The Fallacy of Marangella's Activation-Abdication Postulate
Brent Madison Reed
The Beginning of Spiritual Testing for the Supporters of the
Guardianship
It has been nearly a half century since our first Guardian, Shoghi
Effendi Rabbani died in 1957, and his Ministers (except for one) - the
Hands of the Cause of God - in their belief that the Guardianship had
come to an end, led most of the Baha'i world into the greatest
violation of the Baha'i Covenant in its history, turning most of the
Baha'is against Shoghi Effendi's chosen successor, Charles Mason
Remey, (1) and splitting them into two groups: Those who turned to
the second Guardian Mason Remey, because they knew that the
Guardianship of the Baha'i Faith had continued without interruption,
as required by the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu‘l-Baha‘, and those who
believed that the Guardianship had come to an end, influenced by the
Islamic doctrine of Bada (2) (which maintained that God could change
His mind) brought forth by one of the Persian Hands in 1959. For all
practical purposes, the destruction caused by the subversive acts of
the Hands that led to the separation of most of the believers from the
Center of their Faith (the living Guardian of the Baha'i Faith) has
caused the creation and rise to power of a global organization
directed by a legislative body that its supporters erroneously refer
to as the Universal House of Justice, that lacks the required Guardian
Interpreter Executive who is the only individual in the Faith who has
been given the spiritual authority and legal jurisdiction to define
the scope and spirit of the legislative powers of the true Universal
House of Justice, (3) while on the other hand, the true Faith of
Baha'u'llah, flexible and enlightened by the living Guardian of the
Baha'i Faith is largely unknown and unnoticed.
The Second Challenge to the Guardianship, and the Development of
Marangella's Activation-Abdication Postulate
The Faith of Baha'u'llah was to undergo yet another severe challenge
that would test the faith and knowledge of the followers of
Baha'u'llah. What was to come shortly after Mason Remey's accession
to the Guardianship in 1960 would further divide the believers into
those who remained faithful and steadfast supporters of his
Guardianship and those who supported a rival Guardian who claimed that
Mason had abdicated and lost his sanity. Only nine years after
Mason's Ridvan 1960 Proclamation, (4) Joel Bray Marangella, (5) a
close supporter of the second Guardian, and President of the second
International Baha'i Council, shocked the Baha'i supporters of the
Guardianship with an announcement that he (Joel) had acceded to the
Guardianship of the Baha'i Faith and that Mason Remey had abdicated
it. This was known as his 1969 Proclamation. (6) In his
Proclamation, Joel declared to the faithful supporters of Mason
Remey's Guardianship that he had become the Guardian of the Baha'i
Faith in the autumn of 1964, although the realization did not come to
him until late 1967. (7) He insinuated that Mason had finally
abdicated his Guardianship, albeit unknowingly, in October 1965, as a
result of his
(Mason's) "activation" or convening into a functioning body of the
Second International Baha'i Council. In later writings he developed
his "activation" idea further. He explained that Mason's "activation"
of the International Baha'i Council caused the "Mantle of
Guardianship" to instantly leave Mason and repose itself upon himself,
making him the third Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. (8) This I have
decided to call the Marangella Activation-Abdication Postulate. In
the following I will offer proof to the reader that will demonstrate
the falsity of Marangella's postulate. And if the readers agree with
my appraisal, then, Joel Bray Marangella's claim to the Guardianship
will loose its force, and the followers of Baha'u'llah will begin to
turn their attention toward France, which is the home of Jacques
Soghomonian, (9) the true Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.
