CHRONOLOGY OF GUARDIANSHIP

Charles Mason Remey born in America on 15th May 1874. His paternal grandmother was a descendant of John Howland who came over on the Mayflower and was one of the original settlers at the Plymouth Bay colony in 1620.   CMR had the whole Mayflower Pilgrim fathers’ tradition to draw upon.  His father's family, the Remeys, were of French Huguenot stock, having descended from Jacob Remey who landed in Virginia in 1654.

Mason Remey writes: My forebears were early American Colonials of New England in the north and Virginia in the south.  I was brought up in the Christian Faith as taught by the Episcopal Church.  The members of the church, as you know, although always orthodox may be anything from Catholic upon one hand to Protestant on the other.  While this church is usually classed as Protestant, its Prayer Book proclaims it to be "The Holy Catholic Apostolic Church".  My inheritance was from the Catholic interpretation of Christianity rather than from the Protestant attitude.    With this Catholic background it was the most logical and natural thing in the world for me to accept the Bahá’í message without question as I did when I heard it in 1899-1900 from May Ellis Bowles (later Mrs. Sutherland Maxwell, mother of Mary Maxwell 'Ruhiyyih Khanum'), because the Holy Catholic Church teaches the Second Coming of Christ - The Christ to come manifesting as the Lord of Creation - the Prince of Peace - coming to establish "His Kingdom upon Earth as it is in Heaven".      From New England on the north and Virginia on the south, my forebears came into the middle west where I was born in 1874 at a town on the Mississippi River, two hundred and ten miles from Chicago, not far distant from the geographical center of the United States, this land that our Beloved Guardian (Shoghi Effendi) as called "The Cradle of the Administration of the Bahá’í Faith."

1898-1903.  Mason Remey attended  Ecole des Beaux Arts, and graduated with "Architect Diploma" par le Government Francais.

September 1898. Phoebe Hearst arrived in Paris, bound for Akka.  Tending her apartment was a Mrs. Bolles, her son Randolph and her daughter May.   May  (Bolles, later Maxwell) (Born 14th January 1870 in Englewood, New Jersey) sensed that Hearst and her companions - who included Lua and Edward Getsinger and Ibrahim Kheiralla - were embarking on a religious mission and insisted that she knew about it.  They told her about the Bahá’í Faith and she became a believer, the FIRST ON THE EUROPEAN CONTINENT.  May Bolles accompanied the pilgrimage party and in the spring of 1899 returned to Paris on fire with love for 'Abdu’l-Bahá.  She told Edith MacKaye who became second to accept in Paris.  The third person was Charles Mason-Remey (1874-1974). Scion of a prominent naval family in Washington DC.  He had felt himself to be an Orthodox Christian.

1899 – 1900 Taught the Faith by May Ellis Bowles (Later Mrs. May Sutherland-Maxwell, the mother of Ruhiyyih Khanum). Charles Mason Remey Declared 31st December, 1899.     CMR would later become intimate with members of the Holy Family:  Bahá’u’lláh’s eldest  Son and Successor, Abdu’l-Bahá:  Bahá’u’lláh’s daughter, Bahiyyih Khanum and His great grandsons, Shoghi Effendi and Ruhi Afnan.

1901 - 1904. Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl visited America.  It was considered that he was by far the most learned Bahá’í.  Mason Remey called him 'the real pioneer teacher to America'.

1901-1902. 'Abdu’l-Bahá wrote to Mason Remey saying that whenever  opportunity is available the believers in Washington  must go to Baltimore to teach the Faith.  Members visited the city and on 31st January 1902 over 100 residents heard Fitz-Gerald speak about bible prophesy.

February 1905.  Charles Mason Remey's first pamphlet was published, which was one of the first pamphlets published by an American.

By 1906 Washington D.C. had two highly capable Bahá’ís, Charles Mason Remey - who was beginning to write pamphlets - and Ahmad Sohrab - who was a major translator of Tablets from 'Abdu’l-Bahá.    .........Remey preferred to issue his publications himself, and financed them personally.

In December 1905 Adolph Dahl, his wife and son became Bahá’ís in Philadelphia through Charles Mason Remey.

Date unknown.  From the "Diary of Juliet Thompson".    Juliet Thompson was relating an account of a talk being given by the Master at Dr. Grant's Forum in his church, where she stated that suddenly Mason Remey walked in through the door of the vestry and, somewhat to my surprise, she added: "When he was last in the Church of the Ascension I was sitting beside him, engaged to him, while Percy thundered at me from the pulpit."   This is very surprising as she had not previously mentioned in the book that she had actually apparently become engaged to Mason Remey at one time (as desired by the Master) and had not explained when and for what reasons this engagement had been terminated sometime prior to this occasion.

In May 1906 North Hudson received a letter from Mason Remey about the importance of celebrating 23rd May as it was the Birthday of 'Abdu’l-Bahá and the Declaration of the Báb, consequently the community decided to hold a meeting.  Apart from this, North Hudson is not known to have commemorated Bahá’í Holy Days.

3rd May 1906.  A Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Mason Remey.

“Verily I beseech God to make thee confirmed under all circumstances.  Do not become despondent neither be thou sad.  Ere long, thy Lord shall make thee as a sign of guidance among mankind

1906 William Hooper Harris received a Tablet from 'Abdu’l-Bahá asking him to undertake an international teaching trip.  He had a job and a family to support but the New York Bahá’ís wished to see 'Abdu’l-Bahá’s request fulfilled.  On behalf of the New York Board of Counsel, Charles Mason Remey wrote a circular letter to all North American Bahá’ís announcing the establishment of a Hooper Harris fund.  The New York Bahá’ís raised $1,200 for the trip and for the support of Gertrude Harris and the Harris children while Hooper was away.

1907. Charles Mason Remey, endeavored to organize a consultative body in Washington.  The Working Committee was formed on 14th March, 1907.    'Abdu’l-Bahá sent a Tablet to Mason Remey which read:    "The establishment of the elected committee of which thou gavest news in thy letter hath my full approval.  The founding of such a body will redound to the distinction of the Faith of God, and provide a means whereby the divine message may be diffused throughout those parts.  My fervent hope is that this body will so develop from day to day that it will become an assemblage of the All Merciful."

1907 or 1908 "Abdu’l-Bahá, in oral instructions to Charles Mason Remey, He had urged them to help Chicago  (not Washington D.C.) instead.  As a result , the Washington Bahá’ís became a major force in the Temple work.

1907 The Washington DC Bahá’ís made a modest proposal: a leaflet that would be issued at stated intervals from the Washington Assembly' and would contain "Tablets and Instructions from the Master" to the American believers as well as any letter or articles on the teachings which have been approved.  The leaflet would be free, presumably meaning that Charles Mason Remey, who proposed the publication, would pay for it.  In August 1907 'Abdu’l-Bahá cautiously endorsed the idea, suggesting it be produced twice per year.

December 1907.  Charles Mason Remey visited Chicago and suggested that Washington send out a series of circular letters proposing the establishment of a 'temple branch' of a national Temple organization in every local Bahá’í community on the continent.  The House of Spirituality would be the national coordinating body of the organization.  It heartily endorsed the proposal.

Winter 1908. Mason Remey wrote to 'Abdu’l-Bahá that he wished to spend the forthcoming summer traveling for the Bahá’í Faith in Iran and Russia, and about 23rd March 1908 he received a tablet granting permission.  Decided to travel with Sidney Sprague.

25th April, 1908 Charles Mason Remey and Sidney Sprague sailed from New York and visited Bahá’ís in England and Germany on their way to Akka, where they spoke with 'Abdu’l-Bahá.   Remey went to Constantinople then by sea to Odessa, and train to Baku.  Addressed several meetings. Sailed across Caspian Sea then by train to Ishqabad where he and Sidney Sprague received a great welcome.  Remey visited the Ishqabad Bahá’í House of Worship, the first one built in the world, which was almost finished.   Because Remey was actively involved in the effort to build a House of Worship in North America to see the one in Ishqabad was a great opportunity.   Remey had ample time to visit and examine the Ishqabad Bahá’í House of Worship, the first one built in the world, which was almost finished. His description of it and its accompanying dependencies is the most complete one available in English.  The explanation of it can be found on page 290/291 in "The Bahá’í Faith in America" by Robert H. Stockman.     One of the first decisions made by the Chicago House of Spirituality in planning the first national Bahá’í Convention was to have Remey speak on the 'Ishqabad Temple.

