Bahá’í World/Volume 20/The Two Year Subsidiary Plan 1990-1992
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THE Bahá’í WORLD
1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The countries included in what was known as the Eastern Bloc had witnessed significant developments in the spread of the Cause towards the end of the nineteenth century and in the early decades of the twentieth. In Bahá’u’lláh’s lifetime, Bahá’ís were living in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and Turkistan (now known as Central Asia), the first Bahá’ís settling in the latter in 1882.
A flourishing Bahá’í community developed in Ashkhabad (‘Iflqabach and became a centre of Bahá’í scholarship. In 1902, construction began in Ashkhabad of the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the Bahá’í world, an act characterized by Shoghi Effendi as “the first maj or undertaking launched through the concerted efforts of His followers in the Heroic Age of His Faith”. Russia became the first country to extend full recognition, justice, and protection to the followers of the Bahá’í religion. Strong Bahá’í communities, with their own Local Spiritual Assemblies, were eventua11y established in Moscow, Baku, and other centres in the Soviet Union; indeed in 1925 two National Spiritual Assemblies, that of the Caucasus, with its seat in Baku, and that of Turkistan, with its seat in Ashkhabad, came into being.
The Faith had also attracted the attention of prominent figures in Russia, such as Leo Tolstoy. A Russian translation of the Kitabi-Aqdas had been made by Aleksandr Grigorevich Tumanskii and a compilation of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh in Arabic was published in St. Petersburg in 1908. The poetess and dramatist Grinevskaya had written two dramas, one on the Báb and one on Bahá’u’lláh; they had been performed in St. Petersburg and other places, including in Germany after they had been translated by the poet Fielder“
In the countries of Eastern Europe outside the Soviet Union, the Faith had been introduced by various means. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself Visited Budapest in 1913 and aroused the interest of eminent Hungarians.
He expressed the wish that Budapest “might become a centre for the reunion of the East and West, and that from this city the light might emanate to other places”. The first Local Spiritual Assemb1y in Budapest was elected in 1939.
The indomitable Martha Root Visited Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia during the 19203 and 19305. Queen Marie of Romania penned her heartfelt tributes to Baha’u’llah and His Message, earning the immortal distinction of being the first among royalty to raise her voice in His praise. Small Bahá’í communities grew in a number of these lands. Vuk Echtner, in Czechos1ovakia, learned of the Faith in 1925 and later was imprisoned for being a Bahá’í. Bulgaria was blessed from 1930 to 1954 by the selfless labours of Marion Jack, whom Shoghi Effendi called a “shining example to pioneers”, and by the laying to rest in its soil of her and of Adam Benke, the pioneer from Germany whom Shoghi Effendi designated as the first European Bahá’í martyr.
Esperanto p1ayed an important role in the spread of the Faith in these regions, particu1ar1y in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, where believers continued to reside throughout the entire period. The earliest records of the Bahá’í Faith in the Ba1tic States mention four persons in Lithuania in the early 19308 who were Esperanto correspondents of Dr. Hermann Grossmann and his wife, Anna. These men showed interest in the Bahá’í teachings and were eventually Visited by Martha Root in 1934. One of the earliest and most outstanding believers in Poland was Lidia Zamenhof, daughter of the creator of Esperanto.
With the consolidation of Communist rule in the Soviet Union, restrictions began to be imposed upon Bahá’í communities, becoming more pronounced in 1928 and increasing during the next ten years. The Soviet authorities confiscated documents, books, , and a
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The Bahd ’z's of E Moscow celebrating a Nineteen Day
F east for the first time since the 19305. The event tookplace in the Hainsworths ’ home. 9 April 1989.
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printing press, dissolved Baha 1 committees, and took over Bahá’í schools. Hundreds of
Bahá’ís were imprisoned, some were sentenced to exile in Siberia and other penal settlements, and others were deported to lrén. The National Assembly of Turkistan was dissolved. The Temple in Ashkhabad was expropriated and turned into an art gallery.
A small number of Bahá’ís continued to reside in the region, striving to keep the flame of their faith alive in the face of intensive atheist propaganda, the ever—present danger of renewed persecution, and the disability imposed by the prohibition of teaching religion to anyone under the age of eighteen. For these reasons, the flow of news from the Bahá’ís in the Soviet Union to their fellow believers outside Virtually ceased, and only very gradually over the years did it become possible to re-open avenues of communication in a few instances.
World War II and the subsequent advance of Communism in Eastern Europe left only tiny remnants of Bahá’í communities. Devoted individuals and families remained steadfast through many difficult years. Despite this situation, Shoghi Effendi included all these territories in his Ten Year Plan, unveiled in 1953, as follows.
The National Spiritual Assembly of Germany and Austria was made responsible for opening Albania, Estonia, Finno—Karelia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia (Moldova),
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Romania and White Russia (Belarus) and for consolidating Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (S.F.S.R.), and Yugoslavia.
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of lran was made responsible for opening Kirgizia (later named Kyrgyzstan), Mongolia, Tajikistan (Tadzhikistan) and Uzbekistan, and for consolidating Azerbaij an, Armenia, Georgia, and Turkmenistan.