Searching for the Origins of Joel Marangella's Activation-Abdication
Postulate
Joel Bray Marangella was the first Baha'i to use the term "activate"
in his writings in reference to Mason's command in 1965 to convene the
Second International Council into an actively functioning institution,
from its previously inactive and powerless state. Marangella argues
that Mason acted improperly when he activated the Council in 1965,
because by activating it he caused him (Marangella, who was the
President of the Council and potential Guardian) to instantly become
the Guardian, which in turn caused Mason's instant abdication, since
there cannot be two Guardians in power at the same time. To the best
of my knowledge, there is nothing in the Will and Testament of
‘Abdu'l-Baha', the writings of Shoghi Effendi, or Mason Remey that
indicates that it is improper for a Guardian to ask his International
Council to begin functioning as a body so that it can assist the
Guardianship with its work. It's absurd to think that an
International Council should just sit idly by in a non-functioning
state as Marangella's postulate indicates it should. In fact, once
the Baha'i community grows and evolves to a certain point, a fully
functioning International Council is a necessity. For this reason
alone, it is difficult to understand why Marangella stated that Mason
had made a mistake in his calling the Second International Baha'i
Council into active operation. In an attempt to find support for his
Activation-Abdication Postulate Marangella, in 1969 Proclamation, and
other later writings, argues that Mason Remey "made it very clear [in
his 1960 Proclamation to the Baha'is of the World] why Shoghi Effendi
had never instructed him to activate the First International Baha'i
Council (created in 1951), for had he done so Mason Remey, as its
President (i.e., the head of the Universal House of Justice), would
have at that instant automatically become the second Guardian." But
did Mason really say such a thing? Absolutely not. Nowhere can this
idea be found in Mason's Proclamation! This is what Mason said:
"Before going into the subject of my Presidency of the International
Baha'i Council and the stand that I take in the cause and explain in
this letter, I would preface my statement by giving in a few words a
picture of the set up of things in Haifa under the regime of The
Beloved Guardian when all the members of the International Council
including the resident Hands lived there and served the Guardian
daily. Each of us council members were given instruction by Shoghi
Effendi of what he wanted us to do and we reported to him as these
various services were underway and completed. The sole authority of
all these operations rested in the instructions given to each direct
from the Guardian himself, thus as a council, a functioning body, we
never undertook any services of any nature whatsoever.
"After the appointment of the International Council, many times one of
the members would come to me saying, ‘Mason, you are the President of
the Council, get yourself busy, call a meeting, you are the President
of the Council, you should take the initiative to organize this body
and do something.' To which my response was always, ‘The Guardian of
the Faith appointed the Baha'i International Council and He will tell
me what I should do and when I should call the Council into action.'
"The First Guardian of the Faith left this world without giving me any
orders or instructions whatsoever regarding the International Council.
The Beloved Guardian gave me no authority to do anything about the
Universal Council during his lifetime for while He was living He was
the Guardian of the Faith and as infallibility then was vested in him
and in him only, my position was then only that of I myself holding a
potential responsibility. But with the death of Shoghi Effendi, He no
longer being the center upon earth of infallibility, I became the
acting President of the International Council in my own right as
President of this body, thus I came into active command of the
council. Therefore I am now but assuming the powers that came to me
automatically upon the death of Shoghi Effendi and that have been mine
exclusively of all others upon earth since the death of the First
Guardian of the Faith.
As you can see, Mason said nothing in his Proclamation indicating
that Shoghi Effendi had said that the President of the International
Council - the potential Guardian - would become the Guardian upon the
activation of the Council. Quite the contrary, according to Mason,
the Council was already functioning or active as a body, although
Shoghi Effendi had never asked the Council to perform any services for
him yet. Mason acknowledges that as President he had a potential
responsibility, which means that he was the potential Guardian. But
his potential responsibility did not become actual until the death of
Shoghi Effendi - never before that. This is just the opposite of what
Marangella stated, when he said, and I again quote, that Mason "made
it very clear [in his 1960 Proclamation to the Baha'is of the World]
why Shoghi Effendi had never instructed him to activate the first
International Baha'i Council (created in 1951), for had he done so
Mason Remey, as it President (i.e., the head of the Universal House of
Justice), would have at that instant automatically become the second
Guardian." When you read Mason's quotation above, does it mean to you
what Marangella says it means? It doesn't say anything of the kind.
