Through lectures and conferences, through the press and radio, through the organization of study cla.s.ses and fire-side gatherings, through partic.i.p.ation in the activities of societies, inst.i.tutes and clubs animated by ideals akin to the principles of the Faith, through the dissemination of Baha"i literature, through various exhibits, through the establishment of teacher training cla.s.ses, through contact with statesmen, scholars, publicists, philanthropists and other leaders of public thought-most of which have been carried out through the resourcefulness of the members of the American Baha"i community, who have a.s.sumed direct responsibility for the spiritual conquest of the vast majority of these countries and dependencies-above all through the inflexible resolution and unswerving fidelity of pioneers who, whether as visiting teachers or as residents, have partic.i.p.ated in these crusades, have these signal victories been achieved during the closing decades of the first Baha"i century.
Nor should reference be omitted to the international teaching activities of the western followers of the Faith of Baha"u"llah, and particularly the members of the stalwart American Baha"i community, who, seizing every opportunity that presented itself to them, have either through example, precept or the circulation of literature carried the Faith to virgin fields, scattering the seeds which must eventually germinate and yield a harvest as notable as those already garnered in the aforementioned countries. Through such efforts as these the breezes of G.o.d"s vitalizing Revelation have been blown upon the uttermost corners of the earth, bearing the germ of a new spiritual life to such distant climes and inhospitable regions as Lapland; the Island of Spitzbergen, the northernmost settlement in the world; Hammerfest, in Norway, and Magellanes, in the extremity of Chile-the most northerly and southerly cities of the globe respectively; Pago Pago and Fiji, in the Pacific Ocean; Chichen Itza, in the province of Yucatan; the Bahama Islands, Trinidad and Barbados in the West Indies; the Island of Bali and British North Borneo in the East Indies; Patagonia; British Guiana; Seych.e.l.les Islands; New Guinea and Ceylon.
Nor can we fail to notice the special endeavors that have been exerted by individuals as well as a.s.semblies for the purpose of establishing contact with minority groups and races in various parts of the world, such as the Jews and Negroes in the United States of America, the Eskimos in Alaska, the Patagonian Indians in Argentina, the Mexican Indians in Mexico, the Inca Indians in Peru, the Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, the Oneida Indians in Wisconsin, the Mayans in Yucatan, the Lapps in Northern Scandinavia, and the Maoris in Rotorua, New Zealand.
Of special and valuable a.s.sistance has been the inst.i.tution of an international Baha"i Bureau in Geneva, a center designed primarily to facilitate the expansion of the teaching activities of the Faith in the European continent, which, as an auxiliary to the world administrative center in the Holy Land, has maintained contact with Baha"i communities in the East and in the West. Serving as a bureau of information on the Faith, as well as a distributing center for its literature, it has, through its free reading room and lending library, through the hospitality extended to itinerant teachers and visiting believers, and through its contact with various societies, contributed, in no small measure, to the consolidation of the teaching enterprises undertaken by individuals as well as Baha"i National a.s.semblies.
Through these teaching activities, some initiated by individual believers, others conducted through plans launched by organized a.s.semblies, the Faith of Baha"u"llah which, in His lifetime, had included within its ranks Persians, Arabs, Turks, Russians, Kurds, Indians, Burmese and Negroes, and was later, in the days of "Abdu"l-Baha, reinforced by the inclusion of American, British, German, French, Italian, j.a.panese, Chinese, and Armenian converts, could now boast of having enrolled amongst its avowed supporters representatives of such widely dispersed ethnic groups and nationalities as Hungarians, Netherlanders, Irishmen, Scandinavians, Sudanese, Czechs, Bulgarians, Finns, Ethiopians, Albanians, Poles, Eskimos, American Indians, Yugoslavians, Latin Americans and Maoris.
So notable an enlargement of the limits of the Faith, so striking an increase in the diversity of the elements included within its pale, was accompanied by an enormous extension in the volume and the circulation of its literature, an extension that sharply contrasted with those initial measures undertaken for the publication of the few editions of Baha"u"llah"s writing issued during the concluding years of His ministry.
The range of Baha"i literature, confined during half a century, in the days of the Bab and of Baha"u"llah, to the two languages in which their teachings were originally revealed, and subsequently extended, in the lifetime of "Abdu"l-Baha, to include editions published in the English, the French, the German, the Turkish, the Russian and Burmese languages, was steadily enlarged after His pa.s.sing, through a vast multiplication in the number of books, treatises, pamphlets and leaflets, printed and circulated in no less than twenty-nine additional languages. In Spanish and in Portuguese; in the three Scandinavian languages, in Finnish and in Icelandic; in Dutch, Italian, Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Rumanian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Greek and Albanian; in Hebrew and in Esperanto, in Armenian, in Kurdish and in Amharic; in Chinese and in j.a.panese; as well as in five Indian languages, namely Urdu, Gujrati, Bengali, Hindi, and Sindhi, books, mostly through the initiative of individual Baha"is, and partly through the intermediary of Baha"i a.s.semblies, were published, widely distributed, and placed in private as well as public libraries in both the East and the West. The literature of the Faith, moreover, is being translated at present into Latvian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Tamil, Mahratti, Pushtoo, Telegu, Kinarese, Singhalese, Malyalan, Oriya, Punjabi and Rajasthani.