The National Spiritual Assembly of the United States was responsible for opening Kazakhstan, Sakhalin, and the Ukraine.
Goals for the translation of Bahá’í literature into many of the languages of these countries were also part of the Ten Year Crusade.
The Guardian expressed all these goals as being subject to “Circumstances permitting.” Nevertheless, activities were carried out with increasing efficacy through all the succeeding decades. The Bahá’ís of Germany and Austria in particular were spurred on by words of the Guardian such as these:
...a community that has achieved so much in the past for our Faith, that has been so dearly loved by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and is destined to spread, as He foretold, the light of God’s sacred Revelation not only in the heart of Europe but throughout that dark, war—devastated spiritually famished continent. (22 November 1 94 6)
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...carry the fame of this community... as far as the Eastern fringes of the Asiatic continent. (30 October 1951)
The administrative base from which it must spread out into Eastern and Southern Europe, and beyond these spheres into the heart of Northern Asia, as far as the China Sea, must first be thoroughly consolidated. (30 October 195])
The beloved Guardian referred to these tasks as “the Mission envisaged for them by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and now confirmed through the provisions of the Ten—Year Plan”. (14 August 1957)
As the years passed and new National Assemblies came into existence, some of the goals originally allotted to the community of Germany and Austria were reassigned. The newly formed National Assembly of Austria was given responsibility for Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. The National Assembly of Finland was given responsibility for the goals in Estonia, a country whose language is akin to Finnish. The National Assembly of Sweden was given responsibility for Latvia and Lithuania. Responsibility for Sakhalin was transferred from the National Assembly of the United States to that of North East Asia (later Japan). Finno-Karelia ceased to be a separate Soviet Socialist Republic (S.S.R.) and became an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (A.S.S.R.) of the Russian S.F.S.R.
When persecutions in the Cradle of the Faith made it no longer feasible for the Iranian Bahá’í community to pursue its goals in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Mongolia, responsibility for these areas was transferred. Mongolia and the republics of Central Asia for Which Tran had been responsible were given first to the National Assembly of India, then to Germany, while the Caucasian republics (Armenia, Azerbaij an, and Georgia) were transferred directly to Germany. The Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan and the Ukraine remained under the jurisdiction of the National Assembly of the United States.
THE BAHA’t WORLD
The work continued patiently, and quietly, with relays of travelling teachers continually crossing and recrossing these lands, contacting 01d believers, bringing new souls into the Faith, and fostering warm relationships With seekers. Such was the danger that little if any of this activity could be reported to the Bahá’í world. Already during the latter years of the Guardian’s lifetime it was found that there were Bahá’ís living in certain of the Central Asian republics which had previously been reported to be Virgin territories. Later Firaydfin Khazra’i settled in Romania and Hehnut Winkelbach settled in White Russia (Belarus), becoming Knights of Baha’u’llah. Moldavia (Moldova) was opened to the Faith by a single believer, Annemarie Krfiger, who through persistent Visits and teaching brought the first native Moldavian into the Faith in Kishinev (Chis inau); she was named a Knight of Baha’u’llah by the Universal House of Justice for this achievement. In 1979, a Bahá’í of Polish background, Anna Monadjem, pioneered with her family to P0land and settled on the farm of her ancestors.
During the 19803, accounts were found in the International Archives of the pioneering work done in Albania by Mr. Refo Capari, a Bahá’í of Albanian descent from New York who had arrived in Tirana in 1931. He had stayed in Albania and died there alone and of starvation. Meanwhile, a flourishing Bahá’í community had been established which had corresponded with the Guardian. The records revealed that the conditions of World War II and its aftermath had dispersed these believers, and indicated that members of Mr. Capari’s family might be living in Yugoslavia. The National Assembly of Austria therefore sent Bahá’ís to look for them. The search was fruitful, and these faithful, longsuffering believers put the Bahá’í institutions in touch with another member of their family who had been living as the only Bahá’í in Albania for forty years, raising her children as firm believers in the Faith. Thus began the unprecedented efflorescence of the Bahá’í community of Albania.
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The emergence of the policies of glasnost and perestroika in the mid-198OS and the reforms launched in the Soviet Union aroused intense interest in the countries which were responsible for the establishment of the Faith there. These new opportunities and the steps necessary to take advantage of them were maj or themes of the consultation at the Counsellors’ Conference held in the Holy Land at the end of 1986. Shortly thereafter the National Assembly of Germany held a special conference, at the end of March 1987 in Langenhain, for the representatives of the various responsible National Assemblies and committees to consult on the situation. This was immediately followed by a “Great Eastem Conference” in Dieburg. At the request of the National Assembly of Germany, which attached great importance to these conferences, the Universal House of Justice sent one of its members to represent it. At that time it was unclear whether the precious opportunities then available would remain for long. It was decided that, in either eventuality, it was Vital for the Bahá’ís to seize their chance without delay. Two Counsellors particularly stimulated and assisted the teaching work in Eastern countries: ‘Abbas Katirai in Asian Russia and Sohrab Youssefian in Albania and Romania. Paul Semenoff was noteworthy for his work in European Russia and the Ukraine.
