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THE
ENCYCLICAL
LETTERS
TO
THE BAHÁ’Í WORLD
FROM
MASON REMEY
GUARDIAN
OF THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH
TO THE
BAHÁ’Í WORLD
THIS IS THE FIRST OF A SERIES OF ENCYCLICAL LETTERS
FROM MASON REMEY, THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH
Sent Forth From Washington, D.C., U. S. A.
Dear Friends of the Faith:
In my Proclamation to the Bahá’í World – Ridván 117 of this Bahá’í Era – I announced to the Bahá’í world that the Beloved Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi, had in his own life time appointed me to follow him in the Guardianship of the Faith as the Second Guardian of the Bahá’í Cause, and that I have been the Guardian of the Faith (and had stood alone guarding the Faith) since the death of the First Guardian of the Faith.
In answer to any questions that may arise amongst the believers as to why Shoghi Effendi had thus chosen me, an American Bahá’í, to fill this office of Guardian of the Faith to follow him, I would remind such questioners that the Infallible First Guardian of the Faith appointed me to my present office in the Faith – appointed me during his life time as Guardian of the Faith. No believer should question this infallible appointment!
This I explained in my recent Proclamation declaring that I, Mason Remey, made no claims upon mine own behalf but that I was merely telling the Bahá’í world what might have been evident to them had they realized that there had been no break in the Guardianship of the Faith between the First and Second Guardians of the Cause; for inasmuch as my appointment was during the life time of Shoghi Effendi, automatically at his death I was the Second Guardian of the Faith!
Therefore, in view of these facts there should be no question as to the legitimacy of my Guardianship since the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi accomplished this appointment all in accordance with the Will and Testament of the Master `Abdu’l-Bahá.
Let all Bahá’ís study the Will and Testament of `Abdu’l-Bahá that each can understand for himself and for herself the manner in which the Beloved Guardian built up and developed the Administration of the Faith, built up the Administration upon the directions that were contained in the Will and Testament of the Master `Abdu’l-Bahá.
The Administration of the Faith, that is inseparable from the Guardianship of the Faith, is now under the attack of the violating Hands of the Faith. This is the present issue that the Bahá’í world faces! It is the question of the violation and the putting aside and to naught of the Will and Testament of `Abdu’l-Bahá and also of all that the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi accomplished during his long ministry as the First Guardian of the Faith.
All Bahá’ís understand that the Guardian of the Faith is to be the President of the Universal House of Justice and that the Universal House of Justice cannot exist without coexistence of the Guardianship. He who is President of the Universal House of Justice is the Guardian of the Faith for he who is the Guardian of the Faith is President of the Universal House of Justice. These two offices are one and the same. Therefore, when the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi appointed me President of the Bahá’í International Council, that he explained was the forerunner of the Universal House of Justice that was the Embryonic Universal House of Justice that would eventually develop into the Universal House of Justice. I or one of my successors in Guardianship would be President of this divinely instituted infallible body, the Universal House of Justice; therefore the Guardianship of the Bahá’í Faith and the Presidency of the Universal House of Justice are one and the same position in the Faith.
According to this manner of reasoning did the Beloved Guardian appoint me to be his successor as President to be of the Universal House of Justice and the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith.
Now the Bahá’í Faith faces the opposition of the Hands of the Faith who in violation of the Will and Testament of the Master `Abdu’l-Bahá and of the Administration of the Faith built up upon this Sacred Document by the Beloved Guardian, (this organization of the Hands of the Faith that has no authority whatsoever according to Holy Bahá’í Writ – no authority to exist), would put an end for all time to the divine office of the Guardianship of the Faith.
This is the problem that the cause faces now at this time, the problem of violation of the Guardianship of the Faith.
During the years of the mission of and the administration of Bahá’í affairs by our late Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi there have been but few cases of violation of the Faith – such as, for example, the Ahmad Sohrab defection known as the New History Society and one or two others. These were promptly settled by the Guardian, by the cutting off from the believers and from the cause by his orders these violators.
But now this present well organized violation so far endorsed by all of the Hands of the Faith in their last message to the Bahá’í world of November 1959, signed by twenty two of the Hands of the Faith (all that were present) with the exception of myself who refused to sign, threatens the existence of the Faith throughout the entire world.
