Why the Orthodox Baha'i Faith, Mason Remey, and Joel Bray Marangella
Picture of Mason Remey, Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith
Credit: Old picture of Mason Remey from early 1900's in public usagePicture of Joel Bray Marangella, Third Guardian of the Baha'i Faith
Credit: Picture by Author of this articleAn Overview of the Orthodox Baha'i Faith
Commonality of the First Four Figures of the Faith
The Orthodox Baha'i Faith shares a common set of Bahai beliefs and history with the those using the title Baha'i Faith, whose administrative machinery is located in Haifa, Israel, up until the death of the first Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, Shoghi Effendi. With the separation between those that followed a universal house of justice and those that followed Mason Remey, these things separated. I will, therefore, only give a broad overview of that history from the inception of the Faith until that momentous event in 1957. What I hope will happen is a better understanding of why the separation.
The line of succession in the Orthodox Baha'i Faith is critical since they believe there must be and is an unbroken chain of infallibility.
The Bab
In 1844, the Bab (meaning, the Gate) announced that He was a Manifestation of God, and declared that another Prophet was to come after Him which He titled "Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest". He appeared and came out of Shia Islam and the twelver sect of the Imams.
Baha'u'llah
Baha'u'llah (meaning, Glory of God) in 1863 publicly announced His mission, and declared that He was the one Promised by the Bab. He was banished to prison city of Akka in present day Israel. He passed away in 1892.
Abdul-Baha:
Abdul-Baha, was appointed by Baha'u'llah, to be the appointed interpreter, and the Center of His Covenant.
Shoghi Effendi:
Shoghi Effendi was appointed by Abdul-Baha in His Will and Testament to be the First of a line of "Guardians of the Faith".
Likeness and Differences
Likeness
Both the Orthodox Baha'is and the Baha'is under the Administration in Haifa, Israel, share many things in common, including their love for Baha'u'llah. Another common thing shared by both groups is the Writings of the Bab, Baha'u'llah, and Abdul-Baha, as well as those of Shoghi Effendi. We also share the social, spiritual teachings of the Faith, and the Baha'i laws.
Differences
Strict adherence to the Covenant of Baha'u'llah and Abdul-Baha's Will and Testament is a principle of both groups, but the Orthodox Baha'is maintain that since Shoghi Effendi called the Will and Testament of 'Abdul-Baha unalterable and immutable for this whole dispensation, that the Guardianship continues after his death, and any head of the Elected International Body of Baha'is must have the living Guardian as its President according to the Will and Testament. The other group states there is no Guardian, and elected an international institution to represent them which does not have a Guardian as its President.
In 1957 Shoghi Effendi passed away leaving no Will and Testament. He had no children, nor any blood relatives he could have appointed. Those that went with the Hands of the Cause (an appointed group of believers appointed to help the Guardian in his tasks) maintain that he could therefore not appoint anyone and so that section of the Will and Testament of Abdul-Baha is no longer in force. One of the Hands of the Cause, Mason Remey, disagreed.
Mason Remey
After several years of trying to convince his fellow Hands that no Will of Shoghi Effendi was required, that the first Guardian would have in some manner in his own lifetime indicated, no matter how veiled, the identity of the next Guardian.
In 1960 Mason Remey broke with the Hands and announced that indeed Shoghi Effendi had done so, and that Mason Remey was the appointed Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. The followers of Mason Remey understood that the only Proclamation ever given by Shoghi Effendi had indeed appointed Mason Remey as the President of the Embryonic Universal House of Justice that eventually was to become the elected international body. When Shoghi Effendi passed away, that body, not the Hands of the Cause, was to be the Administrative body, and since Mason had been appointed as its President, he would have had to be the Guardian, as only a Guardian can be the Head of the Universal House of Justice when activated, whether embryonic or not.
Those that followed the majority of the Hands elected a body which they called "the Universal House of Justice", but which had no Guardian as its President in 1963.
Joel Bray Marangella:
Mason Remey as Second Guardian appointed in his own life time Joel Bray Marangella to be Third Guardian of the Faith.
The reason that the issue of successorship was so important to the Orthodox Baha'is was that the Will and Testament of 'Abdul-Baha can not be changed, it is immutable and unchangeable, so if there were no Guardian, then ultimately there could be no Universal House of Justice as outlined in that Will and Testament having a living Guardian as its President. It would also mean that Abdul-Baha was in error, and the whole foundation of the World Order of Baha'u'llah was built on sand and a document that was already out of date within 40 some years.
Conclusion:
Let it be understood, however, while the Orthodox Baha'i Faith's disagrees with the Baha'i Administration located in Haifa, we recognize the valiant efforts and spiritual desire of those Baha'is under it, to believe and try to follow the spiritual principles of our Faith.
I have written some comments on this subject on my blog Ian RoeBuck Articles.
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