In Teheran Sprague and Remey conducted a seemingly endless round of private meetings and visits to the homes of Bahá’ís for tea.   On one afternoon Ta'irih Khanum, who Remey described as 'an enlightened soul, holding advanced ideas, not gleaned from foreign sources'. Mason Remey writes: "Our hostess had for some time past discarded her veil and with her husband received men in her house and garden, yet she was obliged , as she explained to us, to veil in the streets on account of attracting too much attention.  On this afternoon she was holding  two receptions at once.  Twenty or more of us men were in one room, while in an adjoining room, separated from us by a curtain, was a party of twelve or fifteen ladies.......

After the chanting of tablets, Mr. Sprague and I were asked to tell the ladies in the next room something about their sisters in the West, which we did to the best of our ability, Mr. Sprague speaking in Persian, while my words were translated and spoken through the curtain to the listeners on the other side.......As we spoke of the freedom and independence and higher education of the women in the West, the khanum became more enthusiastic, until finally, she went to the doorway and drawing the curtain, began very earnestly speaking to the people in the next room................At the expiration of several minutes here words had the desired effect, for the women arose and drawing aside their veils with one accord entered the room...

Remey's visit resulted in two new influences of the Persian Bahá’ís on the American Bahá’í Community.  The first was the awareness of the limitations imposed on Persian Bahá’í Women and the desire to help them.  Remey urged American Bahá’í women to go to Iran as physicians, nurses and teachers - and one might add, as examples - and soon they did.

The visit of Remey and Sprague to Iran strengthened the ties binding the American and Persian Bahá’í Communities.

Summer of 1908. Washington DC.  When Charles Mason Remey returned from his trip to Persia he found that the opposition to the Washington DC  Working Committee had again surfaced and so strongly that it had to be disbanded again.   As a result, reported Remey, everything came to a standstill.  The community reestablished the Working Committee in early 1909.

1909 Ahmad Sohrab returned to Washington D.C. where he was living and spoke to prominent Bahá’ís there about the idea of establishing an association dedicated to the educational, economic and commercial development of Iran and its Bahá’í community.  Washington was the ideal headquarters for such an establishment.  Sohrab was young, articulate and fluent in the English language.  Charles Mason Remey was an excellent organizer and possessed considerable financial means.  The introductory meeting took place on 8th January 1910, at which 350 people, Bahá’ís and non-Bahá’ís, including many members of high society attended.

October 1908.  Mason Remey's second pamphlet, called "The Message of Unity" was produced with more information on the Bahá’í Teachings.  The pamphlet was the first to emphasize unity as a basic Bahá’í teaching, and also on the personal qualities such as tolerance, gentleness and love, constantly stressed by 'Abdu’l-Bahá.  (Full copy of this is in Karen J. Herman's notebook).

Monday 22nd March 1909 the Bahá’í Convention adjourned and reconvened immediately as the Bahá’í Temple Unity.  At the afternoon session the committee announced it recommendation: an Executive Board, including Charles Mason Remey, and other believers from Chicago, New York, Washington, Cincinnati, Kenosha and the San Francisco area.  The following day the temple site was approved.

Charles Mason Remey noted:  At present, now systematic arrangement has been devised for keeping the various assemblies informed of the progress of the temple work.  If people’s interest is to be kept up, they must be in regular and constant communication with the centre.  Now Mrs. True and others are writing hundreds of letters - long hand - and expending energy and time and only reaching a limited number of people.  An organ is needed to hold the Believers in communication.  The Temple work needs this more than anything else.....

The Bahá’í Faith also continued to grow in Hawaii.  By November 1909 the islands had eleven Bahá’ís.  In December, Charles Mason Remey and Howard Struven visited Hawaii on their round world tour.  With two visiting speakers available, the Honolulu Bahá’ís decided to hold their first public meeting.  Remey and Struven also stressed the importance of establishing and organization.  Consequently in January 1910 the Honolulu Bahá’ís officially established a community and elected officers.

Mason Remey and Struven arrived in Japan.  There they located Professor Mulvi Barakatullah, a Bahá’í sympathizer who had studied the Faith in New York. He arranged a large Bahá’í meeting at the YMCA Auditorium in Tokyo.  After visits to Yokohama, Kobe, Kyoto and Nagasaki,  Remey and Struven sailed for Shanghai, where a Persian Bahá’í met them. After making several good contacts they sailed for Singapore and thence to Rangoon, Burma.

Remey and Struven then went to Mandalay for a five-day visit.  They stayed in its Mashriqu'l-Adhkar' and met with the Bahá’í Community every afternoon and evening.  Since the visit of Ober and Harris the Mandalay Bahá’ís had organized an informal  TMBA, a Young Men's Bahá’í Association' patterned after the YMCA.

February 1910, Thornton Chase received a forty-six-page letter from Charles Mason-Remey, in which he describes, in great detail, the history of almost all the troubles that had occurred in the New York and Washington Bahá’í Communities!

In India (1910?) Remey and Struven visited Calcutta, Baroda, Banaras, Cornpau, Agra, Delhi and Mount Aboo speaking at a variety of different places.

From Bombay, Remey and Struven sailed to Akka, where 'Abdu’l-Bahá said to the 'Encourage the Bahá’ís to hasten to India, both men and women teachers.  In India, in particular, women teachers are needed. "Delay Not".

The Route taken by Remey and Struven became a model for other Occidental Bahá’ís.

The travels of Harris, Ober, Sprague, REMEY, Struven, Bethlen, Dreyfus and Barney marked the beginning of efforts by Occidental Bahá’ís, and especially by American Bahá’ís, to serve the religion globally.

1910 - 1901.  Talking of this period  Robert H. Stockman who wrote "The Bahá’í Faith in America"  said  "Charles Mason Remey became one of America's most active and knowledgeable Bahá’ís".

November - May 1910.  Charles Mason Remey and Howard Struven circle  globe teaching Bahá’í Faith.

1911 Mason Remey published his fourth pamphlet, "The Bahá’í Movement: A Teaching of Peace".  It consisted of his address before the Third National Peace Congress but was essentially a revision of his 1908 pamphlet.

1911 - 1913 'Abdu’l-Bahá visited North America and Europe.

1912  Mason Remey put out yet another pamphlet. "The Bahá’í Movement for Universal Religion, Brotherhood and Peace".  It began with a summary of Bahá’í History but fully half of the text focused on 'Social Reforms, Laws and Ordinances. It also included a paragraph on Science and Religion.

13th July, 1912.  Star of the West, Vol. 3 No. 7.  Charles Mason Remey wrote a long article entitled "'Abdu’l-Bahá, The Centre of the Covenant". He tells of 'Abdu’l-Bahá’s arrival in New York on the 11th April, 1912 and the warm welcome He received.  Mason Remey writes: He has brought the Kingdom of Peace upon earth, and as the point of guidance for the further establishment of His Kingdom, He appointed His beloved son Abdu’l-Bahá to be the Center of His Covenant, the establisher and promoter of His Kingdom and Peace in the world.   'Abdu’l-Bahá’s life of service is the Center of the life of the Kingdom which is the Bahá’í cause.  His servitude to God and service to mankind is the heart from which the life force of the Kingdom is flowing to all the members of that growing spiritual body.  He is the interpreter and expounder of Holy Writ.  Bahá’u’lláh commanded all to turn to 'Abdu’l-Bahá, who is the Greatest Branch - branched from the Pre-existent Root - the Center of the Covenant of God.  (This is only a short extract from the article).

Star of the West, Vol. IV, No. 3, Jamal  (April 28th 1913).

RECENT TABLET FROM 'ABDU'L-BAHA

To his honor Mr. Charles Mason Remey, Washington D.C.

Upon him be Bahá’u’lláh El-Abhá!

He is God!

O thou illumined youth and my spiritual beloved;

            Thy letter was received and its perusal imparted happiness impossible to describe.  It was an indication of the loftiness of thy nature, the strength of thy effort and the purity of thy intentions.  "Abdu’l-Bahá’s happiness is  caused by such matters.  If the material luxuries of the whole earth were available to 'Abdu’l-Bahá, He would not think for one moment that there is such a thing as comfort and luxury in the world.  But when a soul-perfuming fragrance wafts from the rose-garden of the hearts of the friends to the nostrils of 'Abdu’l-Bahá, such joy is realized that involuntarily I render thanksgiving unto the Blessed Perfection Who has trained such servants.