No less remarkable has been the range of the literature produced and placed at the disposal of the general public in every continent of the globe, and carried by resolute and indefatigable pioneers to the furthermost ends of the earth, an enterprise in which the members of the American Baha"i community have again distinguished themselves. The publication of an English edition comprising selected pa.s.sages from the more important and hitherto untranslated writings of Baha"u"llah, as well as of an English version of His "Epistle to the Son of the Wolf," and of a compilation, in the same language, of Prayers and Meditations revealed by His pen; the translation and publication of His "Hidden Words" in eight, of His "Kitab-i-iqan" in seven, and of "Abdu"l-Baha"s "Some Answered Questions" in six, languages; the compilation of the third volume of "Abdu"l-Baha"s Tablets translated into English; the publication of books and treatises related to the principles of Baha"i belief and to the origin and development of the Administrative Order of the Faith; of an English translation of the Narrative of the early days of the Baha"i Revelation, written by the chronicler and poet, Nabil-i-Zarandi, subsequently published in Arabic and translated into German and Esperanto; of commentaries and of expositions of the Baha"i teachings, of administrative inst.i.tutions and of kindred subjects, such as world federation, race unity and comparative religion by western authors and by former ministers of the Church-all these attest the diversified character of Baha"i publications, so closely paralleled by their extensive dissemination over the surface of the globe. Moreover, the printing of doc.u.ments related to the laws of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, of books and pamphlets dealing with Biblical prophecies, of revised editions of some of the writings of Baha"u"llah, of "Abdu"l-Baha and of several Baha"i authors, of guides and study outlines for a wide variety of Baha"i books and subjects, of lessons in Baha"i Administration, of indexes to Baha"i books and periodicals, of anniversary cards and of calendars, of poems, songs, plays and pageants, of study outlines and a prayer-book for the training of Baha"i children, and of news letters, bulletins and periodicals issued in English, Persian, German, Esperanto, Arabic, French, Urdu, Burmese and Portuguese has contributed to swell the output and increase the diversity of Baha"i publications.
Of particular value and significance has been the production, over a period of many years, of successive volumes of biennial international record of Baha"i activity, profusely ill.u.s.trated, fully doc.u.mented, and comprising among other things a statement on the aims and purposes of the Faith and its Administrative Order, selections from its scriptures, a survey of its activities, a list of its centers in five continents, a bibliography of its literature, tributes paid to its ideals and achievements by prominent men and women in East and West, and articles dealing with its relation to present-day problems.
Nor would any survey of the Baha"i literature produced during the concluding decades of the first Baha"i century be complete without special reference being made to the publication of, and the far-reaching influence exerted by, that splendid, authoritative and comprehensive introduction to Baha"i history and teachings, penned by that pure-hearted and immortal promoter of the Faith, J. E. Esslemont, which has already been printed in no less than thirty-seven languages, and is being translated into thirteen additional languages, whose English version has already run into tens of thousands, which has been reprinted no less than nine times in the United States of America, whose Esperanto, j.a.panese and English versions have been transcribed into Braille, and to which royalty has paid its tribute, characterizing it as "a glorious book of love and goodness, strength and beauty," commending it to all, and affirming that "no man could fail to be better because of this Book."
Deserving special mention, moreover, is the establishment by the British National Spiritual a.s.sembly of a Publishing Trust, registered as "The Baha"i Publishing Co." and acting as a publisher and wholesale distributor of Baha"i literature throughout the British Isles; the compilation by various Baha"i a.s.semblies throughout the East of no less than forty volumes in ma.n.u.script of the authenticated and unpublished writings of the Bab, of Baha"u"llah and of "Abdu"l-Baha; the translation into English of the Appendix to the Kitab-i-Aqdas, ent.i.tled "Questions and Answers," as well as the publication in Arabic and Persian by the Egyptian and Indian Baha"i National Spiritual a.s.semblies respectively of the Outline of Baha"i Laws on Matters of Personal Status, and of a brief outline by the latter a.s.sembly of the laws relating to the burial of the dead; and the translation of a pamphlet into Maori undertaken by a Maori Baha"i in New Zealand. Reference should also be made to the collection and publication by the Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha"is of ?ihran of a considerable number of the addresses delivered by "Abdu"l-Baha in the course of His Western tours; to the preparation of a detailed history of the Faith in Persian; to the printing of Baha"i certificates of marriage and divorce, in both Persian and Arabic, by a number of National Spiritual a.s.semblies in the East; to the issuance of birth and death certificates by the Persian Baha"i National Spiritual a.s.sembly; to the preparation of forms of bequest available to believers wishing to make a legacy to the Faith; to the compilation of a considerable number of the unpublished Tablets of "Abdu"l-Baha by the American Baha"i National Spiritual a.s.sembly; to the translation into Esperanto, undertaken by the daughter of the famous Zamenhof, herself a convert to the Faith, of several Baha"i books, including some of the more important writings of Baha"u"llah and of "Abdu"l-Baha; to the translation of a Baha"i booklet into Serbian by Prof.