Therefore, for the protection of the Faith it is necessary that the believers review and re-study the teachings of the Master `Abdu’l-Bahá about "Violation" and the manner in which this should be met by the people of the Faith.
In the Master ’s last message to the Bahá’ís in this country – a cablegram sent through Roy Wilhelm in New York to me and to another believer (Mrs. Parsons) in Washington were the words, "He who sits with leper contracts leprosy." In many of the Master’s other teachings he pronounces "Violation" to be a spiritually infectious plague – a disease destructive to the spiritual life of the soul of man.
I urge all believers to read and to study the Master’s teaching upon "Violation" that they will thus be able to reinforce and protect themselves and the cause against this menace.
Knowledge of the revealed teachings of the Faith will guide the people of the cause to protect the Faith from all such spiritually disintegrating diseases. The believers should study these teachings and thus prepare themselves to avoid these destructive forces of "Violation".
In order to protect our Faith I, the Guardian of the Cause, order the believers to have nothing whatsoever to do with those who are violating the Administration of the Bahá’í Faith. The faithful believers should do what they can to explain this to those who waveringly follow these violators thus to bring them back into the Faith that they are violating, but if people persist in their violation the faithful believers should leave them to themselves not associate nor fraternize with them. Nor should they in any way give cooperation or support of any description to these violators – this means no cooperation at all with them the faithful friends should not contribute any money to the activities of these violators nor in any other way countenance any of the activities of this violation.
At this present time Rúhíyyih Khánum is travelling throughout the Bahá’í centers in America upholding, preaching and teaching this violation of the Faith – the Administration of the Faith as established by the Beloved Guardian and the ending of the Guardianship!
She is the arch-violator of the violators of this present testing time of the believers. The people of the Faith should not give audience to her, for her determination is to destroy the administration and the Guardianship. The Master `Abdu’l-Bahá told us that the very breath as a violator is infectious and as a spiritual poison to the Faith! Every believer should study his words.
What more is it possible for me your Guardian to say to you in order to arouse all to protect the Faith?
Faithfully in El Abhá
MASON R. GUARDIAN
of the Bahá’í Faith
TO THE BAHÁ’Í WORLD
THIS IS THE SECOND OF THE SERIES OF ENCYCLICAL LETTERS
FROM MASON REMEY, THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH
Sent Forth From Washington 4, D. C., U.S.A.
P.O. Box 418
BELOVED BAHÁ’Í FRIENDS:
After receiving and reading my Proclamation to the Bahá’í world, announcing my appointment as The Second Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith as made by The Beloved First Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith during his lifetime, almost the entire Bahá’í world, it would seem, endorsed the violation of the Hands of the Faith in their repudiation of the most important act of The Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, in thus fulfilling that which he was commanded to do in the Will and Testament of the Blessed Master `Abdu’l-Bahá: namely, during his lifetime as First Guardian of the Faith, to appoint his successor, the Second Guardian of the Faith. This he accomplished, as directed in the Will and Testament, when he appointed me, Mason Remey, as his successor in command of the Bahá’í Faith.
Although my appointment was veiled at the time, when as his first step he appointed me President of the Bahá’í International Council, later on The Beloved Guardian very explicitly explained (still veiled, but clearly explained when all of his statements were taken together with the instructions in the Master ’s Will and Testament) his appointment of me as his successor. It is very clear and concise and not to be misunderstood.
Shoghi Effendi’s pronouncement first appointed me President of the International Council, saying that this was his first step toward the establishment of the Universal House of Justice. His next explanation was that the Bahá’í International Council, under my Presidency, was the embryonic Universal House of Justice that would develop into the Universal House of Justice. Consequently, when this embryonic House of Justice becomes the fully developed House of Justice, I, Mason Remey, would find myself to be the President of the full functioning Universal House of Justice of the Bahá’í world.
As explained in the Will and Testament, the Guardian of the Faith is to be the President of the Universal House of Justice; therefore, he who is President of the Universal House of Justice can be none other personage than the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith.