The fourteen believers who made up the Hungarian community in 1987 were blessed to be visited by the Hand of the Cause of God Amatu’l—Baha Rúḥíyyih TKhanum, who inspired them with a Vision of the future. The Hand of the Cause also Visited Mongolia in 1989, where she was invited to give lectures about her travels and about world peace to students of English at a university. In some cases, the Faith could be directly promoted, as in Poland where a Bahá’í booth was set up at the World Esperanto Congress in 1987 and public events were held to proclaim the Faith. But generally, teaching consisted of making friends and preparing for a time when restrictions on religion would be lifted.
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An example of the kind of painstaking, persistent work which helped make possible the open teaching projects of the Two Year Plan, comes from an individual who saw a need and arose to fill it. In October 1987, Lynda Godwin made her first journey to the Soviet Union, travelling under the auspices of a programme called Citizen Diplomacy, which encouraged individuals to design projects of cultural exchange between Americans and Soviets. She developed one project, called the Soviet/American Teachers Task Force, which brought American teachers to the Soviet Union to team teach in Soviet class rooms, and another called Birthday Friends for Peace, which made pen pals out of Soviet and American children with common birth dates. The projects were so successful that she was invited back numerous times, making more friends each Visit as she worked with Soviet guides and translators and arranged for visitors to stay in Soviet homes. Between October 1987 and April 1992, Lynda Godwin made at least twenty trips into what became the former Soviet Union, each time introducing a new group to the region and finding different avenues for exchange.
Two plans projected by the Universal House of Justice were the opening of Bahá’í Information Offices in Moscow and Budapest. Documentation was prepared, a search was begun for suitable premises in both cities, and a formal approach was made to the appropriate agency of the Soviet Government on behalf of the Bahá’í International Community. However, events advanced so rapidly that these initiatives were subsequently superseded by the rapid spread of the Faith in both countries and the establishment of Local and National Assemblies.
The accelerating growth of the Bahá’í communities and the drastically changing conditions in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc impelled the Universal House of Justice to call for a subsidiary Two Year Teaching Plan to run from Riḍván 1990 to Riḍván 1992, with greatly increased goals for all these lands.
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THE Bahá’í WORLD
2. TRAVELLING TEACHERS AND PIONEERS
The laws concerning the practice and sharing of religion in the Soviet Union had begun to change in 1989, the same year that the Berlin Wall was breached. Restrictions on bringing in literature were lifted and the first open teaching event occurred when Bahá’ís from Scandinavia participated in the Muimansk Peace Festival organized by the Red Army. In August 1989, an individual working in the region wrote: “This is a very special moment in the history of the Russian nation and the Soviet peoples. It is a moment, I feel, as do most of those who are deeply involved in the work there, especially created by God to facilitate the presentation of the Greatest Gift, the Message which the King of G101y has brought for all mankind. There are mighty spiiitual forces at work throughout the length and breadth of that land forces which make possible the realization of the most audacious of plans. All that is required is for the instruments of His Faith, we the believers, to be present, to trust fully in and be willing to follow the Clear direction given by Bahá’u’lláh.”
In November 1989, The Promise of World Peace Tour became the largest group of Bahá’ís ever invited to enter the Soviet Union with a specific Bahá’í puipose approved by Soviet officials: to disseminate the Peace Statement. After studying the
Statement, holding fund-raisers, and giving interviews about the project during the course of a year, sixty—two Bahá’ís from eight nations entered the Soviet Union under the auspices of Youth Ambassadors International. They presented 3,000 copies of the Peace Statement and proclaimed the Teachings of Bahá’u’flah from public platfonns, in schools and universities, and in Soviet homes. The man largely responsible for the first public presentation of the Statement in Kazan later embraced the Faith, was elected chaimlan of the first Spiritual Assembly there, and eventually was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics at Riḍván 1991. As laws and attitudes changed, a hunger for information about the Faith became eVident, and Lynda Godwin found herself in the position to help meet this need. She was able to draw on her experience and contacts from leading projects sponsored by non—Bahá’ís to organize explicitly Bahá’í endeavours. A company called Inter National Soviet Resources, Inc. was formed to oversee the work. Another group of Bahá’ís in the United States created the Soviet-American Cooperative Society, and in Canada NetEast was established to assist Canadian Bahá’ís to understand the needs of the Faith in the Soviet Union and how they could be of service.
The Bahá’í' display at the M urmansk Peace and Environment
F estival, organized by the Red Army in July 1989. This was thefirsz‘ open teaching event in the USSR. 1
INTERNATIONAL SURVEY OF CURRENT Bahá’í ACTIVITIES
Among the projects Lynda Godwin and others organized were two international women’s forums which allowed Bahá’ís and non—Bahá’ís from different backgrounds to share their ideas about the issues facing women; two business seminars in the Ukraine to share the Bahá’í principles re1ated to economics and ethics; the Lesson in Peace teaching trip; and tours of the musica1 performers Red Grammer, E1 Viento Canta, and Daystar.
In fact, Bahá’í musicians and singing groups responding to the ca11 of the Two Year Plan brought many people into contact with the Bahá’í Faith for the first time. A variety of talented performers drew large crowds in the streets, parks, schools, and theatres of the Eastern Bloc, as they demonstrated the unique beauty of art expressed in praise of God. When audience members sought the source of the artists’ special spiiit, they found Baha’u’llah.