Bogdan Popovitch, one of the most eminent scholars attached to the University of Belgrade, and to the offer spontaneously made by Princess Ileana of Rumania (now Arch-d.u.c.h.ess Anton of Austria) to render into her own native language a Baha"i pamphlet written in English, and subsequently distributed in her native country.
The progress made in connection with the transcription of the Baha"i writings into Braille, should also be noted-a transcription which already includes such works as the English versions of the "Kitab-i-iqan," of the "Hidden Words," of the "Seven Valleys," of the "I_sh_raqat," of the "Suriy-i-Haykal," of the "Words of Wisdom," of the "Prayers and Meditations of Baha"u"llah," of "Abdu"l-Baha"s "Some Answered Questions,"
of the "Promulgation of Universal Peace," of the "Wisdom of "Abdu"l-Baha,"
of "The Goal of a New World Order," as well as of the English (two editions), the Esperanto and the j.a.panese versions of "Baha"u"llah and the New Era" and of pamphlets written in English, in French and in Esperanto.
Nor have those who have been primarily responsible for the enrichment of the literature of the Faith and its translation into so many languages, been slow to disseminate it, by every means in their power, in their daily intercourse with individuals as well as in their official contacts with organizations whom they have been seeking to acquaint with the aims and principles of their Faith. The energy, the vigilance, the steadfastness displayed by these heralds of the Faith of Baha"u"llah and their elected representatives, under whose auspices the circulation of Baha"i literature has, of late years, a.s.sumed tremendous dimensions, merit the highest praise. From the reports prepared and circulated by the chief agencies entrusted with the task of the publication and distribution of this literature in the United States and Canada the remarkable facts emerge that, within the s.p.a.ce of the eleven months ending February 28, 1943, over 19,000 books, 100,000 pamphlets, 3,000 study outlines, 4,000 sets of selected writings, and 1800 anniversary and Temple cards and folders had been either sold or distributed; that, in the course of two years, 376,000 pamphlets, outlining the character and purpose of the House of Worship, erected in the United States of America, had been printed; that over 300,000 pieces of literature had been distributed at the two World Fairs held in San Francisco and New York; that, in a period of twelve months, 1089 books had been donated to various libraries, and that, through the National Contacts Committee, during one year, more than 2,300 letters, with over 4,500 pamphlets, had reached authors, radio speakers, and representatives of the Jewish and Negro minorities, as well as various organizations interested in international affairs.
In the presentation of this vast literature to men of eminence and rank the elected representatives, as well as the traveling teachers, of the American Baha"i community, aided by a.s.semblies in other lands, have, likewise, exhibited an energy and determination as laudable as the efforts exerted for its production. To the King of England, to Queen Marie of Rumania, to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to the Emperor of j.a.pan, to the late President von Hindenburg, to the King of Denmark, to the Queen of Sweden, to King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, to the Emperor of Abyssinia, to the King of Egypt, to the late King Feisal of "Iraq, to King Zog of Albania, to the late President Masaryk of Czechoslovakia, to the Presidents of Mexico, of Honduras, of Panama, of El-Salvador, of Guatemala, and of Porto Rico, to General Chiang Kaishek, to the Ex-Khedive of Egypt, to the Crown Prince of Sweden, to the Duke of Windsor, to the d.u.c.h.ess of Kent, to the Arch-d.u.c.h.ess Anton of Austria, to Princess Olga of Yugoslavia, to Princess Kadria of Egypt, to Princess Estelle Bernadotte of Wisborg, to Mahatma Gandhi, to several ruling princes of India and to the Prime Ministers of all the states of the Australian Commonwealth-to these, as well as to other personages of lesser rank, Baha"i literature, touching various aspects of the Faith, has been presented, to some personally, to others through suitable intermediaries, either by individual believers or by the elected representatives of Baha"i communities.
Nor have these individual teachers and a.s.semblies been neglectful of their duty to place this literature at the disposal of the public in state, university and public libraries, thereby extending the opportunity to the great ma.s.s of the reading public of familiarizing itself with the history and precepts of the Revelation of Baha"u"llah. A mere enumeration of a number of the more important of these libraries would suffice to reveal the scope of these activities extending over five continents: the British Museum in London, the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the Library of Congress in Washington, the Peace Palace Library at the Hague, the n.o.bel Peace Foundation and Nansen Foundation Libraries at Oslo, the Royal Library in Copenhagen, the League of Nations Library in Geneva, the Hoover Peace Library, the Amsterdam University Library, the Library of Parliament in Ottawa, the Allahabad University Library, the Aligarh University Library, the University of Madras Library, the Shantineketan International University Library in Bolepur, the U_th_maniyyih University Library in Hyderabad, the Imperial Library in Calcutta, the Jamia Milli Library in Delhi, the Mysore University Library, the Bernard Library in Rangoon, the Jerabia Wadia Library in Poona, the Lah.o.r.e Public Library, the Lucknow and Delhi University Libraries, the Johannesburg Public Library, the Rio de Janeiro Circulating libraries, the Manila National Library, the Hong Kong University Library, the Reykjavik public libraries, the Carnegie Library in the Seych.e.l.les Islands, the Cuban National Library, the San Juan Public Library, the Ciudad Trujillo University Library, the University and Carnegie Public libraries in Porto Rico, the Library of Parliament in Canberra, the Wellington Parliamentary Library. In all these, as well as in all the chief libraries of Australia and New Zealand, nine libraries in Mexico, several libraries in Mukden, Manchukuo, and more than a thousand public libraries, a hundred service libraries and two hundred university and college libraries, including Indian colleges, in the United States and Canada, authoritative books on the Faith of Baha"u"llah have been placed.