This is indeed a clear and understandable statement of my appointment by The Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, as the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith; for as the President of the Universal House of Justice is the Guardian of the Faith, so this same President of this same living embryonic Universal House of Justice can be none other than the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith.
Thus did Shoghi Effendi indicate to the Bahá’í world that I, Mason Remey, was to be his successor in the Guardianship of the Faith!
When the Hands of the Faith in the Holy Land come out, as they are doing in these days, condemning me for telling the Bahá’ís that I am their Guardian, they are in reality condemning and violating the Beloved Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi Himself. It was he who made the pronouncement President of the embryonic Universal House of Justice that would develop into the Universal House of Justice – this embryonic Universal House of Justice in reality actually being The Universal House of Justice – that could only exist with The Guardian of the Faith as its President, which is no other person than I, Mason Remey, Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, thus appointed to this supreme position in the Cause by The First Guardian of the Faith during his lifetime and to take office as Second Guardian of the Faith upon his (Shoghi Effendi’s) death; all is according to the Will and Testament of The Blessed Master `Abdu’l-Bahá.
What manner of appointment of The Second Guardian of the Faith could be more clear and understandable than this?
Therefore, when the Hands of the Faith condemn me for telling the Bahá’í world of this appointment and accuse me of attempting to usurp the Guardianship of the Faith, they are in reality denying that which The Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi himself, wrought; for it was he who thus appointed me to be his successor. It was all accomplished by him. I have never made any claims at all for myself. According to the Will and Testament, such was not my role as The Second Guardian of the Faith to perform. The Guardians of the Faith do not appoint themselves, for they are appointed – each Guardian by his predecessor. Thus did Shoghi Effendi appoint me during his lifetime as the Guardian to follow him. My Proclamation to the world was merely the announcement to all Bahá’ís of that which Shoghi Effendi had done when he appointed me to be his successor, which I have been ever since his death in England, in November, 1957.
Now why Shoghi Effendi made my appointment of Guardianship in the particular way in which he did, I do not know. Nor is it admissible or permissible for any Bahá’í to inquire about or attempt to understand, because none of the Faith would question this which was done by the Beloved Guardian of the Faith.
Therefore, the fact that the Hands of the Faith now do question and condemn me for announcing my Guardianship to the Bahá’í world, this very action of theirs is in violation to that which The Beloved Guardian did and performed, thus showing and clearly demonstrating to all the Bahá’í world their own violation as the Hands of the Faith when they condemn the action of the Beloved Guardian and seek to nullify that which he performed.
This matter of violation, treated of so thoroughly in the teachings of The Master `Abdu’l-Bahá and acted upon for the protection of the Faith by The First Guardian of the Faith, is not generally understood by many of the believers in these days. Otherwise, the people of the Faith would not be so misled as they are by these violating Hands of the Faith, who, like all violators in the history of the Cause, have been bent upon the destruction of the Faith. For if they are able to destroy the Guardianship of the Faith, as they are now upon the way to do; should they succeed in doing this and should the Guardianship end, as they are striving that it should; the Bahá’í Faith would indeed be ended, for without the Guardianship – that is the heart and the soul of the Faith – the Faith must die.
But we of the Bahá’í Faith have all assurance that in this great day of God His Kingdom is to triumph in this world and His Kingdom has come to dominate the world and all of its activities, even including the activities of the violators. Therefore, I assure you that nothing is in the end going to prevail against the Bahá’í Faith. I assure you of this; and as Guardian of the Faith, my promise to you is infallible. You can with all safety to yourselves as individuals, and collectively as a Cause, depend upon this the eventual victory of the Bahá’í Faith over all obstacles, even this present united violation that seems to be of all of the Hands, save myself, against the Guardianship of the Faith. In the end the Cause will triumph over all.
But now before this triumphant end comes to pass, we find our Faith to be torn and wounded by the claws and talons of the powers of violation, and so for the moment our attention must be focused upon this enemy that must be overcome in order that the Faith live.
The Master’s last message to America came in a cablegram to me and to another believer (Mrs. Parsons) in Washington, transmitted through Roy Wilhelm in New York. It was a warning to the believer, saying "He who sits with leper contracts leprosy".