            In brief, your letter imparted to me the utmost happiness.  This thought of yours is very appropriate.*  I hope that a new quickening may be produced in the hearts of the believers, and great firmness and steadfastness become manifest, that this may lead to the guidance of others.

            Therefore, with a divine power, a heavenly reflection resolution and purpose, an eloquent tongue and a heart overflowing with the Love of God, take in thy hands the Tablets and travel throughout the cities, even as far as  Honolulu, in Hawaii.  Travel thou in all the American cities, Call every one to FIRMNESS IN THE COVENANT!  Exhilarate every one with the Spiritual Wine of the Covenant!  And guide everyone to the diffusion of the Fragrances of GOD!  Raise the cry of  "Ya-Baha-El-Abha!"  and call the name of  "Ya-Ali-El-Allah"!  (O Thou High One Who is the Most High!).

            Awaken the friends, for ere long a test shall come.  Perchance some, persons outwardly firm and inwardly wavering shall come to those parts in order to weaken the faith of the friends in the Covenant of God.  Let them be awake!  Let them be mindful!  As soon as they see a trace of violation of the Covenant, they must hold aloof from the violator, Day and night let them strive so that the Lights of the Kingdom of ABHA may encircle the globe and the darkness of error may entirely be dispelled...

            Upon thee be Bahá El-Abhá!

                                    (Signed)  'Abdu’l-Bahá Abbas.

*          Referring to a letter telling of the spiritual awakening among the people caused by 'Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit in America.

Star of the West, Vol. IV, No.10, Eizzat  (September 8th 1913).

THE  POWER  OF  "THE  COVENANT  OF  GOD"

ALONE  REGENERATES  MANKIND

RECOGNITION OF "THE CENTRE OF THE COVENANT"

THE IMPORTANT MATTER BEFORE THE WORLD TODAY.

            During my travels of the past few months I have found that while the problems of each assembly assume their own special character, there is but one vital universal question.  This is that of firmness in The Center of the Covenant.  ('Abdu’l-Bahá).  Until this matter is solved no problems are solved; and when this matter is solved (when we are firm in The Covenant), all of our problems are solved.

            When the members of an assembly are each and all firm in The Center of the Covenant, they are then organically united, and the life of The Covenant is manifest in their midst - Thus the will and the desire of God may be accomplished.   In no other way can it be done.   We all must be firm in The Center of the Covenant, in the love of 'Abdu’l-Bahá!

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"The root of all knowledge is the knowledge of God,

Glory be to Him, and this knowledge is impossible

Save through His Manifestation."

From "Words of Wisdom", Bahá’u’lláh.

            Through each of the Divine Revelators of the past, God made the promise to man that during these latter days of the world He would establish His Divine Rule upon earth - that He would fulfill His Covenant, and establish His Kingdom triumphant among men.

            In the coming of The Báb who was the First Point, Bahá’u’lláh who was "The Pre-existent Root", and 'Abdu’l-Bahá "The Most Great Branch", "Branched from the Pre-existent Root" -  in this triple coming is realized the fulfillment of all of the Divine Promises of the past and the establishment of the Covenant of God.

            As the life in the branch of the tree is the same as that in the root, so the Divine Spirit manifest in 'Abdu’l-Bahá - The Branch - is the same as that manifest in Bahá’u’lláh - The Root - 'Abdu’l-Bahá has sacrificed all in  The Path of Bahá’u’lláh, and now the Power of Bahá’u’lláh is manifesting to the world through 'Abdu’l-Bahá.  He is the Center of the Covenant therefore all must turn wholly and without reserve unto him, for 'Abdu’l-Bahá is The Chosen One,  the unique channel through which the Power of God is being conveyed to each individual Bahá’í, as a member of Cod's Kingdom upon earth.  (Extracts from a letter to an American Assembly  By Charles Mason Remey.)   1913.

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It is important to realize that the above extracts were written by Charles Mason Remey in 1913, some eight years before the passing of 'Abdu’l-Bahá, and the revealing of the "Will and Testament of 'Abdu’l-Bahá"  which established the station of  guardian of the Cause of God.   'Abdu’l-Bahá named Shoghi Effendi as "the chosen branch, the guardian of the Cause of God".   (See page 11 "Will and Testament of 'Abdu’l-Bahá).  On page 12 He also wrote  "........(the guardian of the Cause of God) choose another branch to succeed him.   From this can be seen the spiritual significance of "The Tree of Holiness".                         R.H.B.

31st December, 1913.  Star of the West. Vol. 4. No.16. pages 267 - 271.  Article by Mason Remey titled  "Let the New Follow the New".  About the Covenant.

8 - 10th June, 1914  During 'Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to Philadelphia.     "Mr. Remey came in about this time, and when 'Abdu’l-Bahá saw him, he greeted him most warmly.  "Your brother (Mason) mentioned your name to me.  You are greatly blessed by having such a brother.  At present moment you do not know how greatly but you will see this with your own eyes.  Your whole family will be glorified;  they will be proud that they have such sons as Mr. Remey and yourself".

18th October, 1914. On this day we (George Lattimer and Mason Remey) were called into His (‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s) presence.  He said   “There are many heralds in the world........but praise be to God, that you are heralds of the Kingdom of God.......... the fame of the souls, who are the heralds of the Kingdom, is eternal....”Thank ye God that ye are the heralds of the Kingdom of Abhá, the heralds of the Covenant of the Almighty......Today, whosoever is a herald of the Covenant is the light of the Regions.  In the Supreme Concourse the Heavenly Cohorts are arrayed, watching to see who will enter the arena of service of the Covenant that they may rush forward to reinforce, to strengthen and to confer upon him triumph.”

2nd March, 1915.   Tablet from Abdu’l-Bahá to Mason Remey.     “O Thou who art  rejoiced by the Divine Glad Tidings!”.    “.....Verily, I beseech God to make thee  confirmed under all circumstances.  Do not become despondent, neither be thou sad.  Ere long, Thy Lord shall make thee a sign of Guidance among mankind.”

1916 Mason Remey published pamphlet entitled "Some Vital Bahá’í Principles" which included the 12 most important principles.

In 1917 Charles Mason Remey published a pamphlet entitled "Some Vital Bahá’í Principles".  It contained no history, and no information on the central figures of the Faith, only principles. (12)

23rd May, 1919. Tablet from 'Abdu’l-Bahá to Corinne True.  "We have cabled Mr. Remey to postpone his tour for his presence, in these days, in America is necessary.  In reality he has been and is engaged in the utmost power in service and I love him infinitely and verily he merits this love of 'Abdu’l-Bahá".

TABLET TO CHARLES MASON REMEY,

TRANSLATED BY SHOGHI RABBANI, MAY 23RD, 1919.

To his honor Mr. Remey, care of his honor Mr. Roy Wilhelm, New York City.     Upon him be Bahá’u’lláh El-Abhá!

He Is God!

O my dear son!

            Numerous letters have been received from you and their contents have all been conducive to happiness.   Praised be to God, thou art confirmed in service to the Kingdom, art promulgating divine teachings, art raising the call of the oneness of mankind, art detaching the souls from ignorant racial prejudices, art summoning them to the investigation of truth, art showing forth unto them the light of guidance and art offering them the chalice of the wine of the love of God.   This blessed purpose of thine is the magnet of the confirmations of the Abhá Kingdom.

            Rest thou assured and engage with Mr. John Bassett in service to the Kingdom of God throughout the same southern states.  This is what is required at present.   Later on undertake a tour to the north of America and after that thy course of action and that of Mr. John Bassett shall be determined.

            Convey, on my behalf, the utmost love and kindness to Miss Margaret Klebbs and say: "The people of the Supreme admire your work that, praise be to God, you are firm in the Covenant and Testament, and are serving the Kingdom of God".

            Upon thee be Bahá’u’lláh El-Abhá!

(Translated by Shoghi Rabbani, May 23rd, 1919, Haifa Palestine.)

13th July, 1919. Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.    “O my dear son!   Numerous letters  have been received from you and their contents have al been conducive to happiness.  Praise be to God, thou art confirmed in service to the Kingdom, art promulgating  divine teachings, art raising the call of the oneness of mankind, art detaching the souls from ignorant racial prejudices, art summoning them to the investigation of  truth, art showing forth unto them the light of guidance and art offering them the  chalice of the wine of the love of God.  This blessed purpose of thine is the magnet of  the confirmations of the Abhá Kingdom.”

