. 2004.
• 1987: Eternal Individuality. Towards a Karmic Biography of Novalis, Temple Lodge Publishing, London 1992.
• 1989: The Spiritual Origins of Eastern Europe and the Future Mysteries of the Holy Grail, Temple Lodge Publishing, London 1993, Reprinted 2016.
• 1991: The Occult Significance of Forgiveness, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row [1991], Rev. Ed. 2004.
• 1992: The East in the Light of the West. Two Eastern Streams of the Twentieth Century in the Light of Christian Esotericism. Part 1: Agni Yoga, Temple Lodge Publishing, London 1993. (Published as an individual book prior to the larger revised edition containing translations of all three parts of the East in the Light of the West series in 2010 [1997 in German - see below].)

* 1992: Das Rätsel des Demetrius, Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 1992; 2nd Rev. Ed. 2014.

• 1992: Prophecy of the Russian Epic: "How the Holy Mountains Released the Mighty Russian Heroes from their Rocky Caves." With an Introduction to Anthroposophy, Temple Lodge Publishing, London 1993.
• 1994: The Cycle of the Seasons and the Seven Liberal Arts, Temple Lodge Publishing, London 1996.
• 1994: Rudolf Steiner's Research into Karma and the Mission of the Anthroposophical Society, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 1995, Reprinted 2011.

* 1993: Die geistigen Aufgaben Mittel- und Osteuropas. Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 1993; 2nd expanded Ed.: Verlag des Ita Wegman Instituts, Arlesheim 2014.

• 1995: The Heavenly Sophia and the Being Anthroposophia, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row, 2nd Rev. Ed. 2006.
• 1995: The Case of Valentin Tomberg, Temple Lodge Publishing, London 1997.
• 1993 - 1997: The East in the Light of the West. Three Eastern Streams of the Twentieth Century in the Light of Christian Esotericism: Parts 1 – 3, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2010. (Part 1: The Teachings of Agni Yoga in the Light of Christian Esotericism; Part 2: The Teachings of Alice Bailey in the Light of Christian Esotericism; Part 3: The Birth of Christian Esotericism in the Twentieth Century and the Occult Powers that Oppose It.)
• 1999: The Encounter with Evil and its Overcoming through Spiritual Science. With Essays on the Foundation Stone, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row [1999], 2nd Ed. 2001.
• 2002: May Human Beings Hear It! The Mystery of the Christmas Conference, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2004, Reprinted 2014.

* 2002: (Ed.) Die Grundsteinmeditation als Schulungsweg. Das Wirken der Weihnachtstagung in 80 Jahren. Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 2002. * 2002: Novalis und Goethe in der Geistesgeschichte des Abendlandes. Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 2002.

• 2003: The Foundation Stone Meditation. A Key to the Christian Mysteries, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2006.
• 2003: Valentin Tomberg and Anthroposophy: A Problematic Relationship, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2005.
• 2004: What is Anthroposophy? Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2006.
• 2004: The Mystery of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Turning Point of Time: An Esoteric Study, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2005.
• 2006: Relating to Rudolf Steiner: And the Mystery of the Laying of the Foundation Stone, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2008.

* 2006: Maximilian Woloschin. Mensch - Dichter - Anthroposoph. Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 2006.

• 2006: Anthroposophy and The Philosophy of Freedom. Anthroposophy and its Method of Cognition. The Christological and Cosmic-Human Dimension of The Philosophy of Freedom, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2009 [first German ed. 2006].
• 2007: The Guardian of the Threshold and the Philosophy of Freedom: On the Relationship of The Philosophy of Freedom to the Fifth Gospel, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2011.

* 2007: Friedrich Schiller und die Zukunft der Freiheit. Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 2007.

• 2008: The Esoteric Significance of Spiritual Work in Anthroposophical Groups and the Future of the Anthroposophical Society, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2008.
• 2008: The Mystery of the Resurrection in the Light of Anthroposophy, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2010.
• 2009: The Whitsun Impulse and Christ's Activity in Social Life, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2011.
• 2009 – 2011: The Creative Power of Anthroposophical Christology: An Outline of Occult Science; The First Goetheanum; The Fifth Gospel; The Christmas Conference, (with Peter Selg), SteinerBooks, Great Barrington, MA, 2012.
• 2010: Why Become a Member of the School of Spiritual Science? Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2013.
• 2010: The Appearance of Christ in the Etheric. Spiritual-Scientific Aspects of the Second Coming, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2012.
• 2010: Honoring Life. Medical Ethics and Physician-Assisted Suicide. A Consideration from an Anthroposophical Point of View (with Peter Selg), SteinerBooks, Great Barrington 2014.
• 2011: Why Become a Member of the Anthroposophical Society? Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2012.
• 2011: Rudolf Steiner's Path of Initiation and the Mystery of the Ego and The Foundations of Anthroposophical Methodology (Rudolf Steiner), Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2013.
• 2011: Rudolf Steiner's Sculptural Group: A Revelation of the Spiritual Purpose of Humanity and the Earth, Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2013.

* 2011: Das Rätsel des menschlichen Ich. Eine anthroposophische Betrachtung. Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 2011. (Sections of this book are contained in the Appendices to S.O. Prokofieff: Anthroposophy and The Philosophy of Freedom, Temple Lodge 2009.

• 2012: Crisis in the Anthroposophical Society and Pathways to the Future (with Peter Selg), Temple Lodge Publishing, Forest Row 2013.
• 2012: And the Earth Becomes a Sun. On the Mystery of the Resurrection, Wynstones Press, UK, 2014.
• 2012: The Esoteric Nature of the Anthroposophical Society, Wynstones Press, UK, 2014.
• 2013: "Time-Journeys" - A Counter-Image to Anthroposophical Spiritual Research, Wynstones Press, UK, 2013.
• 2014: The Michael-Mystery. A Spiritual-Scientific view of the Michael-Imagination and its representation in Eurythmy, Wynstones Press, UK, 2015.

* 2016: Goethes "Faust" und das Geheimnis des Menschen, Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 2016.

Essays (Selection)

• Erlebnis 'Faust': Anregungen zur Vertiefung, Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 2004.
• "The Task of the Nathan Soul for Humanity.” In: R. Steele (ed.): Communities for Tomorrow, Floris Books, Edinburgh 2011.
• "The End of the Century and the Tasks of the Anthroposophical Society.” In: S. Gulbekian (ed.): The Future is Now: Anthroposophy at the New Millennium, Temple Lodge Publishing, London 2001.
• Foreword to: Novalis, George MacDonald (tr.): Hymns to the Night / Spiritual Songs, Temple Lodge Publishing, London 1992.

External links

• Profile at SteinerBooks / Anthroposophic Press
• Profile at Temple Lodge Publishing
• Article: The Destiny of the 'I' in the Age of the Etheric Christ
• http://www.studienzuranthroposophie.de A critical view (in German) of Prokofieff's interpretation of certain aspects of Rudolf Steiner's Die Philosophie der Freiheit (The Philosophy of Freedom - also translated as The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity and Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path)