State prisons and, since the outbreak of the war, army libraries have been included in the comprehensive scheme which the American Baha"i community has, through a special committee, devised for the diffusion of the literature of the Faith. The interests of the blind, too, have not been neglected by that alert and enterprising community, as is shown by the placing of Baha"i books, transcribed by its members in Braille, in thirty libraries and inst.i.tutes, in eighteen states of the United States of America, in Honolulu (Hawaii), in Regina (Saskatchewan), and in the Tokyo and Geneva Libraries for the Blind, as well as in a large number of circulating libraries connected with public libraries in various large cities of the North American continent.
Nor can I dismiss this subject without singling out for special reference her who, not only through her preponderating share in initiating measures for the translation and dissemination of Baha"i literature, but above all through her prodigious and indeed unique exertions in the international teaching field, has covered herself with a glory that has not only eclipsed the achievements of the teachers of the Faith among her contemporaries the globe around, but has outshone the feats accomplished by any of its propagators in the course of an entire century. To Martha Root, that archetype of Baha"i itinerant teachers and the foremost Hand raised by Baha"u"llah since "Abdu"l-Baha"s pa.s.sing, must be awarded, if her manifold services and the supreme act of her life are to be correctly appraised, the t.i.tle of Leading Amba.s.sadress of His Faith and Pride of Baha"i teachers, whether men or women, in both the East and the West.
The first to arise, in the very year the Tablets of the Divine Plan were unveiled in the United States of America, in response to the epoch-making summons voiced in them by "Abdu"l-Baha; embarking, with unswerving resolve and a spirit of sublime detachment, on her world journeys, covering an almost uninterrupted period of twenty years and carrying her four times round the globe, in the course of which she traveled four times to China and j.a.pan and three times to India, visited every important city in South America, transmitted the message of the New Day to kings, queens, princes and princesses, presidents of republics, ministers and statesmen, publicists, professors, clergymen and poets, as well as a vast number of people in various walks of life, and contacted, both officially and informally, religious congresses, peace societies, Esperanto a.s.sociations, socialist congresses, Theosophical societies, women"s clubs and other kindred organizations, this indomitable soul has, by virtue of the character of her exertions and the quality of the victories she has won, established a record that const.i.tutes the nearest approach to the example set by "Abdu"l-Baha Himself to His disciples in the course of His journeys throughout the West.
Her eight successive audiences with Queen Marie of Rumania, the first of which took place in January, 1926 in Controceni Palace in Bucharest, the second in 1927 in Pelisor Palace in Sinaia, followed by a visit in January of the ensuing year to her Majesty and her daughter Princess Ileana, at the royal palace in Belgrade, where they were staying as guests of the King and Queen of Yugoslavia, and later, in October, 1929, at the Queen"s summer palace "Tehna Yuva," at Balcic, on the Black Sea, and again, in August, 1932 and February, 1933, at the home of Princess Ileana (now Arch-d.u.c.h.ess Anton of Austria) at Modling, near Vienna, followed a year later, in February, by another audience at Controceni Palace, and lastly, in February, 1936, in that same palace-these audiences stand out, by reason of the profound influence exerted by the visitor on her royal hostess, as witnessed by the successive encomiums from the Queen"s own pen, as the most outstanding feature of those memorable journeys. The three invitations which that indefatigable champion of the Faith received to call on Prince Paul and Princess Olga of Yugoslavia at the Royal Palace in Belgrade; the lectures which she delivered in over four hundred universities and colleges in both the East and the West; her twice repeated visits to all German universities with the exception of two, as well as to nearly a hundred universities, colleges and schools in China; the innumerable articles which she published in newspapers and magazines in practically every country she visited; the numerous broadcasts which she delivered and the unnumbered books she placed in private and state libraries; her personal meetings with the statesmen of more than fifty countries, during her three-months stay in Geneva, in 1932, at the time of the Disarmament Conference; the painstaking efforts she exerted, while on her arduous journeys, in supervising the translation and production of a large number of versions of Dr. Esslemont"s "Baha"u"llah and the New Era"; the correspondence exchanged with, and the presentation of Baha"i books to, men of eminence and learning; her pilgrimage to Persia, and the touching homage paid by her to the memory of the heroes of the Faith when visiting the Baha"i historic sites in that country; her visit to Adrianople, where, in her overflowing love for Baha"u"llah, she searched out the houses where He had dwelt and the people whom He had met during His exile to that city, and where she was entertained by its governor and mayor; the ready and unfailing a.s.sistance extended by her to the administrators of the Faith in all countries where its inst.i.tutions had been erected or were being established-these may be regarded as the highlights of a service which, in many of its aspects, is without parallel in the entire history of the first Baha"i century.