It is most important now, at this time, that the people of the Faith study the Master ’s teachings and tablets upon violation. It is most important that they can see and understand how this spirit of violation now, at this moment, dominates the Hands of the Faith and all their actions. The people should read and study the Will and Testament and note the manner in which The Beloved Guardian built up the Administration of the Cause, founding it upon the plan revealed in The Will and Testament. I urge them to study these holy teachings that they can see and understand for themselves how the Hands of the Faith are trying to lead them astray and kill the Faith in a fixed intent to do away for all time with the Guardianship, the very heart and life center of the Faith. What more can I, their Guardian, say to them? Why do they seek any other direction than this that I give them – I, the Guardian of their Faith?
Acceptance of the basic principles of the Bahá’í Faith – namely, the present-day fulfillment of the Covenant as taught by The Master `Abdu’l-Bahá and the acceptance of His Will and Testament that gave the Administration of the Faith to the Bahá’í World – this forms the basis of the Bahá’í Faith and belief today and is the message that the Bahá’ís have in this day to give to the world. Such was the message given in the days of The First Guardian of the Faith, thus it still is and ever shall be under The Second Guardian of the Faith in this day, and thus will it be in the days of succeeding Guardians of the Faith in the future.
The message that the violating Hands of the Faith have substituted in place of the message of The Beloved Guardian, the message of the Faith "Sans Guardian", is similar to that of Ahmad Sohrab and his followers of The New History Society, who claim that they are Bahá’í followers of Bahá’u’lláh and `Abdu’l-Bahá but that they do not accept the Guardian of the Faith. Thus, like Ahmad Sohrab and his followers, are the present Hands of the Faith violating the Administrative Guardianship of the Faith.
How does it come that this is not clear to the minds of the overwhelming number of believers of today who are blindly following these Hands of the Faith? Why can they not see, and see clearly, that they are all wrong? I will answer this question "Why?" It is because of the disrupting forces of VIOLATION that poison the hearts and blind the eyes of the people of the Cause.
Let all Bahá’ís turn to the teachings and explanations of The Master `Abdu’l-Bahá regarding violation, and therein they will find clearly explained the dangers and the pitfalls that attack those who violate and seek to change the Holy Revealed Texts to suit their own ends.
Such is the abyss into which these erring Hands of the Faith are now plunging the Cause the world around. Such should be clearly evident to anyone who reads The Will and Testament upon which is founded the Administration of the Faith.
The first move that should be taken by those who are firm in their support of the Administrative-Guardianship of the Bahá’í Faith should be to go to the aid of those of the Faith who are confused and wavering – confused by the false and pernicious teachings of the Hands of the Cause that the believers have been subjected to since the death of the First Guardian of our Faith. These confused souls should be talked to and reasoned with, all argument based upon the study and restudy of The Will and Testament of the Master and the writings and teachings of Shoghi Effendi.
The spiritual safety of those people of the Faith, who have been and are supporting the program of violation of the Faith carried on by the Hands of the Faith, depends upon their knowledge of the Master’s Will and Testament and the interpretations of the Infallible Guardian of the Faith.
The Ark of the Covenant of the Faith in this present storm is in danger. As the first consideration of the Commander of a ship in distress in a storm at sea is to save the lives of those on his ship, so my first concern now, as Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, is the spiritual safety, life, assurance and well-being of the believers in this time of peril to the Faith.
Those who are confirmed and firm in the Covenant and the Administration of the Faith will now, with renewed energies and confirmation, go forth to continue the teaching of the world crusade instituted by our late Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi. The success of the crusade will be assured to them because they will be working under the Guardianship of the Faith– their Guardian being the heart of the Faith and leading them on to this victory, which victory will be followed by other victories of the Faith.
But the believers are now up against this pernicious condition of the violation that has so taken possession of the body of the Hands of the Faith as to make these Hands of the Faith the enemies-in-chief of the Bahá’í Cause.
