Valentin Tomberg and the Ecclesia Universalis

<p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>In his teens and twenties Russian-born Valentin Tomberg (1900-1973) was already exploring not only the Orthodox influences in his home city of St. Petersburg but also such currents as those of Theosophy Anthroposophy Kabbalism and Hermeticism. In his thirties he emerged as a leading anthroposophical researcher. As an emigré from revolutionary Russia he went first to Estonia then to Holland where his work bore increasingly the imprint of the stream of Platonism. During the years 1940-1943 Tomberg worked with a small group unveiling ever deeper layers of the Our Father prayer. When the Nazi occupation brought this work to an end he turned increasingly to the subjects of jurisprudence and the Hermetic tradition. During this period he joined the Catholic Church. There followed his intense work on Christian Hermeticism displayed in his masterwork </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>. Tomberg's works raised controversies: in particular fundamental questions regarding the relationship between Anthroposophy and the Catholic Church. This long overdue biography finally illuminates thematically and historically Tomberg's pivotal significance in a developing Christian culture-an </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Ecclesia universalis</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>-in which he discerned the guiding impulses of the Archangel Michael and the Divine Sophia.</span></p>