|
Letter of 21 June 1956
|
1 |
Dear Bahá'í Friends:
|
2 |
Your letters of August 8 and 18, September 9, October 4,
November 8, 9 and 13, one undated, received December
18, 1955; and January 27, one dated January, February 7,
24 and 28, April 21, May 5, and 31, with enclosures, and
also material sent under separate cover have all been
received by the beloved Guardian, and he has instructed me
to answer you on his behalf.
|
3 |
He has been very encouraged during the last year over the
increased activity on the part of the German Bahá'ís, as
witnessed by the teaching conferences they have held at
different times and in different places; and the growth of
new Centers in Austria more or less as a direct outcome of
the devoted pioneer efforts of members of the German
Bahá'í Community. This fulfills a long-cherished wish of
his, and was a source of great satisfaction. He hopes that the
Groups in Graz, Innsbruck and Salzburg will attain
Assembly status by next Ridván, thus giving the Austrian
Community a much firmer foundation and preparing it for
the day when it will have its independent National
Assembly, a day which is not so very far off after all, and
towards which they must work constantly, with ever
increasing zeal and dedication.
|
4 |
He was also very happy to hear that the Vienna
Community has settled down in its Hazíratu'l-Quds, its
future national headquarters building; and that this is not
only a center for the Bahá'ís, but, what is even more
important, a center for their teaching activities on a larger
and more impressive scale in that city.
|
5 |
As he already informed you before, he felt that the
generous contribution of dear Mrs. Collins towards the
purchase of a national endowment for Austria should be
used for that purpose only, and not diverted to anything to
do with the furnishing or embellishing of the Hazíratu'l-Quds.
|
6 |
He hopes that the presence of a devoted American Bahá'í,
Mrs. Edna Johnson Norvell in Austria will be of help to the
friends. She is most eager to serve and assist them in every
way she can.
|
7 |
It has been recently a great pleasure for the Guardian to
receive here as his guests four of the pioneers to Athens.
This contact has been most welcome, and he feels that your
Assembly can be proud of these fine young people, who are
making every effort to achieve the goals set for the German
Bahá'ís in Greece.
|
8 |
He has also had the great pleasure of receiving here the
first German Bahá'í since before the war; namely, Miss
Weber, one of the pioneers to Crete.
|
9 |
He hopes that the German Bahá'í Community will make
every effort to send forth a greater number of pioneers to the
countries which have been made their particular
responsibility under the World Crusade, and also to
reinforce the work in Austria. They must never forget that
one of the first "pioneers", before the days when that term
was even in use, was dear Mr. Benke, who sacrificed his life
in the service of the Faith with such an exemplary spirit of
devotion that the Guardian felt impelled to call him the first
European martyr for the Faith. This was a great distinction
and blessing conferred on the German Bahá'ís, and should
stimulate many others to follow in his footsteps.
|
10 |
The Guardian is very sorry that there has been so much
delay as regards the Temple in Frankfurt, both because of
the difficulty of obtaining permission to build on the site
chosen, and the difficulty in coming to a decision about the
design.
|
11 |
He feels that, as this is the Mother Temple of Europe, and
an institution which will be supported by contributions
from Bahá'ís all over the world, that it has a very great
importance; and must under all circumstances be dignified,
and not represent an extremist point of view in architecture.
No one knows how the styles of the present day may be
judged two or three generations from now; but the Bahá'ís
cannot afford to build a second Temple if the one that they
built at the present time should seem too extreme and
unsuitable at a future date.
|
12 |
In view of this, he has pondered very carefully over the
designs which were submitted to him, and also consulted
Mr. Remey. He hopes to come to a decision, and will
inform your Assembly accordingly.
|
13 |
He appreciated very much the cooperative spirit shown
by many of the German architects and their offer to come
here and consult with him. This would have been
impractical, and a waste of the money of the Faith; but, if
your Assembly has occasion, he would like it to please
thank these gentlemen for their friendly and cooperative
spirit as regards our Temple.
|
14 |
He feels that the National Hazíratu'l-Quds in Frankfurt
should act as the Secretariat of the National Assembly as
well. This is the main reason why the Bahá'ís have National
Headquarters--so that the office of the National Spiritual
Assembly can operate from the National Assembly's
permanent address. It may not be convenient at times, but it
is essential that this should be done. He has informed other
national bodies of the same thing, that is, those who had not
already placed their Secretariat in their Hazíratu'l-Quds.