No less impressive is the list of the names of those whom she interviewed in the course of the execution of her mission, including, in addition to those already mentioned, such royal personages and distinguished figures as King Haakon of Norway; King Feisal of "Iraq; King Zog of Albania and members of his family; Princess Marina of Greece (now the d.u.c.h.ess of Kent); Princess Elizabeth of Greece; President Thomas G. Masaryk and President Eduard Benes of Czechoslovakia; the President of Austria; Dr.
Sun Yat Sen; Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia University; Prof. Bogdan Popovitch of Belgrade University; the Foreign Minister of Turkey, Tawfiq Ru_sh_di Bey; the Chinese Foreign Minister and Minister of Education; the Lithuanian Foreign Minister; Prince Mu?ammad-"Ali of Egypt; Stephen Raditch; the Maharajas of Patiala, of Benares, and of Travancore; the Governor and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem; Dr. Erling Eidem, Archbishop of Sweden; Sarojini Naidu; Sir Rabindranath Tagore; Madame Huda _Sh_a"ravi, the Egyptian feminist leader; Dr. K. Ichiki, minister of the j.a.panese Imperial Household; Prof. Tetrujiro Inouye, Prof. Emeritus of the Imperial University of Tokyo; Baron Yoshiro Sakatani, member of the House of Peers of j.a.pan and Mehmed Fuad, Doyen of the Faculty of Letters and President of the Inst.i.tute of Turkish history.
Neither age nor ill-health, neither the paucity of literature which hampered her early efforts, nor the meager resources which imposed an added burden on her labors, neither the extremities of the climates to which she was exposed, nor the political disturbances which she encountered in the course of her journeys, could damp the zeal or deflect the purpose of this spiritually dynamic and saintly woman. Single-handed and, on more than one occasion, in extremely perilous circ.u.mstances, she continued to call, in clarion tones, men of diverse creeds, color and cla.s.ses to the Message of Baha"u"llah, until, while in spite of a deadly and painful disease, the onslaught of which she endured with heroic fort.i.tude, she hastened homeward to help in the recently launched Seven Year Plan, she was stricken down on her way, in far off Honolulu. There in that symbolic spot between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, in both of which she had labored so mightily, she died, on September 28, 1939, and brought to its close a life which may well be regarded as the fairest fruit as yet yielded by the Formative Age of the Dispensation of Baha"u"llah.
To the injunction of "Abdu"l-Baha bequeathed in His Will to follow in the footsteps of the disciples of Jesus Christ, "not to rest for a moment," to "travel throughout all regions" and to raise, "without rest and steadfast to the end," "in every land, the cry of "Ya Baha"u"l-Abha,"" this immortal heroine yielded an obedience of which the present as well as future generations may well be proud, and which they may emulate.
"Unrestrained as the wind," putting her "whole trust" in G.o.d, as "the best provision" for her journey, she fulfilled almost to the letter the wish so poignantly expressed by "Abdu"l-Baha in the Tablets, whose summons she had instantly arisen to carry out: "O that I could travel, even though on foot and in the utmost poverty, to these regions, and, raising the call of "Ya Baha"u"l-Abha in cities, villages, mountains, deserts and oceans, promote the Divine teachings! This, alas, I cannot do. How intensely I deplore it!
Please G.o.d, ye may achieve it."
"I am deeply distressed to hear of the death of good Miss Martha Root," is the royal tribute paid to her memory by Princess Olga of Yugoslavia, on being informed of her death, "as I had no idea of it. We always enjoyed her visits in the past. She was so kind and gentle, and a real worker for peace. I am sure she will be sadly missed in her work."
"Thou art, in truth, a herald of the Kingdom and a harbinger of the Covenant," is the testimony from the unerring pen of the Center of Baha"u"llah"s Covenant Himself, "Thou art truly self-sacrificing. Thou showest kindness unto all nations. Thou art sowing a seed that shall, in due time, give rise to thousands of harvests. Thou art planting a tree that shall eternally put forth leaves and blossoms and yield fruits, and whose shadow shall day by day grow in magnitude."
Of all the services rendered the Cause of Baha"u"llah by this star servant of His Faith, the most superb and by far the most momentous has been the almost instantaneous response evoked in Queen Marie of Rumania to the Message which that ardent and audacious pioneer had carried to her during one of the darkest moments of her life, an hour of bitter need, perplexity and sorrow. "It came," she herself in a letter had testified, "as all great messages come, at an hour of dire grief and inner conflict and distress, so the seed sank deeply."
Eldest daughter of the Duke of Edinburgh, who was the second son of that Queen to whom Baha"u"llah had, in a significant Tablet, addressed words of commendation; granddaughter of Czar Alexander II to whom an Epistle had been revealed by that same Pen; related by both birth and marriage to Europe"s most prominent families; born in the Anglican Faith; closely a.s.sociated through her marriage with the Greek Orthodox Church, the state religion of her adopted country; herself an accomplished auth.o.r.ess; possessed of a charming and radiant personality; highly talented, clear-visioned, daring and ardent by nature; keenly devoted to all enterprises of a humanitarian character, she, alone among her sister-queens, alone among all those of royal birth or station, was moved to spontaneously acclaim the greatness of the Message of Baha"u"llah, to proclaim His Fatherhood, as well as the Prophethood of Mu?ammad, to commend the Baha"i teachings to all men and women, and to extol their potency, sublimity and beauty.
