The Orthodox Bahá'ís, in contrast to the
other Bahá'ís, believe that the Bahá'í Administrative
Order remains unchanged with all of its Institutions intact following the
death of Shoghi Effendi, the first Guardian of the Bahá'í
Faith, in 1957. The Bahá'í Administrative Order was delineated
in the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the Son of Bahá'u'lláh,
the Author of the Bahá'í Revelation. This Document was characterized
by Shoghi Effendi as divinely-conceived, co-equal in sacredness and immutability
to Bahá'u'lláh's Most Holy Book--His Book of Laws--and the
Charter of His World Order. In His Will, 'Abdu'l-Bahá appointed
Shoghi Effendi to be the first Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith
and stipulated that each successive Guardian would appoint his successor
"in his own life-time." Under the terms of this Document the
Guardian is the Head of the Faith, the sole interpreter of Bahá'í
Holy Writ and the "sacred head" of the Universal House of Justice,
the supreme legislative body of the Bahá'í Administrative
System.
Shoghi Effendi became Guardian in 1921 upon the passing
of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. For the next thirty years he painstakingly developed
the Bahá'í Administrative Order at the local and national
levels. In 1951, based on the fact that there were then "nine vigorously
functioning national administrative institutions," he deemed that
the time was ripe to establish "the first embryonic International
Institution." Accordingly, he established the first International
Bahá'í Council, explaining that this was a temporary title
given to the embryonic Universal House of Justice. Shoghi Effendi did not
assume the Presidency of this embryonic body but appointed as its President
a distinguished American believer since the time of 'Abdu'l-Bahá:
Charles Mason Remey.
The International Bahá'í Council was never
convened into a functioning body during the remaining five years of Shoghi
Effendi's ministry, although individual members were assigned tasks by
Shoghi Effendi. Coincident with the passing of Shoghi Effendi in 1957,
Mason Remey became the functioning President of this body; and as Presidency
of the Universal House of Justice and Guardianship are synonymous terms
(the Guardian being the designated head or President of the Universal House
of Justice), Mason Remey automatically became the second Guardian of the
Faith.
The majority of the Bahá'ís refused to
recognize the validity of this appointment and they declared the Guardianship
terminated. Those who accepted Mason Remey as the legitimate successor
of Shoghi Effendi identified themselves as Orthodox Bahá'ís.
Mason Remey elected to appoint his successor in the same
manner that Shoghi Effendi had employed. He established the second International
Bahá'í Council and appointed as its President, Joel Bray
Marangella, also an American believer who, at the time of Mason Remey's
1960 Proclamation, was the chairman of the French National Spiritual Assembly.
(The French N.S.A. was the only national Bahá'í organization
to vote acceptance of Mason Remey's Guardianship, and though counter to
all Bahá'í Administrative Procedures, the Hands of the Faith,
who had usurped control of the Cause, disbanded the French Assembly and
installed another assembly in its stead.) Mason Remey reinforced the appointment
of Marangella to the Presidency of the second International Bahá'í
Council by addressing a letter in his own hand to his designated successor,
telling him to advise the Bahá'ís that he was to be the third
Guardian of the Faith.
In 1965 Mason Remey activated the second International
Bahá'í Council and turned direction of the affairs of the
Faith over to Joel Marangella. In a letter of November 12, 1969, addressed
to "the faithful supporters of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh
through out the world," Joel Marangella explained the manner of his
appointment to the Guardianship.
Since the majority of the supporters of the third Guardian
were in the United States, Joel Marangella established a National Bahá'í
Bureau in New York City to administer the affairs of the Faith on a provisional
and limited basis. The Bureau was subsequently moved to New Mexico in 1972.
In 1978 the Bureau's functions were assumed and expanded
by the local Bahá'í Council of Roswell, New Mexico, a body
of nine believers which was designated by the third Guardian as the Mother
Bahá'í Council of the Orthodox Bahá'ís of the
United States. The Council was assigned national Bahá'í administrative
jurisdiction pending the formation of a National Bahá'í Council
when the Faith in the United States is sufficiently expanded.
The Mother Bahá'í Council, in addition
to propagating the Faith through newspapers and magazines, has inserted
open letters and appeals made by the Guardian in newspapers in the United
States and abroad to inform the other Bahá'ís that Shoghi
Effendi provided for the continuity of the Guardianship in complete accordance
with the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. The Council was successful in establishing the Orthodox Faith in several other countries, and was particularly successful in India, where local Councils were formed across the country and have since served to buttress the National Bahá'í Council of India, now located in Thane.
Subsequent to the development of the internet and the formation of a National Bahá'í Council, the Orthodox Bahá'ís have been able to garner attention that had hitherto been denied to them. As a consequence, the message of the continuing Guardianship has now been transmitted around the globe, and peoples of almost every land now have the opportunity to investigate for themselves -- without interference from heterodox Bahá'í authorities -- the documentation provided by the Orthodox Faith on its various websites. Thus, as more and more people recognize the validity of the message we are providing, the Orthodox Faith is now experiencing growth in various parts of the world.
All those who have visited our websites now realize that we Orthodox Bahá'ís maintain that the sans-Guardian Bahá'ís, through their termination of the Guardianship in their administration, have made the major provisions of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's sacred Document null and void and are thereby attempting to destroy the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh. On the other hand, we who are following the appointed line of Guardians of the Faith, are seeking to establish the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh on the same basis as delineated in the Sacred Texts of the Bahá'í Faith.