16th October, 1919.  Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the American Bahá’ís.  “We have  cabled Mr. Remey to postpone his tour, for his presence, in these days, in America is  necessary.  In reality, he has been and is engaged in the utmost power in service and  love him infinitely, and verily he merits this love of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.”

24th December, 1919. From a Tablet to Mason Remey from 'Abdu’l-Bahá.   "Thy letters have been received.............Verily thou art firm in the Covenant, art self-sacrificing, art the son of the Kingdom and dost deserve the confirmations of His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh.  Consequently, 'Abdu’l-Bahá is highly pleased with thee and begs for thee from His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh limitless bounties.  As a result of this glad-tiding fly on the wings of joy and raise thou the melody:  Happy am I, blessed am I!"

Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Mr. A.W. Randall:”    “The model (of the House of  Worship to be built in Wilmette, Ill)  of Mr. Bourgeois, praise be to God, has become  acceptable to the friends, especially that it has proved approvable to his honor, Mr. Remey”.

1st August, 1920.  Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Charles Mason Remey.   “O thou son of the kingdom!”  “...In  brief, I am greatly pleased with thy conduct and thy behavior.  Praise be to God, thou  art freed from these limitations and imaginations,  hast no purpose save the diffusion  of the divine fragrances and art ever restless and active.   Thou art day and night  striving to hoist the resplendent banner and to cause the shining morn to illumine all  regions.  From the Abhá Kingdom I ever beg confirmations for thee, for without it  the smallest things cannot be performed, how much more the important questions.......  “  (The subject of the coloured and the white.)

Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Corrinne True.     ......”Praise be unto God, that the  model of the Mashrkol-Askar made by Mr. Bourgeois was approved by his honour,  and selected by the Convention.  His honour , Mr. Remey is, verily, of perfect  sincerity.  He is like unto transparent water, filtered, lucid and without any impurity.  He worked earnestly for several years, but he did not have any personal motive.  He  has not attachment to anything except to the Cause of God.  This is the spirit of the  firm and this is the characteristic of the sincere”.

17th September 1920. Tablet to George Lattimer from 'Abdu’l-Bahá.   "His honour Mr. Remey, that luminous person and heavenly man, is occupied in service to Germany and Holland.  He does not rest for a moment and does not breathe but to raise the call to the Kingdom of God......."

4th November 1920.  Tablet from “Abdu’l-Bahá to Chas. Mason Remey.    “O thou  enlightened beloved son!” ..Thou art unquestionably in the utmost joy and rapture  now that thou art mingling and associating with those blessed souls.

12th December, 1920.  Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Charles Mason Remey.  “O thou  herald of the Covenant!”  “Thy letters have been received and an answer has been  written.  Verily thou art firm in the Covenant, art self-sacrificing, art the son of the  Kingdom and dost deserve the confirmations of His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh.”  Consequently, 'Abdu’l-Bahá is highly pleased with thee and begs for thee from His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh limitless bounties...........................................

 Charles Mason Remey was Chairman of the "Star of the West" committee.

28th April, 1921.   From ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.   “...His honor Mr. Remey, that luminous  person and heavenly man, is occupied in service in Germany and Holland.  He does  not rest for a moment and does not breathe but to raise the call to the Kingdom of  God.”

7th October 1921.  'Abdu’l-Bahá wrote to Mason Remey, who was considered the most outstanding disciple of Bahá’u’lláh in the United States:  "But now your journey to the different parts of America itself will be more fruitful.  Notwithstanding that whatever thou see fit, that is acceptable"    

7th October 1921.  'Abdu’l-Bahá wrote to Mason Remey.      Some time ago I wrote thee a letter the content of which was that, praise be to God, thou hast become confirmed in drawing a plan for the Pilgrims House in Haifa.  It is my hope that this Pilgrim House may be built under your supervision.   Also in the future a Mashreq-ul Azkar will be established on Mount Carmel.  Thou wilt be its architect and founder.  I give thee this glad tiding."

28th November, 1921.  Ascension of 'Abdu’l-Bahá.

21st March 1922. Star of the West. Vol. 13 No. 1. Pages 9 - 14.  Article by Mason Remey, titled  "The Bahá’í Revelation - The Religious Need of the Time".   In this article Mason Remey writes: The object of the Bahá’í Revelation is the religious unification of all people.  The teaching has come into the world to fulfill all divine teaching of the past.  It stands as the goal toward which truth has always worked, through its appearance in the prophets sent unto various peoples of the past ages, and it is the beginning of that age of divine enlightenment and peace, the coming of which has been the theme of all revelations of the past - The Kingdom of God on earth...........................Bahá’u’lláh arranged for the guidance and the welfare of his cause by appointing Abdu’l-Bahá "The Center of His Covenant", to whom the people turned for guidance.  And Abdu’l-Bahá arranged that after him the people should turn to Shoghi Effendi, whom he appointed "The Guardian of the Cause and Head of the House of Justice" - a body of men chosen from the believers because of their spiritual qualifications for wisdom and divine knowledge. (This is only a very short extract).

Continued on pages 36 - 39  Vol.13 No. 2. 9/4/1922. The Bahá’í World.

March 1922.  Diary notes from Mason Remey upon his visit to Haifa.  ......One evening during the visit, Shoghi Effendi brought with him to the Pilgrim House the original text of the blessed Testament of The Master.  We stood about the table as he reverently laid the package thereon, carefully unfolding the envelope from a silk handkerchief in which it was wrapped.  As he took the three Tablets  from the cover we saw that each was in the handwriting of the Master - written as Shoghi Effendi called our attention to witness - without hesitation or correction and signed by the Master in several places.   We stood with bated breath in the presence of this document of documents in which is contained the wondrous plan for the spiritual organization of the Cause of God and our guidance for a thousand or thousands of years.     C.M.R.

9th April, 1922.  Star of the West. Vol.13 No.2.     Continuation of an article by Charles Mason Remey on THE BAHÁ’Í REVELATION - THE RELIGIOUS NEED OF THE TIME.  Excellent article running into many pages.

8th November, 1922.    STAR OF THE WEST.    “Regarding the Bahá’í Temple to be  built on Mount Carmel Abdu’l-Bahá wrote to Mr. Charles Mason Remey of  Washington D.C., in a tablet dated 7th October, 1921:  ‘Some time ago I wrote thee a  letter the contents of which was that, praise be to God, thou hast become confirmed  in drawing a plan for the pilgrim house in Haifa.  It is my hope that this pilgrim house  may be built under your supervision.   Also in the future a Mashreq-ul Azkar will  be established on Mount Carmel.  Thou will be its Architect and Founder.  I give  thee this glad tidings”.

3rd June, 1923 from Star of the West, Vol.14. No. 3. Re: the Fifteenth Annual Convention.  N.S.A. members elected:   William H. Randall,  Alfred E. Lunt,  Horace Holley,   Roy C. Wilhelm,  Louis Gregory,  Mrs. Corinne True,  Mrs. Ella G. Cooper,  Mrs. Agnes Parsons,   Charles Mason Remey.

9th December, 1923.  Star of the West.  Vol.14. No. 9.  Excerpt from a letter from the Wife of 'Abdu’l-Bahá, in which she was requesting a school to be built:  Abdu’l-Bahá said "There is a piece of land opposite the Holy Shrine.  'Abbas Gholi, the owner, at the Feast of Ridván offered it as a gift, and it was accepted.  We must purchase all the adjoining land.  That is a good location for a school.  It has beautiful scenery and pure air, and is near the Holy Shrines.  ....................And the revered Mr. Remey drew the plan for the school and presented it for the approval of 'Abdu’l-Bahá.

The qualifications for a believer during Shoghi Effendi’s ministry were spelled out by Shoghi Effendi in 1925 and included the proviso: “loyal and steadfast adherence to every clause of our Beloved’s sacred Will.”

May 1926.  From Star of the West, Vol.17, No.2.  Charles Mason Wrote a long article about the MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR OF 'ISHQABAD, RUSSIA. In the introduction the Editor wrote: The following article describing the first Bahá’í religious edifice that has been constructed is written by an Architect who has traveled much among the Bahá’ís of Persia and the Orient.  He has himself given much attention to religious architecture, and has made a series of designs for Bahá’í Temples based on religious architecture of Persia, India and Arabia.

February 1927.  From Star of the West, Vol.17, No.11. Charles Mason Remey wrote an article entitled "THE COMMON WEAL".  One statement that he made was "It is very easy to slide through life either accepting or rejecting beliefs regardless of the truth and the error they may contain.  But Bahá’u’lláh urges His followers to search out truth for themselves, accepting nothing upon hearsay but proving the value to humanity of religious doctrines before they are accepted."