E1 Viento Canta, a group which had formed at the Bahá’í World Centre and which had travelled throughout Western Europe and Africa sharing traditional Latin American music and teaching the Faith (see also “Special Youth Projects”, p.443), began a three-month tour of the newly opening areas in January 1990. Their route took them from Yugoslavia to Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Russia, the Ukraine, Siberia, and Mongolia. They played before audiences ranging from fifty to 1,000, and performed and were interViewed on television in Yugoslavia, Hungary, and in Leningrad and Moscow in Russia.
Following E1 Viento Canta’s conceits, lively discussions of the Faith continued for hours around the stage and in coffee shops, hote1 lobbies, and private homes. One night in Odessa, conversations about the Faith were in progress in four dormitory rooms at once, in English, German, Spanish, and Russian. It was not uncommon for people to stand in line for over half an hour after concerts to register in a guest book for later contact and 1iterature. More than once, audience members travelled many hours to see E1 Viento
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Canta perform at its next destination, as they deeply missed being near the spirit of the group. One admirer journeyed thirty-two hours.
Another performing group which had formed at the Bahá’í World Centre and which great1y stimu1ated the teaching work in the Soviet Union was Daystar. Twentythree singers and dancers and a French mime artiste spent July 1990 enchanting hearts, making friends, and sharing Baha’u’llah’s Message in the major cities of the Soviet Union. The group travelled with eight Soviet guides and stayed in Russian homes, learning as much as they could about the culture they were privileged to Visit.
Among the venues for Daystar’s wellattended concerts were parks, a philharmonic hall, a children’s camp, and the dining car of the train from Leningrad to Kiev, A presentation on the Faith, which included slides, was shown nightly in hote1 lobbies. The group’s members had the honour of being the first Bahá’ís ever to Visit Chemovtsy, in the Ukraine, where they met children who had never before seen anyone from outside Russia.
In the summer of 1991, six youth formed Daystar H as part of the “Youth Can Move the World” project. The project drew on the spirit and talents of Daystar, another music group called Bridges which p1ayed fo1k, bluegrass, contemporary, and country music from the United States, and thirty-eight other international participants. The group was divided into three teams, each assisted by four or five Russians who served as guides and translators. Through their efforts people were able to witness, some for the first time, living examples of the transforming power of Baha’u’llah.
Light in the Darkness, a music group which had formed in Italy in December 1988, spread the Faith in Yugoslavia, Poland, and Romania during the Plan. Audience members at their concerts heard the principles of the Faith explained between the singing of Bahá’í songs and popular songs about peace.
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A music group Spontaneouslyformed amongparticzpants in the T ahirih II T eaching Project in Neptune, Romania, in July 1991. Itpeiformed in the streets, causing crowds to gather.
T ravelling teachers from Brazil singfor Members ofEl Viento Canta giving a radio youngfi'iends in Poland in 1990. interview in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, 1990.
- 7 ’v" ‘ , 4,9 ,,
Bahá’ís attending thefirst National Bahá’í' Conference to be held in the USSR. in about 60 years. The event tookplace on 24—25 F ebruary 199011607” Moscow.
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At the end of each concert, audience members were directly invited to join the Bahá’í community.
In summer 1991, Light in the Darkness performed at the first European Youth Conference in Neptune, Romania, and at other locations in the area. When the group took a break during one concert that had 1,000 spectators, people began lining up at a Bahá’í information booth near the stage. Eighty of them declared their belief in Baha’u’llah.
The world renowned jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie mentioned the Bahá’í Faith from the stage during concerts in East Berlin, Moscow, and Prague in May 1990. The musical tour was organized by professional agencies in honour of a European event ca11ed One World Week. At each concert, about 2,000 people heard the announcement that the performance was a contribution of the Bahá’í community to the special week and that it was dedicated to peace and global understanding. The East Berlin concert was attended by the President of the East German Parliament, and portions of it were broadcast on East German television. In Moscow, the performance was held under the patronage of Mrs. Raisa Gorbacheva and was followed by a one—hour press conference attended by eighty international journaIists. The President of the new Republic of Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Havel, and his Wife attended the concert in Prague. Following a press conference With about one hundred reporters, Dizzy Gillespie and the Bahá’í representatives were received privately by the President.
In July 1991, an International Bahá’í Art Forum, held in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, brought together approximately fifty artists from around Europe and the Soviet Union to exchange ideas, share their work, and discuss the contributions artists could make to the coming Bahá’í Holy Year. An art gallery exhibited works by Bahá’í artists, and every evening for a week, public performances were held. Two musicians embraced the Faith during the week.
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Renowned Violinist Bijan KhadernMissagh shared his talents during one of the public concerts associated with the Art Forum. Mr. Khádem—Missagh and singer Ahdieh Pakravan also brought the name of the Faith to many of the inhabitants of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, during concerts given in the autumn of 1991.
The European Bahá’í Youth Council helped channel the energies of European youth into the work of the Two Year Plan by organising teaching projects in CzechoSlovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia during the summer of 1990. In addition, the George Adam Benke Project held in the autumn led to the formation of the first Local Spiritual Assembly in Bulgaria since World War II. The Youth Counci1 continued to contribute significantly to the teaching work during the remainder of the Plan. (See also “European Bahá’í Youth Council”, p.432.)