Through the fearless acknowledgment of her belief to her own kith and kin, and particularly to her youngest daughter; through three successive encomiums that const.i.tute her greatest and abiding legacy to posterity; through three additional appreciations penned by her as her contribution to Baha"i publications; through several letters written to friends and a.s.sociates, as well as those addressed to her guide and spiritual mother; through various tokens expressive of faith and grat.i.tude for the glad-tidings that had been brought to her through the orders for Baha"i books placed by her and her youngest daughter; and lastly through her frustrated pilgrimage to the Holy Land for the express purpose of paying homage at the graves of the Founders of the Faith-through such acts as these this ill.u.s.trious queen may well deserve to rank as the first of those royal supporters of the Cause of G.o.d who are to arise in the future, and each of whom, in the words of Baha"u"llah Himself, is to be acclaimed as "the very eye of mankind, the luminous ornament on the brow of creation, the fountainhead of blessings unto the whole world."
"Some of those of my caste," she, in a personal letter, has significantly testified, "wonder at and disapprove my courage to step forward p.r.o.nouncing words not habitual for crowned heads to p.r.o.nounce, but I advance by an inner urge I cannot resist. With bowed head I recognize that I too am but an instrument in greater Hands, and I rejoice in the knowledge."
A note which Martha Root, upon her arrival in Bucharest, sent to her Majesty and a copy of "Baha"u"llah and the New Era," which accompanied the note, and which so absorbed the Queen"s attention that she continued reading it into the small hours of the morning, led, two days later, to the Queen"s granting Martha Root an audience, on January 30, 1926, in Controceni Palace in Bucharest, in the course of which her Majesty avowed her belief that "these teachings are the solution for the world"s problems"; and from these followed her publication, that same year on her own initiative, of those three epoch-making testimonies which appeared in nearly two hundred newspapers of the United States and Canada, and which were subsequently translated and published in Europe, China, j.a.pan, Australia, the Near East and the Islands of the seas.
In the first of these testimonies she affirmed that the writings of Baha"u"llah and "Abdu"l-Baha are "a great cry toward peace, reaching beyond all limits of frontiers, above all dissensions about rites and dogmas... It is a wondrous message that Baha"u"llah and His Son "Abdu"l-Baha have given us! They have not set it up aggressively, knowing that the germ of eternal truth which lies at its core cannot but take root and spread... It is Christ"s message taken up anew, in the same words almost, but adapted to the thousand years and more difference that lies between the year one and today." She added a remarkable admonition, reminiscent of the telling words of Dr. Benjamin Jowett, who had hailed the Faith, in his conversation with his pupil, Prof. Lewis Campbell, as "the greatest light that has come into the world since the time of Jesus Christ," and cautioned him to "watch it" and never let it out of his sight. "If ever," wrote the Queen, "the name of Baha"u"llah or "Abdu"l-Baha comes to your attention, do not put their writings from you.
Search out their books, and let their glorious, peace-bringing, love-creating words and lessons sink into your hearts as they have into mine... Seek them and be the happier."
In another of these testimonies, wherein she makes a significant comment on the station of the Arabian Prophet, she declared: "G.o.d is all.
Everything. He is the power behind all beings... His is the voice within us that shows us good and evil. But mostly we ignore or misunderstand this voice. Therefore, did He choose His Elect to come down amongst us upon earth to make clear His Word, His real meaning. Therefore the Prophets; therefore Christ, Mu?ammad, Baha"u"llah, for man needs from time to time a voice upon earth to bring G.o.d to him, to sharpen the realization of the existence of the true G.o.d. Those voices sent to us had to become flesh, so that with our earthly ears we should be able to hear and understand."
In appreciation of these testimonies a communication was addressed to her, in the name of the followers of Baha"u"llah in East and West, and in the course of the deeply touching letter which she sent in reply she wrote: "Indeed a great light came to me with the Message of Baha"u"llah and "Abdu"l-Baha... My youngest daughter finds also great strength and comfort in the teachings of the beloved Masters. We pa.s.s on the Message from mouth to mouth, and all those we give it to see a light suddenly lighting before them, and much that was obscure and perplexing becomes simple, luminous and full of hope as never before. That my open letter was a balm to those suffering for the Cause, is indeed a great happiness to me, and I take it as a sign that G.o.d accepted my humble tribute. The occasion given me to be able to express myself publicly was also His work, for indeed it was a chain of circ.u.mstances of which each link led me unwittingly one step further, till suddenly all was clear before my eyes and I understood why it had been. Thus does He lead us finally to our ultimate destiny ...Little by little the veil is lifting, grief tore it in two. And grief was also a step leading me ever nearer truth; therefore do I not cry out against grief!"
In a significant and moving letter to an intimate American friend of hers, residing in Paris, she wrote: "Lately a great hope has come to me from one "Abdu"l-Baha. I have found in His and His Father, Baha"u"llah"s Message of faith, all my yearning for real religion satisfied ...What I mean: these Books have strengthened me beyond belief, and I am now ready to die any day full of hope. But I pray G.o.d not to take me away yet, for I still have a lot of work to do."