Are the believers of the Bahá’í Faith going to accept and follow this studied and determined plan of the violating Hands of the Faith to destroy and put aside forever the Administration of the Guardianship of the Faith, given to the Bahá’í world by The Master `Abdu’l-Bahá in His Will and Testament and founded upon the Will and Testament by the Beloved First Guardian of the Faith? Is the Administration of our Faith, that is being attacked by these violating Hands of the Cause, now to be abandoned? Are the believers going to join with the violators in their plans for 1963 to set up for themselves another and a different order of procedure, one that they fallaciously proclaim will be infallible?
Are the Bahá’ís going to accept this fallacious plan and reject the Administration founded upon the Will and Testament and created by our Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi? If so, it would be better had you never heard of the Bahá’í Faith and well for you to so avow your intention that those believers standing firmly with the Guardian of the Faith should know who you are, that they can avoid you, and thereby not allow you to empoison others with this spiritual virus of violation that is so deadly to the Faith.
All Bahá’ís should read and study the Will and Testament of the Master `Abdu’l-Bahá and the teachings that he gave about violation and its ruinous ability to spread corruption and destructiveness in the Cause of God; for unless they read and study these Bahá’í teachings and get a basic knowledge of these realities, they will not be able to protect themselves against the forces that, at this time, are so obsessing the Bahá’í Faith as to threaten its very existence
What matters most is that within the Bahá’í Fold there be those who understand the Faith, for in knowledge there is safety and spiritual power. Knowledge of the teachings shows the believers how to teach and spread the Faith. Without this knowledge, and the accompanying wisdom that goes with it, one is at the mercy of every violator of the Faith, whom one may chance to meet, and he will be unable to protect himself from this violation.
The Hands of the Cause accuse me of attempting to create a split in the Cause – as if this were a bad thing for the Bahá’í Faith! I am indeed making a split in the Faith, for I am separating the diseased from the healthy living spiritual organisms of the body of the Bahá’ís. Such was the manner in which The Blessed Master saved the Faith in his day and the Beloved Guardian saved the Faith in his day.
When there is a cancerous growth in the human body, the only way to save that person is for the surgeon to cut out completely all of the infection. Such is the way that we of the Bahá’í Faith are taught to treat violation of our teaching – to cut it out and cut it off absolutely and entirely lest all the members of the entire body be destroyed. Those who are the source of this infection should be separated from the others lest all become infected.
Therefore, it is necessary now, at this time, that I, Guardian of the Faith, call all believers to separate and to cut themselves off completely from the direction of the Hands of the Faith and from participation in any way or form or manner with them in their plans for 1963, because these plans are all in violation of the Administration of the Faith as taught by `Abdu’l-Bahá and the Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi. Therefore, I exercise the right of the Guardianship to cut off from the Bahá’í Faith all of those Hands of the Faith who went upon record in the report of November, 1959, sent forth from the Holy Land and published to all the Bahá’í world, declaring their intention of support to their plan for 1963.
These Hands of the Faith I expel from the Faith, and I forbid all association with them and any support of their plan by the believers. I cut them off from the Faith until each of them renounces his stand for this violation and indicates to me, beyond a doubt, his intention of following and supporting the Second Guardianship of the Bahá’í Faith.
There may be those among the twenty-two Hands, who signed that statement of violation, who did so under pressure upon the false concept that the minority should always follow the majority in Bahá’í Administrative matters. If so, to these Hands of the Faith I give every opportunity for reinstatement in the Faith as Hands of the Bahá’í Cause. But should there be such who persist in supporting this violation, then these are to remain as outcasts from the Faith.
The rule of the majority applies in all Bahá’í administrative matters with the exception of the violation of the teachings and of the principles of the Faith. Where and when the traces of violation become apparent, there should be no uniting whatsoever with the violators. Such is the Bahá’í teaching. If there are Bahá’ís who do not understand this, let them turn to the Will and Testament and to the other teachings of the Master `Abdu’l-Bahá, and they will find this principle of the cutting off from all association with the violators clearly taught and explained.
Therefore, in order to maintain the purity and the spiritual strength of the Cause, I, your Guardian, insist that the Faithful followers of the Bahá’í Faith comply with this order to maintain a most firm stand against any violation of our Faith and to sever all connections with and support of those who violate the Faith.