With the Tablets of the Divine Plan as their guide, a group of youth from the United States formed the Marion Jack Teaching Project in the summer of 1990 to bring Baha’u’llah’s Message to the Soviet Union. Carrying 10,000 copies of the Peace Statement and 2,000 copies of The Hidden Words in Russian, the youth travelled from the Ukraine to Siberia. When members of the team Visited the Village of Kolodnia, Siberia, the chief invited them to return to “our Village and tell us how to become a Bahá’í Village”. A second Marion Jack Project was organized for January 1991, and Marion Jack III took place that summer.
While members of the first Marion Jack Project were traversing the Soviet Union west to east, nineteen Bahá’ís from nine countries were sailing south down the Volga and Don Rivers from Petrozavodsk toward the Black Sea. A group of Soviet citizens had decided to build three Viking-style ships and sail them from the Soviet Union to the Holy Land. When Captain Alexander Dubovsky, who had become a Bahá’í in the summer of
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1989 at an Army—sponsored peace fair, heard of the plan for the Golden Age Mission, he recruited Bahá’ís for it. When none of the other passenger groups showed up for the journey, it became a mission for Baha’u’llah.
Down the rivers they sailed, going ashore and teaching by setting up display stands with pictures and Bahá’í literature in town after town. Conditions were extremely rugged, as the little ships (18 x 20 metres) had no cabins and were caught in storms several times. Yet each member carried a copy of a letter of encouragement from the Universal House of Justice, and they “huddled around it during storms, shouted it in exaltation and murmured it in wonder and praise”. In almost every port of call, one or more people embraced the Faith, and eleven members of the ships’ crews became believers. Although the Bahá’ís had to end their journey in the Soviet Union, the ship called “Hope” arrived in Haifa in September with twenty-four Russians aboard. The travellers spent three days meeting with members of the Bahá’í World Centre staff and Visiting the Holy Shrines.
Many groups organized themselves during this period to make short-tenn teaching trips. For one week in June 1991, fifteen Bahá’ís from Austria and Italy travelled to Albania and were able to enrol 150 people into the Faith. “Teaching was carried out everywhere”, a participant reported, “in the
THE BAHA’t WORLD
streets, in the houses of the friends Where we were received With unforgettable hospitality, on the beach, in the hall of the Albanian Parliament, in hotels, in universities, and musical academiesfiand enrolments occurred eve1ywhere”.
In August 1991, thirteen Bahá’ís from six European countries took part in teaching projects in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and in Bishkek, Kirgizia. The teams set up book stalls in a busy square, in a town, and at a university; spoke about the Faith to members of a spiritual organization; and were interviewed for radio and television.
On 1 January 1991, a French Bahá’í group, calling itself Caravan of Peace, was able to present the Peace Statement to the authorities of Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.
The collapse of the Eastern Bloc’s political, economic, and social systems, coupled with the region’s emergence from decades of isolation, created great demand for information on a Wide range of topics. Bahá’í experts in various fields travelled to the area to share their professional experience and to explain how Bahá’u’lláh’s principles speak to the needs of the modern world.
The Hand of the Cause ‘Ali-Akbar Fun'ltan was able to Visit Russia in 1990 after more than sixty years away. He was invited to speak to the approximately 380 participants of the “International Conference of Young Psychologists” at Moscow University.
A group ofnz'neteen Bahd ’z's Spent three weeks sailing down the Volga and Don. Rivers on. this and two other Vikingstyle ships in the summer Of1990, teaching the Faith to both ship crews and dock-side visitors.
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Mr. Furutan also gave a lecture on education at the Murmansk Institute of Pedagogy.
Counsellors conducted seminars on moral education in Albania and Czechoslovakia, and possibilities for future cooperation and exchange were discussed. Also in Czechoslovakia, an environmental consultant was able to approach high—ranking government officials responsible for environmental issues. In 1988, a presentation entitled “Participatory Radio for Rural Development: the Bahá’í Experiments” was presented at the International Colloquium on Communication and Culture in Bled, Yugoslavia.
A number of Bahá’í doctors were able to consult their Eastern European colleagues for the first time. In the spring of 1990, a doctor Visiting Uzbekistan was able to share the Faith at a hospital in Tashkent. In every department, at least one doctor read the Peace Statement and discussed it with fellow physicians. In the autumn of 1991, a Bahá’í was invited by the Institute of Preventative Medicine in Uzbekistan, to present two papers at a congress of genetics and molecular biology. The doctor was able to mention the Faith in his speech and during informal talks with doctors and scientists. He stressed the importance of cooperation between the East and the West.
Three doctors from three different countries spent twelve days in August 1991 at the university town of Olomouc, Czechoslovakia, where they conducted an unprecedented combined course in medical English and “The Promise of World Peace” for a group of Czechoslovakian doctors. Also at the University of Olomouc, the Bahá’ís helped organize a symposium called “Rational Faith and Blind Science?” which was addressed by a Bahá’í physicist from Germany. Two Bahá’ís were frequent Visitors to Czechoslovakia, where they lectured on psychology at different universities and assisted with the teaching work.