And again in one of her later appreciations of the Faith: "The Baha"i teaching brings peace and understanding. It is like a wide embrace gathering all those who have long searched for words of hope... Saddened by the continual strife amongst believers of many confessions and wearied of their intolerance towards each other, I discovered in the Baha"i teaching the real spirit of Christ so often denied and misunderstood." And again, this wonderful confession: "The Baha"i teaching brings peace to the soul and hope to the heart. To those in search of a.s.surance the words of the Father are as a fountain in the desert after long wandering."
"The beautiful truth of Baha"u"llah," she wrote to Martha Root, "is with me always, a help and an inspiration. What I wrote was because my heart overflowed with grat.i.tude for the reflection you brought me. I am happy if you think I helped. I thought it might bring truth nearer because my words are read by so many."
In the course of a visit to the Near East she expressed her intention of visiting the Baha"i Shrines, and, accompanied by her youngest daughter, actually pa.s.sed through Haifa, and was within sight of her goal, when she was denied the right to make the pilgrimage she had planned-to the keen disappointment of the aged Greatest Holy Leaf who had eagerly expected her arrival. A few months later, in June, 1931, she wrote in the course of a letter to Martha Root: "Both Ileana and I were cruelly disappointed at having been prevented going to the holy Shrines ... but at that time we were going through a cruel crisis, and every movement I made was being turned against me and being politically exploited in an unkind way. It caused me a good deal of suffering and curtailed my liberty most unkindly... But the beauty of truth remains, and I cling to it through all the vicissitudes of a life become rather sad... I am glad to hear that your traveling has been so fruitful, and I wish you continual success knowing what a beautiful Message you are carrying from land to land."
After this sad disappointment she wrote to a friend of her childhood who dwelt near Akka, in a house formerly occupied by Baha"u"llah: "It was indeed nice to hear from you, and to think that you are of all things living near Haifa and are, as I am, a follower of the Baha"i teachings. It interests me that you are living in that special house... I was so intensely interested and studied each photo intently. It must be a lovely place ... and the house you live in, so incredibly attractive and made precious by its a.s.sociations with the Man we all venerate..."
Her last public tribute to the Faith she had dearly loved was made two years before her death. "More than ever today," she wrote, "when the world is facing such a crisis of bewilderment and unrest, must we stand firm in Faith seeking that which binds together instead of tearing asunder. To those searching for light, the Baha"i teachings offer a star which will lead them to deeper understanding, to a.s.surance, peace and goodwill with all men."
Martha Root"s own illuminating record is given in one of her articles as follows: "For ten years Her Majesty and her daughter, H.R.H. Princess Ileana (now Arch-d.u.c.h.ess Anton) have read with interest each new book about the Baha"i Movement, as soon as it came from the press... Received in audience by Her Majesty in Pelisor Palace, Sinaia, in 1927, after the pa.s.sing of His Majesty King Ferdinand, her husband, she graciously gave me an interview, speaking of the Baha"i teachings about immortality. She had on her table and on the divan a number of Baha"i books, for she had just been reading in each of them the Teachings about life after death. She asked the writer to give her greeting to ... the friends in iran and to the many American Baha"is, who she said had been so remarkably kind to her during her trip through the United States the year before... Meeting the Queen again on January 19, 1928, in the Royal Palace in Belgrade, where she and H.R.H. Princess Ileana were guests of the Queen of Yugoslavia-and they had brought some of their Baha"i books with them-the words that I shall remember longest of all that her dear Majesty said were these: "The ultimate dream which we shall realize is that the Baha"i channel of thought has such strength, it will serve little by little to become a light to all those searching for the real expression of Truth"... Then in the audience in Controceni Palace, on February 16, 1934, when her Majesty was told that the Rumanian translation of "Baha"u"llah and the New Era"
had just been published in Bucharest, she said she was so happy that her people were to have the blessing of reading this precious teaching... And now today, February 4, 1936, I have just had another audience with Her Majesty in Controceni Palace, in Bucharest... Again Queen Marie of Rumania received me cordially in her softly lighted library, for the hour was six o"clock... What a memorable visit it was!... She also told me that when she was in London she had met a Baha"i, Lady Blomfield, who had shown her the original Message that Baha"u"llah had sent to her grand-mother, Queen Victoria, in London. She asked the writer about the progress of the Baha"i Movement, especially in the Balkan countries... She spoke too of several Baha"i books, the depths of "iqan," and especially of "Gleanings from the Writings of Baha"u"llah," which she said was a wonderful book! To quote her own words: "Even doubters would find a powerful strength in it, if they would read it alone, and would give their souls time to expand." ...I asked her if I could perhaps speak of the brooch which historically is precious to Baha"is, and she replied, "Yes, you may." Once, and it was in 1928, Her dear Majesty had given the writer a gift, a lovely and rare brooch which had been a gift to the Queen from her royal relatives in Russia some years ago. It was two little wings of wrought gold and silver, set with tiny diamond chips, and joined together with one large pearl.