Plus, if you search the rest of Mason's 1960 Proclamation you will
find nothing else mentioned about that subject. So, if the
activation-abdication idea cannot be found in Mason's 1960
Proclamation as Joel Marangella stated, then can we find it anywhere?
And why is all of this so important? It is critically important to
all of us, because Joel Bray Marangella has proposed to the Baha'i
world that Mason's "activation"
of the second International Baha'i Council meant that he automatically
became the Guardian - even while Mason Remey was still alive and well,
and actively serving as Guardian until the end of his life. It is
also critically important, because Marangella says that Mason's
appointment in 1967 of his successor, Donald Alphonse Harvey was
invalid, because Mason had previously abdicated ("unknowingly") his
Guardianship and had gone insane, which in turn invalidated Harvey's
appointment of the current Guardian, Jacques Soghomonian. The
legitimacy of Marangella's Guardianship depends upon the validity of
his Activation-Abdication Postulate. In fact, he says so in a letter
to Jacques Soghomonian, dated May 29, 1992. In this quotation he is
essentially telling Soghomonian that his activation-abdication idea is
one of the two foundations upon which his accession to the
Guardianship rests. Here is what he said to Soghomonian:
"It is clear that you have chosen to ignore the two foundations on
which my accession to the guardianship of the Faith was based and the
only foundation on which Mason Remey's claim to the guardianship
rested and the sole basis on which you, the National Spiritual
Assembly of France and all the rest of us that remained faithful to
the Covenant accepted Mason as the second Guardian of the Faith. This
foundation was nothing less than my appointment as the President of
the second International Baha'i Council and its announcement to the
faithful friends, an announcement that already informed them that I
was to be Mason's chosen successor. But even more significantly,
Mason went one step further than Shoghi Effendi when during the latter
years of his life Mason actually directed me, as President, to
ACTIVATE the Council. As a result, I became then the President of an
actively functioning Council, an Office which can only be occupied by
the Guardian of the Faith as we so repeatedly pointed out in all of
our many arguments and treatises written in support of Mason's claim
to the guardianship and in our efforts to awaken the believers to the
continuity of the guardianship. In this manner, Mason, who realized
that his capacity was waning [sic] to continue to carry the burden of
the guardianship at his very advance [sic] age abdicated the
guardianship and furthermore confirmed this act by announcing that he
was turning over to me the affairs of the Faith.
So, Marangella has again restated his activation-abdication
postulate, this time to the Guardian, admonishing him for ignoring its
significance. Where Oh Where does Marangella get the idea that
activating or convening an International Council caused him to become
the Guardian? Mason said that the convening of the Council makes the
President of the Council the active President of the Council, who is
still just the potential Guardian. If Marangella is ever to be taken
seriously, he must show us some statement from either 'Abdu'l-Baha' or
one of the Guardians to support the basis for his claim, but there
isn't any such statement. I think I know the source that inspired his
original idea however. But, once again, the source material seems to
state exactly the opposite view to Marangella's. Marangella's idea to
formulate his Activation-Abdication Postulate, and his decision to
adopt the usage of the word "activate" in so many of his works
regarding his claim to the Guardianship, most likely originated from
his reading of a letter from Mason Remey addressed to "ALL BAHA'I
FRIENDS," dated September 15, 1963. (Be aware that this letter was
written in the Year 1963. The year 1963 was about two years before
Marangella claims that Mason officially abdicated his Guardianship, by
activating the second International Baha'i Council. Even Marangella
must admit that Mason was still the acting Guardian in 1963). I'd
like to quote the only part of this letter that has a form of the word
"activate" in it This may be the only document anywhere besides in
Joel's works that contain either the word "active" or its derivatives
used in this way. Here we have Mason saying:
"Had they [the Hands] been spiritually prepared to give him their
'assent' in his then 'potential' station, Mason Remey would have
passed from an 'inactive' to an 'active' role as President of the
International Baha'i Council...."