12th and 13th May 1932.  Notes made on Pilgrimage by Lorol Schopflocher, Keith  Ransom-Kehler with Clara Dunn and Lyle Loveday.            Yes, the GUARDIAN  alone can determine whether any piece of legislation (Of the Universal House of  Justice) can be undertaken or whether the condition is covered in the holy text..  It is promised that the Guardian is protected by God from making mistakes in these decisions.  But apart from that I am like anyone else.        Lorol is quoted as saying,  “There are those who pray to you, Shoghi Effendi”  to which he replied in the  following vein:         This is absolutely heretical.  Such things are not permissible.  It  is wrong to address me as Lord or Master, or Thee or Thine.   I had to send a very  abrupt cable to the friends in Bombay to prevent them from celebrating my birthday.   If this starts now there will be no end to it.  The first Guardian’s birthday, the first  Guardian’s death, the tenth Guardian’s accession.  They would have 400 Guardian’s  celebrations in 365 days.  Nor must they refer to me as His Holiness.  These things  have no place in our Faith, they savour of popishness.

American Bahá’í News. Page 2.  March 1943.    “Deep as are family ties, we must always remember that the spiritual ties are deeper;  they are everlasting and survive death, whereas physical ties, unless supported by spiritual bonds, are confined to this life.   ..............”

March 1945.  Mason Remey addressed a gathering in the Bahá’í Center at Havana, Cuba.

American Bahá’í News.  Page 2 November 1945. “The infallibility of the Guardian is confined to matters which are related strictly to the Cause and interpretation of the teachings: he is not an infallible authority on other subjects, such as economics, science, etc.   When he feels that a certain thing is essential for the protection of the Cause, even if it is something that affects a person personally, he must be obeyed, but when he gives advice, such as that he gave you in a previous letter about your future, it is not binding: you are free to follow it or not as you please.

13th November, 1945.  Charles Mason Remey  left Miami on a three month trip with stop-overs at Bahá’í Centres in the following countries: Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chili, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, Panama, Jamaica and Cuba.  In a letter from Louise Baker in Caracas, she said tomorrow tea will be given in honour of Mr. Remey, and from those who come we hope to start a new study class.  The entire group in this time adores Mr. Remey.

February 1946.  Mr. Remey is endeavouring to visit all cities in South America where Bahá’ís reside.             

1946    November 13th Charles Mason Remey left Miami  on a three month trip with stop overs at Bahá’í Centres in the following countries: The Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay Argentina, Chili, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama , Jamaica and Cuba.

 March.  It was reported that Mr. Remey's visit in Latin America is nearly completed.   It said Mr. Remey is trying to visit all cities in South America where Bahá’ís reside.

1946, May. Mr. Mason Remey and Mr. & Mrs. Emeric Sala have now returned home from their teaching tour in South America.

1947    Mr. Mason Remey is making final preparations to go to Europe as our first itinerant teacher.  Mr. Remey plans to visit every one of our "goal" countries during this trip.

 March.  Bahá’í News.   During the last two years Charles Mason Remey, one of our earliest American believers, has visited Bahá’í Communities and groups throughout Latin America and Europe.

About 25th May 1947 Mr. Charles Mason Remey was making his final preparations to go to Europe.   Mr. Remey planned to visit every one of our "goal" countries during his trip, and we know that this visit will be of the greatest assistance to the work everywhere.  Enthusiastic reports were received about his stay in Norway.

1947 - 1948.  During the last two years, Charles Mason Remey, one of our earliest American believers, has visited Bahá’í communities and groups throughout Latin America and Europe. ...In Dublin I was with the pioneer teachers at the first public meeting held in Ireland at which there was a good attendance and fine response on the part of the people.

American Bahá’í News,  Page 3,  December 1947.  Regarding your questions:  There  are only two institutions which are infallible, one is the guardianship, the other the  International House of Justice.   What the Master desired to protect the friends against was continual bickering and opinionatedness.........

1948. From a letter from Charles Mason Remey: " On landing in England, I made a tour of nine assemblies in that country, Scotland and Wales.  During these past four years there has been a strong pioneer movement in the British Isles.  

June 1948.  Mason Remey spent this month in Paris attending the meetings of the Bahá’ís and finishing up the designs of the Bahá’í House of Worship to be built on Mt. Carmel. He said Shoghi Effendi asked me to do this work and the drawings are now completed.  These designs were exhibited in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts as a thesis upon which the French Government gave me a Diploma in Architecture.   "Recently I've been again in Geneva for a meeting of the friends there and now I am in Germany spending a few days with the friends here in Frankfurt, later to go to Stuttgart, Heidelberg and Esslingen as requested by our N.S.A.    ...........After that, Vienna, Austria, then Italy and Switzerland again.  Then to France and the sessions of the Summer School in England before sailing for home early in September (1948).

July 1948?     "Charles Mason Remey, 50 years a Bahá’í, our honoured guest from America, had graciously opened this year's session during the Initial Unity Feast".  (Amer Valley, Derbyshire, England).

In 1948 at  the invitation of the Guardian he (Charles Mason Remey) went to Haifa to live and there, under the direction of the Guardian worked on the plans of the Temple to be built on Mount Carmel.  The completed design, approved by the Guardian, and a model of this first Bahá’í Temple for the Holy Land, were exhibited at the Second Intercontinental Bahá’í Teaching Conference in Chicago. Illinois, in May 1953.

American Bahá’í News.  Page 2, June 1949.    The Guardian, like the Master before him, has not considered it advisable to as yet permit any person or Assembly to put another person out of the Cause of God.   There is a sharp distinction between depriving a believer of his voting rights, which is a severe disciplinary measure and not a spiritual sanction, and pronouncing a former believer to be truly spiritually diseased soul, a soul in the condition the Master referred to when, in His last cable to America before His ascension He said, ‘he who sitteth  with a leper catcheth leprosy’................But no one but himself can pronounce a person to be in that diseased condition we call ‘Covenant Breaking’, and no one but he can reinstate a Covenant Breaker”..............

5/6/7th August, 1949.  Mason Remey attended Conference in Brussels, Belgium.  The Conference closed with a Unity Banquet at one of the best restaurants of Brussels.  The delicious dinner, the gift of Amelia Collins, host in absentia  was followed by speeches of greeting from the various countries.   Mason Remey talked of his meeting with the Master.

American Bahá’í News. Page 4, February 1950.    “It is very important that the Bahá’ís should accurately record their experiences with the Master and events in the Cause’s progress for these things form data for future histories of the Cause.  They have not, however, the authority of the revealed Word of the Tablets.”

June 1950. Bahá’í News of America.  Explanation by the Guardian of the quote “THE DAY THAT SHALL NOT BE FOLLOWED BY NIGHT”.

In “God Passes By”, page 99,  Shoghi Effendi quotes from a writing of Bahá’u’lláh:  “This,” He furthermore declares, “is the king of days,” the “Day of God Himself,” the “Day which shall never be followed by night,” the  “Springtime which autumn will never overtake,’ “the eye to past ages and centuries,” for which “the soul of every Prophet of God, of every Divine Messenger, hath thirsted,” .................

Explanation:

            “Once the mind and heart have grasped the fact that God guides men through a Mouthpiece, a human being, a Prophet, infallible and unerring, it is only a logical projection of the acceptance to also accept the station of Abdu’l-Bahá and the Guardians.   The Guardians are the evidence of the maturity of mankind in the sense that at long last men have progressed to the point of having one world, and of needing one world management for human affairs.    In the spiritual realm they have also reached the point where God could leave, in human hands  (i.e. the Guardians), guided directly by the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, as the Master states in His Will, the affairs of His Faith for this Dispensation.  This is what is meant by 'this is the day which will not be followed by night'.   In this dispensation, divine guidance flows on to us in this world after the Prophet’s ascension, through, first the Master, and then the Guardians.   If a person can accept Bahá’u’lláh’s function, it should not present any difficulty to them to also accept what He has ordained in a divinely guided individual in matters pertaining to the Faith.”    

     Shoghi Effendi.

American Bahá’í News.  Page 2, October 1950.    “The Guardian feels believers desiring to declare themselves are entitled to read the full text of the Master’s Will  beforehand, and indeed, they should do so.”