The way of the Bahá’í Faith is difficult. At all times one must be awake to its perils, and particularly so in times of crisis such as the one in which the Faith now finds itself; for, at this present time, the very existence and the future of the Faith upon earth hangs in the balance. Should the Guardianship of the Faith lapse and the line be allowed to break (as these violators are making every effort to accomplish), the line of Guardianship will be broken, infallibility will be lost to the Faith, and all hopes will be lost for the Kingdom of God upon Earth.
Such a condition we must not allow to happen. Even though we be but a mere handful – a very small number of followers faithful to the Covenant and the Administration of the Guardianship – we, with all the world in violation against us, must stand together and support the Guardianship.
We must stand in firmness for the Guardianship, that is, the Administration of our Faith. Not only must we do this for our own sakes and for the present existence of our Faith; but it must be done for the Faith in the ages to come, for if we fail now and allow the Guardianship to pass out of existence and this spiritual line of heritage to become extinct, future generations will have no Cause. All infallible divine guidance will be at an end.
Therefore, Friends of the Bahá’í Faith, arise and maintain the life center – the heart and the soul of the Abhá Kingdom upon earth that is the Guardianship – for only by our so doing will the Cause of El Abhá be saved for this world. Even though all the rest of the world be against us, nothing can destroy this Cause so long as even a small few believers stand in support of the Guardian and the continued Guardianship of the Bahá’í Faith.
With Bahá’í love.
Faithfully in EL ABHA,
Mason Remey, Guardian of the
Bahá’í Faith
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TO THE BAHÁ’Í WORLD
THIS IS THE THIRD OF A SERIES OF ENCYCLICAL LETTERS
FROM MASON REMEY, GUARDIAN OF THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH
Sent Forth From Washington 4, D.C., U.S.A.
P.O. Box 418
Now is A Time of Judgement of the people of the Bahá’í Faith.
Unknown to anyone until his Proclamation to the Bahá’í world, he, the Second Guardian of the Faith, had been upon guard over the believers for these past two years and more of his Guardianship since the departure of the Beloved First Guardian of the Faith.
During the period of his occultation, as his mission in the administration of the Faith was gradually being born into his consciousness and his responsibilities were moving him to protect the Faith, the Second Guardian stood alone against the united Custodian Hands of the Faith, they insisting that the Guardianship of the Faith be abandoned and he frankly telling them that they, by their stand, were violating the Will and Testament of the Master `Abdu’l-Bahá and that everything they were doing in their organization was wrong and in opposition to the Administration of the Faith that had been inaugurated by the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi.
To all of his entreaties and appeals the erring Custodian Hands turned a deaf ear. Neither these Custodians nor the entire body of the Hands when seated in conclave wanted another Guardian. Thus, for reasons of their own, they were against then, as they are now, the continuation of the Guardianship. Thus, through their influence among the Bahá’ís at home and abroad, the Cause now finds itself under this present cloud of violation and dominated by these erring Hands of the Faith.
The present Guardian of the Faith forebore as long as possible to call these violating Hands to the judgement of their iniquities, for according to the Bahá’í standard of sin, there is no greater iniquity than that of the violation of divine holy law and writ. During this period before his declaration, your Guardian was ever pleading and urging the erring Hands not to abandon the Administration, the heart of which is the Guardianship of the Faith. But finally, as Ridván 117 B.E. approached, this violation had attained such proportions that it was becoming too great a menace to the Faith throughout the entire world to be allowed to continue. Therefore, your Guardian was obliged to take drastic action against this violation by coming forth and revealing himself in his supreme station as the Administrator of the Faith, thereby forcing this issue of the Guardianship upon the believers throughout the entire Bahá’í world. He therefore called all believers, without exception, before the Bahá’í Bar of Justice, where every individual believer must now make his stand either for or against the Guardianship!
No middle course is allowed. The division must be clear and distinct, and it must be so maintained.
Those who follow the erring Hands of the Faith and reject the Guardianship will inevitably fall into confusion and division amongst themselves, and they will leave naught behind them in this world save a page in the history of the Cause that will be known to future generations as "The Epoch of the Great Violation of the Bahá’í Faith." Upon the other hand, those who remain firm under the guidance of the Guardian of the Faith will lead the Cause on and on toward victory after victory in the triumphant growth and expansion of the spiritual power of the Faith.