Notice how Mason uses the word "active" in this statement, and the
how he mentions passing from an "inactive" to an "active" role as
President of the International Council after the Hands had given their
'assent." This is probably where Joel's Activation-Abdication
Postulate finds its beginnings. Now notice, that Mason never said
that from his "potential" station, he would have passed from an
inactive role as President of the Council to an active role as
GUARDIAN of the Baha'i Faith. He said that he would pass from an
inactive role to an active role as PRESIDENT of the International
Baha'i Council, who would have only the "POTENTIAL station" of
Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. Since, according to Joel, Mason was
still the acting Guardian when he made this statement in 1963, why
didn't he follow the Guardian's word on this? Joel claims that he
believes that a Guardian's words on issues like these are infallibly
guided and should be obeyed by all Baha'is, why didn't he do the same?
Even so, we must again ask ourselves where Joel got the idea that
calling a Council into active functioning causes its President to
become the instant Guardian? It's not in this quote for sure.
Mason's statement might have spawned Marangella's concept of something
moving from an inactive to an active state, and supported that idea,
but that is all.
Mason's statement that the inactive President of the International
Council remains the President even after it is called into action
correlates with his announcement of the creation of the Second
International Baha'i Council in a letter dated September 21, 1964,
recorded in The Glad Tidings of October 1964. (This announcement was
still before the year 1965, which is the year that Marangella claimed
that the "Mantle of Guardianship left Mason as a result of his
activation of the second International Baha'i Council). Let me quote
the first and opening paragraph of Mason's historic announcement. For
purposes of emphasis, I will put some words or phrases in bold
characters.
"The Guardian of the Faith announces to the Baha'i World his decision
to create the second International Baha'i Council. This Council will
exist in name only until conditions in the Faith require it to
function as a Body. All powers vested in the appointed members of
this Council are 'potential'.
Next, Mason lists the appointed President of the Council, and 8 Vice
Presidents. Here is how he lists them in the announcement:
"President of the Council..... .Joel B. Marangella
1st Vice President................Monir Derakhchan
2nd Vice President.............Nawazish Ali Siyyid
3rd Vice President...................John B. Byers
4th Vice President...................James Barrett
5th Vice President......................Jean Donat
6th Vice President..................Bernard Fillon
7th Vice President..................Ch. Taj-ud-Din
8th Vice President..........Clarence M. McClymonns
Next he says--and please pay close attention to this:
"IN THE EVENT THE GUARDIAN SHOULD BE PREVENTED FROM APPOINTING HIS
SUCCESSOR TO THE GUARDIANSHIP OF THE FAITH, THE PRESIDENT OF THIS
COUNCIL WILL BECOME THE THIRD GUARDIAN.
(I capitalized all of the letters and underlined some words to add
more emphasis to this very important statement).
Based upon this statement it doesn't sound like Mason was telling the
Joel or the other Baha'is that they should expect the appointed
President (Joel) to become the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, does it?
What he says is that the Joel, (or even another replacement President
that he might choose later. See quote below.) would become the
Guardian, "In the event the Guardian should be prevented from
appointing his successor...." The President was only the POTENTIAL
GUARDIAN. It sounds like Mason might have been hinting that he was
planning to choose another person to become his successor, doesn't it?
Let's see what else Mason says in this important announcement.
Continuing down to the last paragraph, he says:
"We are living in the "Latter Days" of the Kingdom of man upon earth.
These are uncertain times. Mankind is surrounded by diverse
catastrophic happenings...none of which can be predicted with
precision. Thus, to meet any conditions brought about as a result of
any such catastrophe provisions are being made for a number of
'POTENTIAL SUCCESSORS TO THE GUARDIANSHIP'. In this way, the
continuation of this divinely inspired Institution will be guaranteed.
"The list of appointments as they appear above will remain in their
numerical order UNTIL FURTHER ADDITIONS OR REARRANGEMENTS MAY BE MADE
BY THE GUARDIAN. (Emphasis again added).