Media coverage of many Bahá’í—sponsored events was excellent, as journalists eagerly
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sought information about life outside the Eastern Bloc. In addition to coverage of the events described above and fairly regular interviews of travelling teachers around the region, several films on the Faith were broadcast. Russian television aired a documentary on the Bahá’í Faith called “A Temple on My Way” which was produced by the Russian company Rus-film. The Video “Jewel in the Lotus”, about the Bahá’í House of Worship in India, was broadcast on national television in Bulgaria through the unified effmts of the Varna Bahá’í community and travelling teachers. Polish television aired a documentary about the Faith called “The Fold of the Ninth Prophet”.
As the teaching work began to include more and more native believers, (see also section on “Numerous New Supporters attracted to the Fait ”, p. 207.) teaching conferences were held to stimulate and coordinate these efforts. The first national teaching conference in Albania, held in Durres in November 1991, drew 200 Albanian Bahá’ís from ten different localities and fifty travelling teachers. A j ournalist who attended all the sessions decided to spread the Faith through his newspaper. The teaching conference ended with a public meeting at a hall in the centre of the city. The first national teaching conferences of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia also occurred in 1991. In January 1992, the first teaching conference of Croatia and Slovenia took place in Kranj.
Approximately 400 believers performed “the prince of all goodly deeds” during the Two Year Plan, leaving their homes to resettle in the Soviet Union or Eastern Europe. The final two pioneering goals of the Ten Year Crusade were fulfilled when Sean Hinton settled in Mongolia and ‘Abbas and Riḍvániyyih Katirai settled in Sakhalin. As the Plan progressed, native believers began arising to pioneer. The first Slovak homefront pioneers of Czechoslovakia moved to Jindrichuv Hradec in 1991. The first Ukrainian pioneer settled in Minsk in early 1992.
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The Hand offhe Cause of God ‘Ali-Akbar Furzitcm in Samarkand (USSR), visiting with some Bahá’ífi‘iends 0n 1 April 1990.
Bahd ’z's meeting with the President ofAlbania, His Excellency Ramiz Alia, in his offices in Durres, 1 November 1991. Shown from left: Mrs. Luci Bylykbashi Of the Local Assembly of Durres, PresidentAlia, Counsellor member Ofthe International T eaching Centre F arzam Arbab, Ali‘s. Laurie Arbab, aner. Gian~ ranco Mazzom' Of the National Assembly ofltaly.
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3. NUMEROUS NEW SUPPORTERS ATTRACTED TO THE FAITH
By the end of the Two Year Plan, more than 12,000 people in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Mongolia had embraced the Cause of Baha’u’llah and thousands more had been exposed to His Message. Many who had not formally enrolled in the community had expressed their deep appreciation for the teachings and helped make it possible for them to spread.
People fiom all backgrounds became Bahá’ís. The comments of one travelling teacher in Albania were very typical: “Many different kinds of people accepted the Faith—-cultured people, artists, professionals, students, musicians, actors, directors, judges, refugees and the unemployed”. A seventy-year-old nun, after forty—eight years of service to the Catholic Church, accepted the Bahá’í Faith in Maribor, Yugoslavia. After reading T hief in the Night, she said, “I came to the clear understanding that I have to strive for complete integration into the Bahá’í community.” In the Village of Kolindo in Sakhalin, a mayor and leaders of the indigenous minority were among more than 150 people who declared their allegiance to Baha’u’llah.
A readiness to accept the Faith quite soon after first hearing about it was not unusual in Eastern Europe. In one case, a Bahá’í was speaking to an Albanian lawyer regarding official recognition for the Faith when the lawyer said, “I have always believed in these teachings. Please register my name. I want to be a Bahá’í.” The Bahá’í who had been speaking to her was surprised by her readiness and asked for an opportunity to explain more. During the next fifteen minutes, she stopped him two or three more times, repeating her wish to enrol. The next day, when contacted by one of the local believers, the lawyer said, “I have consulted all my friends... They all want to join [the Faith]”. When she was Visited later by her original teacher and was offered a wall hanging with three prayers on it, she said she already knew the short obligatory prayer almost by
heart from reading it in Bahd ’u ’lldlz and the New Era.
Also in Albania, 3 young man approached some travelling teachers to ask them where they came from, and upon hearing of the Faith, said that a Faith like this can only be true. He said the oneness of mankind is the highest aspiration of today’s man. After enrolling in the Faith three days later, the man shared the teachings with a co-worker Who then requested a meeting with the travelling teachers. After some discussion, this man called on yet another friend and said, “I have met some Italian friends who have disclosed to me a religion that spiritualizes democracy and democratizes spirituality.” Both men joined the Faith, the latter returning to his home, waking up his wife and seventeen—year-old son, and sharing the Cause with them. Both accepted Baha’u’llah that night.
In Romania, 350 people in at least sixty different localities accepted the Faith during a three-week teaching campaign.
In the Soviet Union, it was more common for those first hearing about the Faith to eagerly begin an intense study and application of its teachings which could continue for a number of years before enrolment in the community. Travelling teachers were often amazed at the depth of understanding and commitment demonstrated by seekers and new believers.
