Letter of 28 May 1954

Shoghi 28 May 1954 Dear &Baha'i Friends:

The beloved Guardian has instructed me to write you concerning an action recently taken by your National Assembly, as published in your January-February &Baha'i News, that &non-Baha'is may attend 19-Day Feasts if "the earnestness of their interest in the Faith" is vouched for by a declared believer. +P212

The Guardian wishes me to direct your attention to the fact that none of the institutions of the Faith nor its cardinal principles may be changed under any circumstances.

The 19-Day Feast is an institution of the Cause, first established by the &Bab, later confirmed by &Baha'u'llah, and now made a prominent part of the administrative order of the Faith. These 19-Day Feasts are for the &Baha'is, and the &Baha'is exclusively, and no variation from this principle is permitted.

Thus the Guardian feels you should rescind the action taken by your Assembly in opening the Feasts to "near &Baha'is", as it is not consistent with the spirit of the administrative order for &non-Baha'is or near &Baha'is to attend the 19-Day Feasts, particularly the administrative portion of the Feast.

The Guardian realizes the spirit which animated you in making the suggested proposal, in order that the teaching work might go forward more aggressively; but he feels in the long run it would be detrimental to the Faith, and therefore should be rescinded as indicated above.

The Guardian sends you his loving greetings.... 8 June 1954 Dear &Baha'i Friends:

The beloved Guardian has been greatly pleased with the achievements of the friends throughout the world during the first year of the Ten-Year Crusade. Victories were won in all parts of the world, and on many fronts. The Faith was established in 101 countries of the world, bringing the light of guidance to 229 countries and islands.

We now enter the second phase of the Ten-Year Crusade. +P213

The Guardian's message to the Convention has outlined the goals to be achieved during this second phase.

One of the important items was the purchase of &Haziratu'l-Quds for future National Spiritual Assemblies. The Guardian feels that immediate steps should be taken to fulfil a part of this project. In all, there are 49 &Haziratu'l-Quds to be purchased--4 already are owned. He feels that during the second year of the Crusade, 17 additional &Haziratu'l-Quds should be purchased. These should not be elaborate structures, but modest houses, which can serve at the present time, as local &Haziratu'l-Quds, but which will be converted into National &Haziratu'l-Quds as soon as the National Assemblies are formed.

The Guardian feels that steps should be taken immediately to purchase the &Haziratu'l-Quds in Vienna. A fund should be started so that the friends may contribute to this important project when they wish.

The Guardian has been informed that a small property has been procured in Vienna, to serve as a Headquarters. He is anxious to know if this property has been purchased, or is being rented. If it has been purchased, and is an independent property, it of course can serve temporarily as a &Hazira for the local Assembly, and then later be made the National &Hazira. If, on the other hand, the building is being rented, and it is satisfactory, efforts should be made to purchase it. If it cannot be purchased, then some other small property should be bought. The Guardian wishes it clearly understood that a &Hazira must be a piece of land owned by the &Baha'is, and not a rented piece of property.

The Guardian will appreciate advice from you as quickly as possible of the steps being taken to fulfill this important task of the second phase of the Ten-Year Plan. He feels this property should be purchased during the current year.... +P214 P.S.--The Guardian requests that you inform all the friends that their most important duty at the present time is the fulfillment of the tasks of the Ten-Year Crusade. This calls for the sacrifice of local activities in order that the national and international development of the Faith may go forward uninterruptedly. No local institutions should be started. The National Assembly should see that money is not spent on local centers at this time, and the friends should be encouraged to concentrate on the national and international activities of the Faith. 25 June 1954 Dear &Baha'i Sister:

The letters of your Assembly dated June 18, August 11, September 2 (4), 13, October 14, November 9 and 24, 1953, and January 16 (2), February 3, 5 (2), 7, 11, March 7, April 19, May 12 and June 19, 1954, with their enclosures, as well as the material forwarded under separate cover, have all been received by the beloved Guardian, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.

He is sorry that pressure of work prevented him from writing more frequently to the National Spiritual Assemblies, including your own. Indeed, he is beginning to wonder how much longer he can go on attending to the multiplying affairs of the Cause of today, and keeping up correspondence as well.

He is very pleased to see that the work in Germany is really going forward at a visibly more rapid rate. The German friends, one of the oldest Communities in Europe, so devoted and loyal, and who have suffered so much +P215 during two wars, are beginning at last to see the institutions of their Faith emerging in their native land in a more concrete form than the realm of hope and dreams.

The national &Haziratu'l-Quds, which was purchased so shortly after the end of the last world conflagration, has now been followed by the plan for the first &Baha'i Temple on European soil, a truly noble and inspiring undertaking.