"Always you are giving gifts to others, and I am going to give you a gift from me," said the Queen smiling, and she herself clasped it onto my dress. The wings and the pearl made it seem "Light-bearing" Baha"i! It was sent the same week to Chicago as a gift to the Baha"i Temple ... and at the National Baha"i Convention which was in session that spring, a demur was made-should a gift from the Queen be sold? Should it not be kept as a souvenir of the first Queen who arose to promote the Faith of Baha"u"llah?
However, it was sold immediately and the money given to the Temple, for all Baha"is were giving to the utmost to forward this mighty structure, the first of its kind in the United States of America. Mr. Willard Hatch, a Baha"i of Los Angeles, Calif., who bought the exquisite brooch, took it to Haifa, Palestine, in 1931, and placed it in the Archives on Mt. Carmel, where down the ages it will rest with the Baha"i treasures..."
In July, 1938, Queen Marie of Rumania pa.s.sed away. A message of condolence was communicated, in the name of all Baha"i communities in East and West, to her daughter, the Queen of Yugoslavia, to which she replied expressing "sincere thanks to all of Baha"u"llah"s followers." The National Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha"is of Persia addressed, on behalf of the followers of the Faith in Baha"u"llah"s native land, a letter expressive of grief and sympathy to her son, the King of Rumania and the Rumanian Royal Family, the text of which was in both Persian and English. An expression of profound and loving sympathy was sent by Martha Root to Princess Ileana, and was gratefully acknowledged by her. Memorial gatherings were held in the Queen"s memory, at which a meed of honor was paid to her bold and epochal confession of faith in the Fatherhood of Baha"u"llah, to her recognition of the station of the Prophet of Islam and to the several encomiums from her pen. On the first anniversary of her death the National Spiritual a.s.sembly of the Baha"is of the United States and Canada demonstrated its grateful admiration and affection for the deceased Queen by a.s.sociating itself, through an imposing floral offering, with the impressive memorial service, held in her honor, and arranged by the Rumanian Minister, in Bethlehem Chapel, at the Cathedral of Washington, D.C., at which the American delegation, headed by the Secretary of State and including government officials and representatives of the Army and Navy, the British, French and Italian Amba.s.sadors, and representatives of other European emba.s.sies and legations joined in a common tribute to one who, apart from the imperishable renown achieved by her in the Kingdom of Baha"u"llah, had earned, in this earthly life, the esteem and love of many a soul living beyond the confines of her own country.
Queen Marie"s acknowledgment of the Divine Message stands as the first fruits of the vision which Baha"u"llah had seen long before in His captivity, and had announced in His Kitab-i-Aqdas. "How great," He wrote, "the blessedness that awaits the King who will arise to aid My Cause in My Kingdom, who will detach himself from all else but Me!... All must glorify his name, must reverence his station, and aid him to unlock the cities with the keys of My Name, the Omnipotent Protector of all that inhabit the visible and invisible kingdoms. Such a king is the very eye of mankind, the luminous ornament on the brow of creation, the fountain-head of blessings unto the whole world. Offer up, O people of Baha, your substance, nay your very lives for his a.s.sistance."
The American Baha"i community, crowned with imperishable glory by these signal international services of Martha Root, was destined, as the first Baha"i century drew to a close, to distinguish itself, through the concerted efforts of its members, both at home and abroad, by further achievements of such scope and quality that no survey of the teaching activities of the Faith in the course of that century can afford to ignore them. It would be no exaggeration to say that these colossal achievements, with the amazing results which flowed from them, could only have been effected through the harnessing of all the agencies of a newly established Administrative Order, operating in conformity with a carefully conceived Plan, and that they const.i.tute a befitting conclusion to the record of a hundred years of sublime endeavor in the service of the Cause of Baha"u"llah.
That the community of His followers in the United States and Canada should have carried off the palm of victory in the concluding years of such a glorious century is not a matter for surprise. Its accomplishments during the last two decades of the Heroic, and throughout the first fifteen years of the Formative Age of the Baha"i Dispensation, had already augured well for its future, and had paved the way for its final victory ere the expiration of the first century of the Baha"i Era.
The Bab had in His Qayyumu"l-Asma, almost a hundred years previously, sounded His specific summons to the "peoples of the West" to "issue forth"
from their "cities" and aid His Cause. Baha"u"llah, in His Kitab-i-Aqdas, had collectively addressed the Presidents of the Republics of the entire Americas, bidding them arise and "bind with the hands of justice the broken," and "crush the oppressor" with the "rod of the commandments" of their Lord, and had, moreover, antic.i.p.ated in His writings the appearance "in the West" of the "signs of His Dominion." "Abdu"l-Baha had, on His part, declared that the "illumination" shed by His Father"s Revelation upon the West would acquire an "extraordinary brilliancy," and that the "light of the Kingdom" would "shed a still greater illumination upon the West" than upon the East. He had extolled the American continent in particular as "the land wherein the splendors of His Light shall be revealed, where the mysteries of His Faith shall be unveiled," and affirmed that "it will lead all nations spiritually." More specifically still, He had singled out the Great Republic of the West, the leading nation of that continent, declaring that its people were "indeed worthy of being the first to build the Tabernacle of the Most Great Peace and proclaim the oneness of mankind," that it was "equipped and empowered to accomplish that which will adorn the pages of history, to become the envy of the world, and be blest in both the East and the West."