And then Mason signs his letter and dates it. Mason couldn't have
been more clear. He again emphasized that the President and
Vice-Presidents appointed to the first International Baha'i Council
were only potential successors to the Guardianship, and that he could
change any of this at any time. This was his infallible decree. It
was September 1964, and according to Joel, he was still Guardian at
that time. Marangella ignored Mason's clear instructions.
Mason Remey Clearly Contradicts Joel's Activation-Abdication Postulate
Now, to bring all of this to a close, I would like to refer again to
Mason Remey's September 15, 1963 letter addressed "TO ALL BAHA'I
FRIENDS". In this letter to the Baha'is, Mason clearly states that
there is no problem with there being both a Guardian and an active
President of the International Council functioning in their roles
simultaneously. Once again, where did Marangella get his idea that
this was a taboo? Here is what Mason Remey, the Guardian had to say:
"In 1951, [Shoghi Effendi] created the International Baha'i Council
and told us in no uncertain terms that this organ represented the
‘embryonic' Universal House of Justice. In making this point, surely
he intended the Baha'i World to understand that he was the Head of
that ‘embryonic' House of Justice. How could it be otherwise for ONLY
the Guardian could possibly fill that station.
"Yet, two months later, on March 2nd, 1951, Shoghi Effendi APPOINTED
Mason Remey ‘President' of that same organ! Thus, the International
Baha'i Council was designated by the Guardian as fulfilling two
distinct objectives:
1) - The International Baha'i Council represented the ‘embryonic'
Universal House of Justice.....with Shoghi Effendi as its 'hereditary'
President......
and
2) - The International Baha'i Council represented a nascent
institution created to assist the Guardian in discharging certain
responsibilities with Mason Remey as its ‘potential' President
APPOINTED by the Guardian.
"Some of the friends object to this reasoning insisting that there
could not have been two living Presidents to the Universal House of
Justice simultaneously! If Shoghi Effendi had named his successor in
a Will and Testament would there not be two living Guardians
simultaneously?........one actually functioning in that capacity while
the other existing only in a ‘potential' capacity?
"THIS WAS SHOGHI EFFENDI'S PROVISION FOR HIS SUCCESSOR!"
"The International Baha'i Council was NEVER called into action by the
first Guardian and its President, Mason Remey, could not exercise his
‘potential' authority excepting by the will or death of the Guardian.
Joel Continues Propagating His Idea in Total Disregard of Mason's
Directives
There you have it friends. Not only can Marangella's
Activation-Abdication Postulate NOT be supported by any of the
writings of ‘Abdul-Baha', Shoghi Effendi, or Mason Remey, but Mason
Remey clearly disputed this same idea six years before Joel Marangella
officially inculcated it. I have already offered strong evidence in
my letter dated October 21, 2001 to Franklin Schlatter, the Secretary
of the Provisional Orthodox Baha'i Council that disproves Marangella's
claim that Mason lapsed into insanity sometime after 1965. And Joel
has already admitted that he believed the "Mantle of Guardianship" was
with Mason until 1965 when he activated the Second International
Council, so why did Marangella fail to accept the directives of the
Guardian of the Baha'i Faith concerning Shoghi Effendi's method of
appointing his successor, which applied similarly to Mason Remey's
method of appointing his successor? And why did he make up his own
method in contravention to the Guardian? Joel must sooner or later
answer these questions.