|
15 |
He feels that your Assembly should particularly
concentrate at this time on accelerating the work on the
home front. Perhaps the most difficult objective for any of
the National Assemblies to accomplish is the one of
increasing the number of Assemblies and Centers under
their jurisdiction before the end of the Ten Year Plan. The
friends must realize that this, by its very nature, is a task
which it is dangerous to postpone to the latter years of the
Plan. The construction of Assemblies is always a laborious
process, and one which demands a great deal of preparation
and forethought and time to achieve. Therefore, the sooner
the believers go out into the field, and assist, through
settlement or through extension teaching, or travelling
teaching trips, or in whatever way they can, in laying the
foundation for these new Assemblies, the better.
|
16 |
He hopes that the Bahá'í youth in Germany will be
encouraged to take a more active part in administrative
affairs and in the teaching work. They must always realize
that they are the future of the Cause, and they should gain
from experience as teachers and administrators from the
older friends, in preparation for the time when the burden
of the work will fall on their shoulders.
|
17 |
The news of the publication work you have in hand was
also encouraging; and he hopes that, when you receive your
Reparations from the proper civil authorities there, you will
be able to put the new Bahá'í Publishing Trust on a firm
foundation, and get out more literature, which is the very
backbone of the teaching work.
|
18 |
You may be sure that he often remembers you in his
prayers in the holy Shrines; and he deeply appreciates the
consecrated spirit with which you are serving the interests of
the Faith in Germany and Austria, and in the virgin
territories allotted to your care. He hopes that the national
work can be arranged in such a way that too great a burden
does not fall on the Hands of the Cause, who already have
another important function to discharge, and yet who are
needed because of their capacities for the National
Assembly work as well.
|
19 |
He was very sorry to hear of the illness of some of the
members who are so needed in the teaching work in
Germany, and he hopes and prays that they are now fully
recovered.
|
20 |
The good news that your National Convention was held
so successfully pleased him very much; and he was also
happy to see that a young and comparatively new Bahá'í has
been added to your Body. This will no doubt be of
assistance to the work of the Assembly.
|
21 |
He was also happy to see that you have been able to add
another incorporation, in such an important city as
Frankfurt, the national seat....
|
22 |
P.S. Mr. Ioas recently wrote your Assembly that the
Guardian does not feel it would serve any useful purpose to
reconsider Temple designs with Prof. Grund; please thank
him for his helpfulness and fine spirit.
|
23 |
[From the Guardian:]
|
24 |
Dear and valued co-workers:
|
25 |
The progress achieved in recent years, and particularly
since the inception of the Ten-Year Plan, by both the
German and Austrian Bahá'í communities, in the field of
teaching and administrative spheres of Bahá'í activity, has
been such as to evoke feelings of deep and abiding gratitude
in my heart, and to excite the admiration of their sister
communities in both the East and the West.
|
26 |
Emerging more than a decade ago, from a prolonged
period of adversity, which served to purge, discipline and
spiritually quicken the nations to which these communities
belong; abundantly demonstrating, throughout the
afflictive trial they underwent, the sterling qualities of their
faith and the depth of their unalterable devotion to the
Cause they have espoused; firmly reestablishing, on the
morrow of that ordeal, the institutions of an Administrative
Order which had been temporarily disrupted and suffered
an eclipse during the years of repression, suffering and
confusion; embarking, at a later period, and in concert with
Bahá'í communities the world over, on the Ten-Year Plan,
designed to carry them a stage further on the road leading
them to their high destiny--the members of these
communities are now, both individually and collectively,
fully engaged in the discharge of their sacred and heavy
responsibilities--responsibilities which they cannot shirk
and which I feel confident, they will nobly and fully
discharge.
|
27 |
The third phase of the Plan which they now have entered
must witness such an acceleration in the tempo of Bahá'í
activity, in the various fields assigned to them, and such a
depth of consecration to the tasks they have shouldered, as
shall throw into shade every evidence of the valour
displayed during the infancy of the Faith in both of these
countries.
|
28 |
The virgin territories alloted to your assembly, under the
Ten-Year Plan, must be carefully watched over, and the
prizes won in those fields must be constantly enriched, at
whatever cost, through the dispatch of a larger number of
pioneers and a more adequate provision for the needs, both
material and spiritual, of those valiant souls who, by the
very nature of their services, constitute the vanguard of the
future army of Bahá'u'lláh which must, in the days to come
be raised up in those territories. The homefront, the
reservoir which must be constantly replenished if the aid
given to these pioneers is to prove ultimately adequate and
effective, must be made the object of the solicitude and of
the anxious deliberations of the members of your Assembly.