In this connection he wishes to say that he is very sorry he could not agree to the proposals you sent him so far. As your Assembly is aware, the &Baha'is all over the world are building up national institutions and purchasing, in various areas, Temple sites, etc. It is only natural that each Assembly should feel justified in making an initial suitable investment for its Temple site or its national &Haziratu'l-Quds. However, the Guardian, to whom all the news comes from all over the world, is forced to face the fact that if your Assembly, the Canadian Assembly, the British Community, the Italian-Swiss Assembly etc. etc. each pays as heavy sums for its &Baha'i Temple site or national headquarters as they propose to in these reports, which they send him, the &Baha'i world would never be able to get out of debt. Desirable as each place is, when considered from a local standpoint, it becomes on an international scale, a program that is financially impossible. That is why he urged your Assembly to drastically curtail the area and the price. He has done the same thing in many other parts of the world. He hopes that you will shortly be able to purchase the land required.

There now remains the important consideration of a design for the &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. It does not matter whether it is executed by a &Baha'i or a &non-Baha'i architect, but the essential thing is that it must be beautiful and dignified. There must be none of this hideous, exaggerated, bizarre style, which one sees in many modern buildings. It is +P216 not befitting for our House of Worship. He thinks that you should impress this on any architects wishing to submit drawings. The essentials of the design, as stipulated by &Abdu'l-Baha are that the building should be nine-sided, and circular in shape. Aside from this, the architect is not restricted in any way in choosing his style of design.

Whenever you have a sufficient collection of drawings, he would be pleased to receive them, and give you his advice.

A very large building at this time is not necessary, as the expense would overtax our resources too heavily; and the Persian &Baha'is, who are so much more numerous, will have to, during the coming nine years, build a much larger and more pretentious structure in &Tihran, and consequently a more expensive one.

Regarding the matter of ...: individual &Baha'is are always encouraged to travel and teach, and no doubt he has been of much assistance in Germany. The Guardian, however, feels your Assembly was quite right in considering that your limited financial resources should be spent supporting pioneers, rather than a travelling teacher in Germany.

The eagerness of the friends to serve, often carries them away, and they forget that a sound sense of business management is also much needed, if we are to harbour our resources and accomplish all our goals.

He was delighted to see that so many of the &Baha'is from Germany were present at the Stockholm Conference, and that they were able to meet with their colleagues from Austria. He hopes that your teaching work in Austria will make marked progress during the present year. The Cause there has been too long neglected, and undoubtedly there is a very fertile field, waiting only to be cultivated, in order to yield a rich harvest. +P217

It has indeed been a great blessing to the German Community to receive the visits of so many Hands of the Cause of God from abroad during the past year.

He hopes that the auxiliary Board for Europe recently established, will be of great help in the work to be carried out by the administrative bodies throughout Europe.

The most important thing is to keep the pioneer territories which have been settled open. There must be no lapse. The friends must be urged to remain at their posts at all costs. They must remember the glorious example of Marion Jack, who recently passed away in Bulgaria, after almost 30 years of devoting her life to teaching the Faith in that country of her choice. As many of you who knew her personally will recall, her health was very bad, as far back as 1935, when she attended the Esslingen Summer School. It certainly never improved. She was bombed, evacuated, she slept in some drafty, cold room in a school in the country, was often, we have reason to believe, almost hungry, and insufficiently clad after the war, due to difficulties in getting money through to her in an Soviet-dominated territory. She never mastered the language, and was without friends of her own country; and yet, she persevered, and, in spite of even the Guardian's pleas that she leave the country during the worst years of the war, remained at her post, and won for herself imperishable fame, her resting-place becoming a shrine in Bulgaria, which the people of that country will increasingly honour and cherish.

It is to this glorious soul that the present generation of pioneers must look for inspiration and example.

He is very happy that the German &Baha'is have been able to settle in Crete and the Frisian Islands, a great step forward, when one realizes how much their activities have +P218 been circumscribed, during the past thirty years, by circumstances over which they had no control.

He thanks you for sending him ten copies of each of your new publications, and would like you to continue doing so, as any new literature comes out.

So far he has not received any copies of "God Passes By" in German, but is hoping to do so.

He appreciates very much the sentiments you expressed to him in connection with the loss of our dear Hands of the Cause, Mr. Schopflocher and Mrs. Baker. The friends everywhere must try and make up for the work these devoted and consecrated souls would have done, had they not passed to the &Abha Kingdom. In this way they can best express their admiration and gratitude.

He is very happy to see that your National Convention has been so successful, and that the influence of the future Temple is already being felt, and attracting the hearts of the believers, including many previously inactive. It shows what these &Baha'i institutions are going to do as they develop.

You may be sure that he remembers all the members of your Assembly in his loving prayers in the holy Shrines, and supplicates that the German and Austrian &Baha'i Communities may exceed all their past records of achievement during this present &Baha'i year....