9th January, 1951.  Proclamation of formation of International Bahá’í Council. “this first embryonic International Institution”.  Identified the International Bahá’í Council as the embryonic Universal House of Justice.   Also stated that its evolution into a Bahá’í Court was an “essential step”.  See 2/101

The Guardian, Shoghi Effendi appointed the following members of the International Bahá’í Council:

Ruhiyyih Khanum as liaison between himself and the council

Charles Mason Remey, President.

Mrs. Amelia Collins, Vice President

Ugo Giachery, member-at-large,

Leroy Ioas, secretary-general

Jessie Revell, treasurer.

Ethel Revell, Western Assistant secretary.

Lotfullah Hakim, Eastern assistant secretary.

2nd March, 1951    Cablegram appointing Mason Remey President of International Council.

30th March, 1951.  Charles Mason Remey, as president of the International Bahá’í Council was received by Rabbi J. L. Hacohen Maimon, Minister for Religious Affairs in Israel.  His Excellency, the Minister, welcomed this representative of our beloved Guardian, assuring him of the friendship of the State of Israel toward all the religious communities in Israel, saying that it was the desire of his government that freedom of religion exist in this country and that their attitude toward all religious communities was one of friendship and of respect, and of the extension of their protection to the Holy Places of these various religions, adding "Have we not all one Father?  Has not the one God created us all?"   The president of the International Bahá’í Council then spoke of Israel as being the Holy Land of the Bahá’ís, as well as that of the Jews, Christians and Moslems..............."     The President and Vice President of the International Council have likewise paid calls upon both the Mayor of Haifa and the Mayor of Akka, as well as the Military Governor of Galilee.       The president also had a very pleasant interview with the United Nations Ambassador to Israel, Mr. Monett B. Davis.        This report by Charles Mason Remey, President of the International Bahá’í Council, and published in the American  "Bahá’í News" for June 1951 is of extreme importance to all those investigating the Bahá’í Faith.

25th April, 1951. In Shoghi Effendi’s message he mentioned the Bahá’í Court  as an “essential prelude to the institution of the Universal House of Justice”.

May 1951.  Charles Mason Remey issued a report to the N.S.A. of the Bahá’ís of the United States giving details of their progress.  Pages 383 to 390  "The Bahá’í World 1950-1954.

June 1951. Charles Mason Remey who had only been appointed President of the International Bahá’í Council a few months earlier, visited the L.S.A. of Paris, of which Joel Bray Marangella was the President. His wife Irene was also on the L.S.A.

American "Bahá’í News" June 1951. Year 108.   Charles Mason Remey, writing as President of the INTERNATIONAL BAHÁ’Í COUNCIL wrote a long report on the progress of the work on the Shrine of the Báb.  His concern over the continuation of materials for its completion.  This is a very comprehensive report on the work already carried out, and the difficulties encountered.  Also the work to be completed, including estimates of cost for various sections.  He stressed the Guardian's concern in coming to the decision to commit the Bahá’í World and its resources so heavily at that time to the sacred enterprise, also quality of work and materials.         He also reported that he (Mason Remey) and one of the secretaries of the International Bahá’í Council visited Jerusalem, where,  in the course of several days, arrangements were made with the Ministry of Trade for receiving import licenses for the various materials to be used on the Shrine of the Báb.

24th December, 1951.   Charles Mason Remey appointed Hand of the Cause of God, together with 11 others.

 In 1952 after being elected President of the International Bahá’í Council Shoghi Effendi told Mason Remey  that he was always to sit at his left hand whenever he went into a meeting or to the shrines to worship.

In the August 1952 edition of the American   "Bahá’í News"  is a six page letter from the International Bahá’í Council, signed by Charles Mason Remey, President.    This is a progress report from the world centre, mainly about the erecting of the Shrine of the Báb.  Mr. Sutherland Maxwell, was the Architect for the Shrine of the Báb.          The interiors of the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh and the Mansion, as well as the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Akka and the Mansion of Mazra'ih have been greatly beautified during the past year, in preparation for the coming of the pilgrims.               In the grounds of the Mansion of Bahji a single-story building of 5 rooms remained, although sine the days of Bahá’u’lláh and the Master, it had been in Bahá’í possession, its title deed was part of the Mansion itself, of which the Covenant Breakers owned one sixth.  Last December, the Guardian, in view of the fact that the roofs of three of the rooms had caved in and the walls were crumbling, and the building becoming daily amore complete and dangerous ruin, instructed the Caretaker of the Holy Shrine to demolish it.   This set off a whole series of legal actions taken by the Covenant Breakers which lasted for around 6 months.  During this time three members of the International Bahá’í Council: Mr. Remey, Dr. Giachery, and Mr. Ioas had interviews with high ranking officials of the Foreign Office and the Prime Minister's office, as well as with the Attorney-General.  The legal action passed from court to court.   Finally when the three members of the International Bahá’í Council left the Ministry of Religions in Jerusalem, they had in their possession a paper giving them full authority to tear down the ruins at once.  This was accomplished within 48 hours!   One week later the Guardian of the Cause who went over to Bahji himself to supervise the work, had created in time for the night of the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh a beautiful entrance, into what is now called the Holy Court leading to the Shrine.  In front of the mansion, and in the very spot where the ruined house had stood, a wide expanse of garden sprung from the dust.................

August 1952.   Charles Mason Remey writes:   On more than one occasion, the Guardian has pointed out to the members of the Council that the Charter upon which the Spiritual and Administrative activities of the Faith in Israel rest is the Tablet of Carmel, revealed by  Bahá’u’lláh on Mt. Carmel.  The "City of God" mentioned in this Tablet, is the Shrine of the Báb, and the "Ark" means the Laws of God, and refers to the Universal House of Justice, the embryo of which, is the present International Bahá’í Council, which through successive stages will develop into the Universal House of Justice to be established and function on this Holy Mountain.  Its President is:  Charles Mason Remey,  Vice President Amelia Collins.

The President of the Council: Mr. Charles Mason Remey has now completed his design for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, which will be erected at a future date, somewhere on Mt.Carmel.  During the past winter, he has had the opportunity of consulting with the Guardian about the final details, and having received his suggestions and approval, is now ready to order the model of his Temple in Italy, so that it can be exhibited in the Mother Temple of the West in Wilmette during the historic Convention of 1953.      .....................the design carried out by the architect chosen for this purpose by the Master Himself, has now been safeguarded for posterity, and is ready for execution when the appointed time comes.

8th October 1952. In a cablegram,  Shoghi Effendi set for a goal “The establishment of  a Bahá’í Court in the Holy Land, preliminary  to the emergence of the Universal House of Justice.   The establishment of a U.H.J. was not a part of Shoghi Effendi’s ten-year crusade goals.

12th November 1952. Contract was signed with the Development Authority of the State of Israel whereby the Bahá’í Community secured some 40 Acres of land surrounding the sacred Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh.

30th November, 1952,  third Guardian's Notes.  Seated around the dinner table with Shoghi Effendi and Ruhiyyih Khanum were Mason Remey and other members of the International Bahá’í Council.  Suggested Mason Remey to become Judge of “The Bahá’í Court” when formed.  Joel Bray Marangella, President of the N.S.A. of France, and his wife Irene were on Pilgrimage at this time.

1953 - 1963  TEN-YEAR INTERNATIONAL BAHÁ’Í TEACHING AND CONSOLIDATION   PLAN.

Item 9.    Establishment of a Bahá’í Court in the Holy Land, is a preliminary to the emergence of the Universal House of Justice.  (The Bahá’í World. 1950 - 1954. Page 256).

Further Goals for the Ten Year Crusade:   "to undertake in the course of the coming decade:  First, the construction of the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Bahá’u’lláh’s native land, in the City of Teheran, surnamed by Bahá’u’lláh "Mother of the World".      Second, the purchase of land for the future construction of three Mashriqu'l-Adhkar's, one in the City of Baghdad, enshrining the "Most Great House", the third oldest city of the Bahá’í World,  one in New Delhi, the leading city of the Indian sub-continent,  and the third in Sydney, the oldest and foremost Bahá’í Center in the Antipodes.     Third the formation of no less that eleven National Spiritual Assemblies.

The Ten Year Plan did not include establishing the Universal House of Justice.

1953.   Ben Levy.  Notes made while on pilgrimage.       I asked the Guardian if the Hands of the Cause were unerring in their functions of propagation and protection of the Cause and he replied:   they receive instructions from the Guardian.  The Hands of the Cause and the Administrative Order complement one another.   Function of the Guardian – Interpretation.      Hands, protect and propagate.   Universal House of Justice – Legislate.     N.S.A’s – administrate these laws.