The remarkable success recently achieved, through the
multiplication of Bahá'í assemblies, groups and isolated
centres, must be followed up by a corresponding increase in
the number of the avowed and active supporters of the Faith
--the bedrock on which the strength and stability of the
entire community must rest. The preliminary stages
designed to launch the greatest enterprise confronting the
German Bahá'í Community--the construction of the
Mother Temple of Europe--must be swiftly and
energetically undertaken, particularly in connexion with the
ultimate settlement of the issue of the Temple site, and the
provision of the necessary authorization for the laying of its
foundations and the erection of its structure.
|
29 |
Another matter of vital importance, and destined to exert
a lasting influence on the immediate destinies of the German
Bahá'í Community, is the adoption of the necessary
measures for the introduction of the Faith into neighbouring
territories, such as the translation of Bahá'í literature into
Russian and into the languages in use in the Baltic states,
and the exploration of every avenue designed to enable
German Bahá'í pioneers to launch this vast, this historic and
meritorious campaign beyond the eastern confines of their
native land.
|
30 |
The process of incorporating firmly established Bahá'í
local assemblies, which has so far been regrettably slow,
must be further stimulated, in order to consolidate the legal
foundations of the administrative structure of the Faith in
that land as well as in Austria.
|
31 |
The institution of the National Fund, whose fundamental
importance cannot be exaggerated, must receive a wider
and fuller measure of support from the rank and file of the
believers, in order that it may be enabled to provide more
adequately than heretofore for the pressing material needs
of the infant institutions of the Faith, now faced with such
tremendous and inescapable responsibilities.
|
32 |
Particular attention must, moreover, be devoted to the
vital and urgent needs of the Faith in Austria, where a
nascent community is heroically struggling to establish its
independent national Bahá'í existence on a secure
foundation.
|
33 |
Constant encouragement, by whatever means possible,
must, furthermore, be given the suppressed and isolated
local communities in Eastern Germany, now so sadly
detached from the general body of the followers of the Faith
in that land, and any assistance, lying in your power, must
be extended to them for the purpose of enabling some of
their members to penetrate into the remaining territories
assigned to your assembly under the provisions of the Ten-Year
Plan.
|
34 |
The stalwart German Bahá'í Community, ranking among
the oldest and certainly one of the most eminent,
communities in Europe; firmly implanted in the heart of
that continent; constituting one of the leading strongholds
of the Faith within its confines; reassured, time and again,
through the glowing promises given it, in unmistakable
language, by the Centre of the Covenant, in the early years
of that community's existence; blessed so abundantly
through His memorable visit to its homeland; hardened and
chastened in the school of adversity; emerging triumphant
over those adversaries that sought so ineffectively to arrest
its march, dim its hopes, and disrupt its foundations; fully
equipped through more than three decades of Bahá'í
administrative experience--such a community finds itself,
at this historic hour, fully and hopefully launched upon an
enterprise which, if successfully carried out, will enable it to
bring to a conclusion a chapter of the utmost significance in
the evolution of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh in that land.
|
35 |
Aware of its manifold responsibilities, determined to
fulfill the dearest hopes cherished for it by `Abdu'l-Bahá,
conscious of its inherent strength, and encouraged by its
multiple and heartwarming accomplishments, this
community, in conjunction with its younger sister, must
redouble its efforts to scale loftier heights, to plumb greater
depths of dedication, to evince a still nobler heroism, and to
heighten, by its accomplishments, and, above all, by a still
more convincing demonstration of the spirit animating its
members, the feelings of admiration which I myself, as well
as the believers in other lands, hold them, in consequence of
their mighty endeavours and unforgettable exploits in the
service, and for the Cause, of Bahá'u'lláh.
|
36 |
May His Spirit ever shine upon, and warm, their hearts.
May His precepts ever guide their footsteps, and may His
unfailing grace, vouchsafed from the realms on high, be
poured forth upon them in such abundance as to enable
them to achieve, in the years immediately ahead, total and
complete victory.
|
37 |
Your true brother,
|
38 |
Shoghi
|