Believers, followers, and upholders of the Faith, witness the power of your Guardian! At the approach of the Feast of Ridván 117 B.E., when apparently all the Bahá’í world endorsed and unitedly supported the program of the erring Hands for 1963, a program that would definitely establish their own Universal House of Justice Sans Guardian (all in direct defiance of the Master `Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament) – at that time when practically the entire Bahá’í world supported this violation, your Guardian then arose as but one believer in solitary opposition to all others on earth and called a halt to this violation of the Hands of the Faith. He, but one individual, pitted his power against all others; he, standing single and alone, was confirmed in changing the entire course of the Faith from the chaos of violation, and with his Proclamation he put the leadership of the Faith back again under the Guardianship. At the moment when the violation of the erring Hands was apparently without question, your Guardian struck them a blow that sent them and their many supporters into a state of confusion that resounds around the world, a state of dismay that demonstrates the fallacy of their stand against the Will and Testament of the Blessed Master `Abdu’l-Bahá.
Every individual Bahá’í in the entire world is now compelled to make his or her stand either with and for the Guardianship, or against the Guardianship and for the violation of the Faith. Thus will the Cause be cleansed of this present violation.
The Guardian of the Faith expels from the Faith all who stand with and give support to these former Hands of the Faith, who are leading this movement in violation of the Guardianship. The Guardian enjoins all believers and supporters of the Administration of the Guardianship to have naught to do with these enemies of the Faith. There must be a clean-cut and a strict line drawn dividing these peoples. This is a very definite and clear-cut issue before the Bahá’í world, and it bears no compromise.
The most immediate duty of the believers who are firmly established in the Guardianship is to save as many as they can of those who are following the violation of the Faith. These firm believers should also, and at all times, strive to give the message of the Bahá’í Faith (that is, the message of the Guardianship of the Faith) to all the peoples of the world in general, and thus to carry on and win the World Crusade.
Since the day of the First Guardian of the Faith, the message that he taught the believers to propagate has not been given by the erring Hands of the Faith and those supporting them in their violation. They have been making great efforts and sending out their teachers all over the world, and many people have been brought into the violating Bahá’í belief that these erring Hands have propagated. But in their propagation of error, they have not been building up the true Bahá’í Faith which is "Pro Guardianship." During these last two years and more they have been converting people to their "Sans Guardianship" doctrine, thus assembling and organizing, in all parts of the world, cohorts who now follow and support them in their violation and who, in reality, are the enemies of the only true Bahá’ís – those who are following and supporting the Guardianship of the Faith.
Friends of the Faith under the Guardianship! At present we are but few in comparison with our enemies, who are commanded by the violating Hands who were formerly of the Faith; but now victory over all opposition is vouchsafed to us, and to us only, for we have been given the power under the Guardianship to stand up against this violation. We will win this battle.
There is no doubt in the mind of your Guardian but that the vast majority of the avowed Bahá’ís, who are now supporting the violations of the former Hands of the Faith, are sincere in their faith in these violators. But while sincerity is a virtue when following in the true path, sincerity in following the wrong path can lead only to destruction. Therefore, let every avowed Bahá’í study and restudy the Will and Testament of `Abdu’l-Bahá and the words and works of our late Beloved Guardian so that each can understand for himself or for herself the path prescribed for Bahá’ís to follow. The believer will find that there is but one path to follow – the path directed by the Guardian of the Faith. Any and all other paths will lead the followers astray.
As previously explained, this "Epoch of the Great Violation" is indeed a "Time of Judgement" of the people of the Bahá’í Faith. The Faith has been spreading throughout the world these past few decades, and now the believers are being tested. Those who are firm in the Covenant and in the Administration under the Guardianship will stand. Those who oppose the Guardianship will fall, and they and their works will come to naught. Let all ponder and think well and deeply with study and prayer. Let each make his or her stand in the Faith.