           

February 1953. At the first International Teaching Conference in the Holy Year, held in Kampala, Uganda,  the Conference devoted an evening session to the unveiling of the model of the Bahá’í House of Worship, designed by Charles Mason Remey, which is to be constructed on Mt. Carmel in the Holy Land.  Mr. Remey, Hand of the Cause of God, and President of the International Bahá’í Council, spoke of the temples of worship each religion has developed to express its particular style of architecture.

1953, April 29 to May 6th. The All America Inter Continental Teaching Conference. Guardians message given by Ruhiyyih Khanum.   She said................The International Bahá’í Council, comprising eight members, charged with assisting in the manifold activities attendant upon the rise of the World Administrative Center of the  Faith, which must pave the way for the formation of a Bahá’í International Court and the eventual emergence of the Universal House of Justice, the Supreme Legislative Body of the future Bahá’í Commonwealth, has been established, enlarged, and the functions of its members defined.

In May 1953 the model of the first Bahá’í Temple for the Holy Land, designed by  Charles Mason Remey, was exhibited at the Second International Bahá’í Teaching  Conference in Chicago, Illinois.   Read the report  "Unveiling the Model of Temple  to be Constructed on Mount Carmel"  by Charles Mason Remey, on pages 163 to 165  of The Bahá’í World. 1950-1954.

American Bahá’í News.  Page 10.  May 1953.   “Regarding your question, the Master  said wisdom of having no women on the International House of Justice, would become manifest in the future.  We have no other indication than this.  At present there are women on the International Council, and this will continue as long as it exists, but when the International House of Justice is elected, there will only be men, as this is the Law of the Aqdas”.

October 7th - 15th 1953.  Fourth Intercontinental Conference, New Delhi.  Charles Mason Remey, Hand of the Cause from Haifa, as the Guardian's representative delivered Shoghi Effendi's formal message.  He also unveiled the portrait of the Martyr Prophet, The Báb.

October 1953. The design for the International Bahá’í Archives has been made by Charles Mason  Remey, carrying out suggestions of the Guardian of the Faith.  It was first exhibited at the Fourth Intercontinental Conference at New Delhi, India, Oct. 1953.   "One of the fundamental provisions of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh is that there shall be not only the aspect of worship and glorification of God but also the channel through which that spirit thus engendered can flow out to the world through Bahá’í activities.  The Administrative Centre provides that channel".  Shoghi Effendi.   A photo of the model of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar for construction on Mount Carmel is included in the October 1953 issue of the "Bahá’í News".

In cable dated 11th October 1953 the Guardian  recommended  that Hands leaving the Conference travel through "designated lands", "for the purpose of establishing close contact with the National Assemblies, advising and assisting Local Assemblies etc.........  Included Charles Mason Remey.    A partial itinerary of his trip includes:  Delhi, Calcutta, Rangoon, Dacca, Chittagong, Bagdogra, Darjeeling, Madras, Columbo, Kandy, Trichinopoly, Madura, Bangalore, Mysore, Hyderabad, Ajanta, Ellora, Aurangabad, Manmad, Poona, Panchganu, Bombay and Karachi.      At Chittagong Mr. Charles Mason Remey presented the history of the Bahá’í Faith to a group of the town's leading citizens, gathered in the Chittagong Rest House.

October, 1953.  Shrine of the Báb completed.

November 1953.   Charles Mason Remey as representative for the Guardian Shoghi Effendi, presented the Guardian's message to the New Delhi Intercontinental Conference.

January 1954.  (On the behalf of the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi) The President of the International Bahá’í Council (Charles Mason Remey) and Secretary General (Leroy Ioas), asked permission to call on the President of the State of Israel to greet him officially.

1954   Ruth Moffett while on pilgrimage.    Shoghi Effendi.    His first point is that the  preliminary steps be taken for the construction and beautification of the Sepulcher of Bahá’u’lláh in Bahji; following that will be the purchase of land for the building of the Temple on Mt. Carmel.  This has already been accomplished, and a pointed monument on a pedestal will be placed upon that site until it is time to erect the Temple.  The names of Mason Remey architect, and Millie Collins, donor, will be engraved upon it.       The next point was the importance of establishing an International Bahá’í World Court.

26th April, 1954. As a result of an invitation issued in January 1954 by the Bahá’í International Council,  His Excellency the President of the State of Israel, Mr. Izhak Ben-Zvi, and Mrs. Ben-Zvi officially visited the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel, and called on the Guardian.    The President (Charles Mason Remey) and the Secretary General (Leroy Ioas) of the International Bahá’í Council were received by them.      This is the first time in Bahá’í history that the Head of an independent State has visited either the Head of the Faith or a Bahá’í Sacred property.

November 1954. Shoghi Effendi referred to the construction of future buildings on Mount Carmel that would “serve as the administrative seats of such divinely appointed institutions as the Guardianship, the Hands of the Cause, and the Universal House of Justice”.

February 1955. U.S. Bahá’í News. Statement re Will & Testament.  Hands cannot overrule the Guardian.

March 1955.  (Part of the Naw-Ruz message from the Guardian).    "I joyfully announce the commencement of the excavations for the foundations of the International Archives heralding the rise of the first edifice destined to inaugurate the establishment of the seat of the World Bahá’í Administrative order in the Holy Land.      I announce moreover the selection of the design submitted by the Hand of the Cause, Mason Remey, for the projected Mother Temple in Bahá’u’lláh’s native land.................."       "Regarding the House of Worship to be constructed in Persia, we recall the request from Haifa published in "Bahá’í News" last summer for suggestions and plans.  Now the Guardian announces that the design prepared by Mason Remey, Hand of the Cause in the Holy Land has been chosen.   It will be a momentous event when a Bahá’í Temple is constructed and put into use in the land where the Faith was born and most bitterly resisted.    N.S.A of America.

Cable received 4th May 1955 from the Guardian.  "Announce to National Assemblies the number of the members of the International Council has been raised to nine through appointment of Sylvia Ioas".    (In a cable dated 9th January 1951, The Guardian Proclaimed the establishment of the International Bahá’í Council).

May 1955. From a report from Charles Mason Remey, President of the International Bahá’í Council:    ...................This (Archives Building) is the first of the buildings that will give shelter to the administrative activities of the Faith at the World Centre.  A seat for the Guardianship, for the Hands of the Cause, and for the Universal House of Justice, as well as other edifices, will later be added.     Site for the first Temple in the Holy Land purchased.   A commemorative obelisk seven meters in height, and made of Italian Travertine, the same stone the ancient Romans built their temples of, will be placed on the grounds as soon as the land is transferred to our name.    (On it Amelia Collins will be honoured as its purchaser, and Mason Remey as its Architect).     Re: Visitors and Pilgrims to the Shrine of the Báb:  We estimate at least sixty countries - many important pioneer goals- have been connected directly, through pilgrimages made here,  with the dynamic flow of energy which our beloved Guardian releases and which is the very life-blood of our glorious Ten Year Plan.

Woolson, Gayle.  Pilgrims Notes.   Shoghi Effendi said:  He then referred to  the four world Administrative buildings that would be constructed in Haifa, saying, the Archives Building is for preservation;  the Guardianship building is for Interpretation;  the Building of the Hands, protect and propagate;     Universal House of Justice – legislate;       N.S.A’s – administrate these laws.

The Guardian was asked about his descendants, about a son, and the Guardian answered, “Everything that is written in the Will and Testament will be fulfilled.  The Bahá’ís must not be anxious about this”.

15-23 December 1956,  Notes taken by Valera Allen while on Pilgrimage. Re The Day that would not be followed by night. He said:   “Guardians would be sources of guidance and protection for the Faith until the coming of the subsequent Manifestations which might not be for 6,000 years although He might come any time after 1,000 years.”    The Guardian also stressed the infallibility of the Guardian as being the essential thing that kept schisms from developing in the Faith.   He also said “He was the only one who could know when he was guided infallibly.  That was the very nature of infallibility”.    Also He said that  “........the Universal House of Justice was bound to accept the Guardian’s authority if he spoke from the Station of Infallibility, because of the statement in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

 which says “It is incumbent upon the members of the House of Justice...........to show obedience, submissiveness and subordination unto the Guardian of the Cause of God, to turn unto him and be lowly before him”.  Etc. etc.