In order to clear away the clouds of misunderstanding that have
surrounded the controversy of the succession of authority after Mason
Remey, created by Joel's erroneous notion that by "activating" the
second International Baha'i Council, Mason abdicated the Guardianship,
making him ipso facto Guardian, we need to clearly realize that the
Activation-Abdication Postulate first inculcated by Joel Bray
Marangella has no precedent in the history of the Baha'i
Administration's evolution. It was just an idea--and a very good one,
but very flawed--that Joel created himself. I believe that Joel
created his Activation-Abdication Postulate after Mason appointed
Donald Harvey, in an attempt to discredit Mason's appointment of the
one whom he wanted to succeed him, and because it sounded so good,
many unstudied people fell for it. Perhaps the complexity of his
idea, and the telling of it over and over again, exhaustively over the
past forty years, combined with the fact that most people lack access
to the letters from the Second Guardian, was the reason that it has
been so successful until now in winning over believers to his cause.
But now the truth is known.
Brent Madison Reed
Huntington, West Virginia
November 12, 2001
_______________________________
Footnotes:
1. Charles Mason Remey proclaimed to the Baha'is of the World through
the Ridvan 1960 National Baha'i Convention in Wilmette, Illinois, that
he had been chosen by Shoghi Effendi to be his successor and Second
Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. Remey, a descendant of American
Colonials from New England and Virginia, was born in 1874 in
Burlington, Iowa, a town along the Mississippi River, 210 miles from
Chicago. Raised Episcopalian, he became a Baha'i in 1899, through the
teaching work of May Ellis Bolles (Mrs. Sutherland Maxwell). From the
earliest years of the development of the Baha'i Faith in the United
States of America, Mason served with enthusiasm and distinction,
spreading the Message of Baha'u'llah throughout the American continent
and Europe. He was an architect by profession and designed four
Baha'i Houses of Worship and the International Archives building on
Mt. Carmel. ‘Abdu'l-Baha' appointed him to create the design for the
future Mashriq'ul-Adhkar on Mt. Carmel. ‘Abdu'l-Baha' loved Mason
Remey very much. He wrote many letters in praise of his character and
spirit. Among them were the following prophetic statements from
‘Abdu'l-Baha' about 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 A SIGN OF
GUIDANCE AMONG MANKIND." (caps added) "Tablet of ‘Abdu‘l-Baha'", Star
of the West, Vol. V, No. 19, March 2, 1915. One day, addressing
William Remey, the brother of Mason Remey, ‘Abdu‘l-Baha' made the
following statement: "Your brother [Mason] mentioned your name to me.
You are greatly blessed by having such a brother. At present you do
not know how greatly you are blessed 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. " "‘Abdu'l-Baha''s
Visit to Philadelphia, June 8-10 1912", Star of the West, Vol V, No.
6, June 24, 1914. On March 8, 1951, Shoghi Effendi appointed Mason
Remey to the Presidency of the First International Baha'i Council (the
embryonic Universal House of Justice), and elevated him to the rank of
Hand of the Cause of God on December 24, 1951.
2. Charles Mason Remey, Extracts From Daily Observations of the
Baha'i Faith Made to the Hands of the Faith in the Holy Land,
(Roswell, New Mexico: Orthodox Baha'i Faith) p. 52.
3. Shoghi Effendi, The Administrative Order of The Dispensation of
Baha'u'llah, 1934 ed., p. 7.
4. Remey, Charles Mason, Proclamation of the Second Guardian of the
Baha'i Faith to the Baha'i World, (Washington, DC and Wilmette, IL,
April 1960).
5. Joel Bray Marangella, born in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1918, was one
of the early faithful believers in the United States of America who
answered the call of Shoghi Effendi to pioneer to Europe. He and his
family pioneered to France in 1950, and participated in the formation
of the first National Spiritual Assembly of France, in 1958. It was
while serving as one of the members of the National Spiritual Assembly
France in 1960, that he was a part of the NSA's historic decision to
accept Mason Remey's Guardianship. Marangella who is believed to be
the Guardian of the Orthodox Baha'i Faith (In reality, the Orthodox
Baha'is consider him to be the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. Orthodox
is a term that they have adopted as a temporary measure to distinguish
themselves from the sans-Guardian Baha'is who are loyal to the
Universal House of Justice in Haifa.) by the Orthodox Baha'is,
developed the idea that I have referred to as the
Activation-Abdication Postulate, that provides an explanation for his
claim that he became the successor to Mason Remey in the summer of
1965 after Mason Remey instructed him to prepare a statement
announcing to the Baha'i World the activation of the second
International Baha'i Council. Since his 1969 Proclamation that
announced his claim to be Mason Remey's successor, there have been
Baha'is loyal to the Guardianship who have disputed his claim,
including the 2nd Guardian himself, Charles Mason Remey. But until
today Joel and his Orthodox Baha'i supporters continue to hold their
position that he is in fact the 3rd Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.