This is the day of division, when the sheep and the goats are being sorted out, one from the other, and when the wheat and the tares are being separated. We are told in Bahá’í holy writ that the day would come when only pure virtue would pass the test and be accepted. The Master `Abdu’l-Bahá told us of this time when only a few might stand, but following which those who stood firm would arise and carry the Cause to victory after victory.
In that period does the Bahá’í Faith now find itself plunged. No one can escape it. It seemingly has come upon the believers with suddenness, as it were, striking the believers all over and around the world and in such a manner that no one individual can escape. Every individual is compelled by force of the circumstances of this situation to take his or her stand either for or against the Guardianship. The division must be clean-cut and decisive beyond a doubt. Therefore, for the safety of the Faith, the Second Guardian now commands all faithful followers to have nothing at all to do with the works and activities of any and all of those who oppose the Guardian of the Faith, the Faith that has been firmly established by the First Guardian of the Faith in the manner directed by the Will and Testament of the Master `Abdu’l-Bahá.
Let every firm believer, to whom this Encyclical Letter is addressed, do what he or she can to bring back into the fold of the Faith those who are now following and supporting the violation of the Guardianship. Let him or her make every effort to turn them from their erring way, but if they refuse, leave them to themselves and, with radiant heart, go forth to the people of the world who are awaiting and ready for the Bahá’í message of the World Crusade, a message that only the Bahá’ís, led and protected by the Guardian of the Faith, have to give them.
The Guardian urges every firm believer to take it upon himself to seek out those avowed believers who are confused and who are questioning the Guardianship. Let the firm friends do all they can to help these wavering ones and to confirm them in the Guardianship. But should any refuse and decide to stand with the violators against the Guardian of the Faith, then let the Bahá’ís separate themselves entirely from these enemies of the Faith.
All true Bahá’ís should take their stand for the support of the Guardianship of the Faith. Let all see and understand from the pronouncements of the erring former Hands of the Faith that this body stands against the Guardianship.
Let every true and sincere Bahá’í forsake this violation, turn to the Guardian of the Faith, and openly, and before the world, avow his allegiance to the present Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, who was appointed Guardian by our late Beloved First Guardian Shoghi Effendi. Then, when that state of unity of the pure Faith is re-established as it was in the day of the Beloved First Guardian, when the Cause is free from violation – then, and not until then, will the victory of the Faith be assured and the way made for the triumphant completion of the World Crusade of the Bahá’í Faith.
The confirmation and blessings of Él Abhá will descend upon all who make this stand under the Guardianship and arise to give this message to the world. Then we can succeed in reaching the goal set by the Beloved Guardian in the World Crusade.
With Bahá’í Love to All
Faithfully in Él ABHÁ,
MASON REMEY, GUARDIAN
of the BAHÁ’Í FAITH
POSTSCRIPT:
THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH under the Administration of the Guardianship is THE Bahá’í faith – the only TRUE Bahá’í faith! Other organizations, such as the New History Society in New York City, as well as the organization of the former Hands of the Faith of Haifa, Israel, both of which proclaim themselves to be "Bahá’ís Sans Guardianship", should not be considered as Bahá’ís, for the only true and legitimate Bahá’ís are those now serving under the Second Guardian of the Faith. These Believers need not trouble themselves at the pretensions, claims, and assertions of those who claim themselves to be "Sans Guardian Bahá’ís". You Bahá’ís under the Guardianship should pay no attention to the declarations of any of the "Sans Guardian" followers, for you are occupied in serving under the infallibly appointed Second Guardian of the Faith and in proclaiming this message to the people of the world. You should ignore all these opposing people.
To reiterate once more in this letter to all Bahá’ís: The Bahá’ís under the Guardianship have two very clearly defined duties to perform. They should make every effort to bring into the Faith those who have been led astray by all "Sans Guardian" propaganda; and they should go forth into the world teaching of the fulfillment by Bahá’u’lláh of the Covenants of the Religious Revelations of the Manifestations of the past ages and calling all people to the Administration under the Guardianship of His Cause that is now engaged in carrying forward the Bahá’í World Crusade and giving the message to all the world of the triumphant coming of the Kingdom of God upon earth under the Administration of the infallible Guardianship of the Bahá’í Faith.
M.R., G.
of the Bahá’í Faith