18-28th April 1957.  Notes by Isobel Sabri while on Pilgrimage.  Guardian was asked a question concerning the next Manifestation of God, whether he would be opposed by the people.   The Guardian’s reply was in this vein:   In the future when the next Manifestation appears, the Guardian of the Cause at that time will tell the believers who the Manifestation is and will call on them to accept Him.  What is the use of the infallibility of the Guardian if he does not do this?

October, 1957 message from Shoghi Effendi designated Hands of the Cause as “Chief Stewards” which they later used to confer upon themselves a role of collective Guardianship.

4TH November 1957.   Shoghi Effendi Died from Heart Attack whilst in London.

9th November 1957      Shoghi Effendi Buried in London. In the first car of approx. 60 cars forming the cortege Ruhiyyih Khanum was accompanied by Amelia Collins and Chas. Mason-Remey.

19th November 1957.  First Conclave of Hands in Haifa. Twenty-six of the 27 Hands of the Faith, (Hands of the Cause have no administrative rights), assembled in conclave at the Mansion of Bahji, and those that had searched in Shoghi Effendi’s room  and found no will and testament among his papers.   At Ruhiyyih Khanum’s request no minutes or written records were kept of the meeting.

19th November, 1957  Nine selected, including Charles Mason Remey, (not elected) Hands broke seals on Shoghi Effendi’s Desk and Safe, and reported that there was no Will and Testament.

20th November 1957.  Hands at Mansion of Bahji.  After morning prayers and mention of the Guardianship to the effect that no will or testament had been found in the safe or in the desk of Shoghi Effendi, Dr Muhajir, the youngest of the Persian Hands, sprang to his feet proposing that the Will and Testament of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá be pronounced  BADAH (a term found in Islam meaning that God changed His mind) and that the Guardianship be ended for ever and closed for ever! .............. Ruhiyyih Khanum concurred with this majority, so their point was carried by the majority.

The Hands of the Cause of God then selected a body of nine Hands to be known as "CUSTODIANS OF THE BAHÁ’Í WORLD FAITH".

Proclamation of 25th November 1957 of Nine Hands to serve at World Centre.

“The first effect of the realization that no successor to Shoghi Effendi could have been appointed by him was to plunge the Hands of the Cause into the very abyss of despair.”          They stated that “in his mysterious insight into the present and future needs of the Bahá’í community, called into being the International Bahá’í Council and the company of twenty-seven Hands with their Auxiliary Boards, whom in his final communication to the Bahá’ís, he designated “Chief Stewards* of the Embryonic World Commonwealth of Bahá’u’lláh.”   (Hands of the Cause have no administrative rights).“We nominate and appoint from our own number to act on our behalf as the Custodians of the Bahá’í World Faith. (Nine Hands of the Cause of God). ....to exercise---subject to such directions and decisions as may be given from time to time by us as the Chief Stewards  (Custodians of the Bahá’í World Faith) of the Bahá’í World Faith – all such functions, rights and powers in succession to the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, (Only the guardian can name his successor!!??) His Eminence the late Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, as are necessary to serve the interests of the Bahá’í World Faith, and this until such time as the Universal House of Justice, upon being duly established and elected in conformity with the Sacred Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, may otherwise determine.”  (Later in a book titled THE MINISTRY OF THE CUSTODIANS, Ruhiyyih said "we (the Hands of the Cause) were faced with problems of inconceivable magnitude.  HOW TO ASSUME THE REINS OF AUTHORITY, WITH NO DOCUMENT TO SUPPORT US, other than general theological statements".       (They DID NOT have authority to take over the affairs of the Faith!)      The only body with authority at that time was the International Bahá’í Council (the embryonic U.H.J.) with President Charles Mason Remey.

*The Cambridge English Dictionary explains STEWARD as: one who manages affairs for another; one who helps to manage a public function, an officer on a vessel who attends to passengers.       It would appear that the title "Chief Stewards" was intended to mean the special believers (Hands of the Cause of God) assisting the guardian, especially as The Will and Testament says "The obligations of the Hands of the Cause of God are to diffuse the Divine Fragrances, to edify the souls of men, to promote learning, to improve the character of all men and to be, at all times and under all conditions, sanctified and detached from earthly things"..........

           

Bahá’í News for January 1958.  Proclamation by the Hands of the Cause  relating to the Conclaves held in Bahji.   Names of body of Nine Custodian Hands to serve at World Centre: Ruhiyyih Khanum,  Charles Mason Remey, Amelia Collins,   Leroy Ioas,   Hasan Balyuzi,  Ali-akbar Furitan,  Jalal Khazeh,   Paul Haney,   Adelbert Muhlschlegel.     “Chief Stewards”.

April 1958. N.S.A. of the U.S.A. said “The door to the appointment of a second Guardian....is closed”.    Also Horace Holley said “..as you know, the Guardian himself, just a little while before he passed on, constituted them (the Hands) the chief stewards, so that they could qualify under the Will and Testament to appoint a body of Nine, as the will and Testament describes, and be recognized by the Faith”.

Kampala Conference. (1957) Ruhiyyih Khanum announced that the Guardianship was  BADAH (Means that God has changed His mind!) and ended.  Later in a meeting with the Hands she explained herself by saying that she spoke on the spur of the moment and without thought and should not have announced this!!!!

1958.  Shoghi Effendi had planned for several International Conferences in this year.  The American Hands stated at the Convention: “the Chief Stewards supply the instrument through which the Bahá’í World Community is guided and encouraged to complete the projects defined by the Guardian”.

23rd January 1959. Various messages from the Bahá’í World for the Custodian Hands.      Upon Page 74 of the work is a statement by our late Guardian regarding the development of the housing of the several administrative branches or elements of the Bahá’í Faith, upon Mount Carmel above the Monument Gardens, the first edifice of which is the Archives Building that has now been completed since his death.  The others mentioned in his message to the Bahá’í World in the order he gave them were to house  (1) the Guardian,    (2) the Hands of the Faith,   (3) the Universal House of Justice.   More than once he spoke of the house upon the mountain to be built in the classic style of  the Archives Building which would be the residence of the Guardians to follow him into the future, all as directed in the Will and Testament of the Master, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, ...........

12th February 1959.  At the meeting of the Custodian Hands.  A letter was put before them from the Local Assembly of Lucknow, India.  Seven of the members had united to dissolve that local body until such time as the Guardianship be renewed and functioning again.  Their letter was dated 18th November, 1958.   One of the reasons was that  they cannot accept the present condition of the Cause without a Guardian, so the only thing they could do was to dissolve the Assembly.  Mason Remey said that this letter was referred back to the N.S.A. of India.

14th April 1959.  This day the Custodian Hands of the Faith met in conference, News very disquieting  had come to us that Hermann Grossman in South America had told Bahá’ís that the Hands of the Faith had had a change of mind and that undoubtedly there would be a second Guardian of the Cause!  During the discussion  Ruhiyyih Khanum  said that she was unalterably opposed to our having another Guardian and that if there were ever one appointed, that she would abandon Haifa and the Bahá’í Administration and take herself somewhere up into the wilds of Tibet, there to hide herself from all Bahá’ís!!  From "Daily Observations"

June 1959 Bahá’í Bulletin (American). Horace Holley said to the convention “Particularly impressive was his reminder that through one inspired sentence designating the Hands as ‘Chief Stewards’, Shoghi Effendi gave continuity to the Faith after his passing, when no national assembly could have taken the initiative in order to assure this”.  (Cambridge English Dictionary:  Steward:   One who manages affairs for another. E.g. an officer on a vessel who attends to passengers, &c.)

25th November 1959   Message signed by 22 Hands of the Cause except Mason-Remey.

8th April 1960.    Proclamation to N.S.A. of America from Mason Remey claiming Guardianship.

The French National Spiritual Assembly voted to accept Mason Remey as the

 second Guardian of the Faith.

May 1960.  In their message from the Hands, Hands of the Cause Grossman, True and Sears write:  “....the ‘appointed’ phase of which Mr. Remey was the temporary President, would  no longer even exist with the same identity after it was democratically elected...”

1st June, 1960 Charles Mason Remey sent the following letter to Udo Schaefer.

            My personal resistance was therefore my first resistance to this appointment by the Beloved Guardian that I had to overcome.  I assure you that nothing but my allegiance to the Beloved Guardian and to the Will and Testament of the Master 'Abdu’l-Bahá made me accept this for in the Will and Testament all are commanded to obey the Guardian of the Faith.

            During the seven years (more or less) that I dwelt with and served our Beloved Guardian in his home in Haifa, he spoke to us,