One of the numerous examples of this comes from the Ukraine. A man was exposed to the Faith at a Bahá’í business fomm, and after the Bahá’ís left, he continued to think deeply about what he had leained. He began abstaining from the use of alcohol and then made the major decision to resign his membership in the Communist Party, a move that would cause him to lose his job as manager at a large plant. He formed the goal of creating his own business based on the principles learned at the Bahá’í forum. He also decided that although he would like his
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family members to become Bahá’ís, and that according to tradition he could issue this decree, he would instead expose them to the teachings and let them reach their own conclusions. “My whole family will be Bahá’í someday but it must be When they discover it in their hearts,” he said.
For several years prior to 1990, four men from Leningrad University had studied the Faith without knowing that there were any Bahá’ís in their city or that there was literature in Russian. The situation came to light when the men wrote a letter to the Association for Bahá’í Studies in Canada. When a pioneer later Visited them, she found four dedicated believers.
When a travelling teacher asked a member of a new Local Spiritual Assembly about the election, the relatively new Bahá’í explained in great detail the Whole election procedure, including rules for absentee votes and tellers, and showed the ballot that had been carefully prepared. The Visitor stood in silence as the native believer demonstrated his clear understanding of the important process of which he had become a part.
A fervent eagerness to share their newfound Faith with others was common among new believers throughout the Eastern Bloc. Speaking about some of the 126 people Who enrolled in Bulgaria during December 1991 and January 1992, one travelling teacher said, “Watching them teach and talk about Baha’u’llah made one wonder whether these are the ones Who could cross the seven valleys in ‘seven steps, nay rather in seven breaths, nay rather in a single breat ”’. Within a day or two of enrolling, some of them took full responsibility for the teaching efforts, translating talks and articles, distributing leaflets, giving public talks, inviting people to join the Faith and giving their phone numbers as contact points. In Albania, a travelling teacher found that “once they heard about the Faith, they immediately became active so as to make their contribution to the establishment of the World Order of Baha’u’llah”.
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One of the people to declare his faith in the Soviet Union just before the Two Year Plan was a sixteen—year—old boy who immediately taught his mother what he had learned. A few months later, she enrolled and set in motion the Russian film project about the Faith. She in turn taught her parents who brought nine residents of their Ukrainian Village into the Faith.
Much of the teaching work was facilitated by the enthusiastic support of non-Bahá’ís who appreciated Bahá’í principles and contributed to their diffusion. One family, Who discovered the Bahá’í Faith when they offered to host a travelling Bahá’í in their home, called themselves devout atheists, yet they regularly talked late into the night With their guest about God, religion, Christianity, and the Teachings of Baha’u’llah. Each day they would share what they had learned With co-workers. When Bahá’ís returned to the city for other teaching projects, the family repeatedly allowed their home to be used as a central point of contact for Bahá’ís needing to exchange messages. Another woman who hosted a travelling Bahá’í made her modest flat available for firesides, coming home from work each night and preparing food for twenty—five t0 thirty—five people on a tiny two—bumer stove.
Following a Bahá’í business seminar in the Soviet Union, one company chief called all his employees together to announce that the office would begin applying some newlylearned spiritual principles to its work. He told the employees that they would be using consultation so he could hear their contributions and feedback. This was an entirely new concept, and the employees were amazed.
In one of the Soviet cities where the music group Daystar performed, the director of a philharmonic hall offered the facility and the staff at no charge. Following El Viento Canta’s tour, university students in another city instantly prepared the necessary documents to make the Visits of more Bahá’í groups possible and offered to cover the expenses of the concert hall and accommodations.
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One university student in the Ukraine, who was not a Bahá’í, received the highest mark in his class for his presentation on the Faith in a course called “Scientific Atheism”. The student had discovered the teachings when he volunteered to help guide a group of travelling teachers. He read all the books he was given and prepared a thiity minute oral presentation which won the praise of his professor.
In Mongolia, the organizers of the eighth Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace invited the Bahá’í International Community to send representatives. The delegation received a warm response to its statement, “The Common Goal of Universal Peace in Buddhism and the Bahá’í Faith”, which was delivered by the only woman speaker at the gathering. A Bahá’í International Community representative was the only non-Buddhist speaker to address a public meeting arranged for the conference’s final day.
Other support for spread of the Faith came from the organizers of the centenary Universal Czech Exhibition. The Bahá’ís were the only religion to have a special exhibit, because the organizers were attracted to the concept of the oneness of religions and felt the Bahá’í Faith could represent all the faiths.
The Albanian Minister of Education
attended the opening session of a national symposium called “A New Framework for Moral Education” held in Tirana in 1991. In
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fact, the Ministry co-sponsored the event, which was initiated by Bahá’ís and wellreceived by the 300 university professors, teachers, educational administrators, and students who attended. The Ministry officials said the symposium had provided them with the impetus they needed to begin changing their educational system in a fundamental way.