6. Joel Bray Marangella, Proclamation of the Third Guardian (Worms,
Germany, November 12, 1969).
7. Joel stated initially that he became the Guardian the moment he
read (in the fall of 1964) Mason's letter of appointment that had been
inside the sealed envelope. "After meditating on the situation for
some time in an effort to find a rational explanation, it dawned on my
consciousness that the reason for this, as well as the lamentable
state of affairs in the Faith and the conflicting statements which
were coming from Mason Remey lay in the fact that the mantle of
Guardianship no longer reposed on the shoulders of Mason Remey, nor
had it done so since the autumn of 1964 when I had opened the letter
addressed to me by Mason Remey, telling me to tell the Baha'i World
that I was the third Guardian of the Baha'i Faith." He continued by
stating: "Having finally come to the realization late in 1967 that I
had actually been the Guardian of the Faith since 1964, the faithful
friends well ask why I did not forthwith claim this fact to them then
and there. I can only say in reply that the thought of plunging the
Faith into a fresh crisis over the matter of successor ship was
abhorrent to me. Moreover, I was certain that my claim to the
Guardianship would now most certainly be openly repudiated by the very
one who had appointed me to this supreme Office - my predecessor in
the Office of Guardianship and one whom I had deeply loved and
endeavored with all my heart and soul to faithfully serve." (From his
Nov. 12, 1969 Proclamation) Joel also employed 'Abdu'l-Baha's
metaphor of the embryo, making a comparison between the inseparable
head and body of the embryo and the inseparable President-potential
Guardian (Head) of the International Baha'i Council, and the
International Baha'i Council (Body). So, if an incumbent Guardian
were to activate, or to call to life from an inactive state, the
International Council, this would immediately cause its potential
Guardian to become an acting Guardian creating a situation where there
would be two Guardians simultaneously, which is not permissible. He
reasoned when Shoghi Effendi appointed his wife Ruhiyyih Khanum, and
placed her as liaison between himself and the First International
Baha'i Council, that he was essentially saying this.
8. "After meditating on the situation for some time in an effort to
find a rational explanation, it dawned on my consciousness that the
reason for this, as well as the lamentable state of affairs in the
Faith and the conflicting statements which were coming from Mason
Remey lay in the fact that the mantle of Guardianship no longer
reposed on the shoulders of Mason Remey, nor had it done so since the
autumn of 1964 when I had opened the letter addressed to me by Mason
Remey, telling me to tell the Baha'i World that I was the third
Guardian of the Baha'i Faith." (Joel Bray Marangella's "Proclamation
of the Third Guardian" November 12, 1969)
9. In May 2001 I visited the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith at his home
in Marseille, France. For a detailed summary of the time I spent with
him, visit:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeartoftheBahaiFaith/files/8.%20%20Jacques%20Soghomonian%20%28Said%20to%20be%20the%204th%20Guardian%29/Trip%20to%20See%20the%20Guardian.htm
(If this link doesn't work properly, just copy and paste the entire
address into your browser).
Author's Note:
For readers who would like to join in on the discussion over the issue
of succession of authority within the Baha'i Faith, please join the
Heart of the Baha'i Faith Discussion Group at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/heartofthebahaifaith
There you can also access important historical documents regarding the
Guardianship that have not been available to many of the followers of
Baha'u'llah. There, you can also find an MS Works (.wps) version of
this paper.