[From the Guardian:] Dear and valued co-workers:

The achievements of the German and Austrian &Baha'i communities, since the launching of the Ten-Year Global Crusade, embarked upon by the followers of the Faith of &Baha'u'llah, mark a notable advancement in the progress and consolidation of the Faith in the heart of the European continent. The weighty and historic task so valiantly shouldered by both of these communities has been +P219 splendidly initiated, and must, as the Plan unfolds, be prosecuted with increasing vigilance, unswerving resolve, whole-hearted consecration, complete unity, and exemplary steadfastness.

The greatest, most pressing and sacred enterprise, challenging the spirit and resources of all the members of both of these communities--the purchase of the land, for the first &Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of Europe and the prompt initiation of measures for its construction--demands, during this present phase of the Crusade, the utmost concentration of effort, and the most sublime sacrifice on the part of the German and Austrian believers--an effort and sacrifice in which their brethren, in both the East, and the West, will gladly participate, as a token of their appreciation of the historic significance of this mighty institution destined to be firmly established and radiate its beneficent influence in the very heart of that continent.

The purchase of the site must be expedited, the selection of a befitting design for so glorious an edifice must be made with as little delay as possible, and the preliminary steps for the excavation of the foundations must be undertaken with care, promptitude and determination.

The rise of this symbol and harbinger of the World Order of &Baha'u'llah, as yet in the embryonic stage of its development, amidst the confusion, the anxieties, the rivalries and the recurrent crises that mark the decline of a moribund civilization, will, no doubt, lend a tremendous impetus to the onward march of the Faith in all the continents of the Globe, and will, more than any other single act, direct the attention of the spiritually impoverished, the economically afflicted, the socially disturbed, and the morally disoriented masses of a sorely tried continent to its nascent institutions. +P220

Parallel with these measures, destined to contribute so effectively to the rise and establishment of the Administrative Order of the Faith in both Germany and Austria, a systematic effort must be exerted by the national elected representatives of the &Baha'i communities in these two countries to multiply, as speedily as possible, the assemblies, groups and isolated centres, through a wider dispersal on the part of the believers, and the launching of an intensive campaign of teaching designed to increase, swiftly and steadily the number of the active supporters of the Faith.

The pioneers who have so valiantly settled in the virgin areas assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the &Baha'is of Germany and Austria, must, however great the sacrifice, safeguard the prizes so laboriously won, and strive, by every means in their power, to consolidate, through extensive teaching work, their splendid and unforgettable achievements.

While this double process of multiplication of &Baha'i centres, and development of the newly opened areas, is being assiduously carried out, a no less notable progress must be made in the consolidation of these two communities, through the initiation of local incorporations which will pave the way for the establishment of local &Baha'i endowments, and will serve to reinforce the foundations of all local &Baha'i communities.

The establishment of a national &Haziratu'l-Quds in the capital city of Austria, as well as of national endowments in that country--measures that will herald the formation of an independent National Spiritual Assembly, and the erection of yet another pillar of the Universal House of Justice, in the heart of the European continent--should be +P221 regarded as the paramount objectives of this second phase of the Ten-Year Crusade which we are now entering.

No less vital and urgent is the task of establishing, in the course of this second stage in the unfoldment of this world spiritual Crusade, of a &Baha'i Publishing Trust, similar, in its essentials, to the one already functioning in the British Isles, and of lending a fresh impetus to the translation, the publication and dissemination of &Baha'i literature in the German language--a task which will greatly accelerate the all-important teaching work, and enhance the prestige of the Faith, and promote the vital interests of its institutions.

The Community of the German and Austrian believers, the recipient of such signal honours from the Center of &Baha'u'llah's Covenant in the past; born and nurtured in its infancy under His fostering care in the course of the concluding decades of the Apostolic Age of the Faith; eminently successful in laying the foundations of its Administrative Order in the years immediately following His Ascension; emerging, purified and strengthened, from the fire of a severe and prolonged ordeal after the conclusion of the second world war; demonstrating its capacity and resilience through the initiation and prosecution of a carefully designed Plan, despite the exhaustion of a terrible and harrowing conflict that endangered its life and shook it to its foundations,--such a community has now risen to assume its rightful place in the world-encompassing Crusade launched by the followers of &Baha'u'llah; has splendidly initiated its Ten-Year Plan through the inauguration of its glorious Mission in foreign fields, and is now forging ahead, with magnificent courage, resolution, thoroughness, and fidelity, in its endeavour to win fresh laurels in the course of this second and newly opened stage in the unfoldment of the Plan to which it stands committed. +P222

May the vision of its members remain undimmed, their resolution never flag, their steps never falter. May they, as the years go by, demonstrate afresh the solidity of their faith, the nobility of their motives, the sublimity of their devotion, the tenacity of their resolution, in the service of a Faith they have served so devotedly in the past and which they will, undoubtedly, promote with unabated zeal, in the future,

Your true brother,