After a successful public meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, a high government official asked the Bahá’ís to help draft legislation on religious tolerance. In Tajikistan, a member of the Supreme Soviet attended quite a few Bahá’í meetings and expressed several times her great respect and love for Táhirih and for the Bahá’í Faith in general. The former President of Uzbekistan said he was deeply impressed and highly interested in the Faith after visiting the House of Worship in India and then meeting Bahá’ís back in Uzbekistan. After the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia was Visited and presented with The Promise of World Peace, he said, “Your Peace Message has been studied in our Ministry and we suppoit this initiative”.
One of the prominent people who not only supported the Bahá’ís but joined the community was the first Deputy Minister of Culture of Tajikistan, who became a Bahá’í along with twenty-four members of the Opera Choir in Dushanbe, after the concert of Bij an Khádem—Missagh in 1991.
The delegation offhe Bahá’í International Community, which was invited to attend the eighth Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace, held in Ulaan—Baaz‘ar, Mongolia, in September 1990.
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For both those who declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh and those who chose to take more time to investigate, their encounters with the Faith often meant an end to many forms of isolation. Living in societies where ideas were tightly controlled, spiritual needs were not acknowledged, and interaction with foreigners was extremely limited, the people of these regions had been deprived of exposure to the world’s growing acceptance of oneness. At one international women’s forum which the Bahá’ís organized in Leningrad, a participant commented that it was a whole new thought for her to realize that she was part of a global sisterhood. Similarly, a Bahá’í who travelled to the Soviet Union and participated in a Bahá’í business forum observed: “The Soviets made a 180 degree turn from the first day to the last. They
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realized that they are not alone in their struggles. Even the West is going through hard times and must change. We can encourage each other and share skills to implement upto-date thinking as we jointly prepare for the twenty—first century.” A Soviet participant in the school said it was the first time she had seen the eyes of the businessmen shine.
When the first Moscow Bahá’í conference took place in December 1990, it was a completely new experience for the Soviets to openly gather for expressly spiritual reasons, to meet people from different areas without the need for suspicion, and to realize that there was no hierarchy among them. Even though they had known there were Bahá’ís scattered throughout their vast country, it was the first time they actually sat side by side.
4. TRANSLATION, PUBLICATION, AND DISSEMINATION OF BAHA’t LITERATURE 1N REQUISITE LANGUAGES OF THE ENTIRE AREA
In the early years of the twentieth century, a number of translations of Bahá’í Sacred Writings and introductory materia1s about the Faith were produced in the languages of the region that later became the Eastern Bloc. As already mentioned, a Russian translation of the Kitab-i-Aqdas was made, and a compilation of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh was published in St. Petersburg in 1908. In addition, Paris T alks was printed in Polish in 1915. Literature printed in Albanian included Words of Wisdom in 1930, the Kitábi-iqan in 1932, and Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era in 1933. A Bu1garian translation of The Hidden Words was printed in 1937. During the decades that followed, a few other publications were also produced. An Introduction to the Bahá’í Faith in Albanian came out in 1954. Paris T alks was printed in Estonian in 1968. A book of selections from Bahd ’11 716212 and the New Era in Hungarian was printed in 1979, followed by a selection of prayers in 1981, and The Hidden Words in 1982. A Polish translation of The Hidden Words was produced in 1979. Publications
in Romanian included a prayer book printed in 1982, Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era in 1983, and The Hidden Words in 1984. The Eastern Literature Committee in Germany was particularly active, preparing and publishing Bahá’í literature in most of the languages of the countries for which the German community had responsibility. However, as manuscripts were not allowed into or out of the countries of the Eastern Bloc before the collapse of communism, the translations were often done by native speakers living in exile, many of whom did not speak the most current version of the language. In 1989, the laws restricting religious literature in the Soviet Union were lifted, and in 1990 the Spiritual Assembly of Moscow obtained government permission to have Bahá’í books published in Russian. Despite the obstacles that existed when the Six Year Plan began, nearly two dozen Bahá’í books, booklets, Tablets and introductory pamphlets were translated and printed in Russian during this period. Also, 50,000 copies of a Russian edition of
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the Hand of the Cause of God ‘Ali Akbar Furfitan’s book Mothers, Fathers and Children were printed in 1992.
To serve the needs of the rapidly expanding Bahá’í communities in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Russia, particular efforts were made to quickly print large quantities of “core literature” in the languages of these countries. (See p.158 for an explanation of the core literature programme.) In all the nations of the former Eastern Bloc, previous translations were revised, new translations made, and reprints of existing materials produced. The translations and publications are too numerous to list, but a few examples will provide a sense of the range of projects undertaken in such a short period of time.
During the Two Year Plan, prayer books were printed in Azeri, Croatian, Macedonian, and Slovene; the Kitab—i—Tqan was printed in Romanian; Selections from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh was printed in Hungarian; the Kitab—i-‘Ahd was printed in Polish; The Reality of Man was printed in Czech and Slovak; Paris T alks was printed in Serbian; The Promise of World Peace was translated into Estonian, and printed in Armenian, Georgian, and Latvian; Bahd’u ’lláh and the New Era was translated into Lithuanian; and Pathway to Peace was printed in Mongolian and Uzbek. The Hidden Words was published in Armenian in the prestigious bimonthly newspaper Punik in 1991.
Even before the Two Year Plan, book fairs in the Eastern Bloc had provided an important vehicle for bringing Bahá’í literature to the attention of a Wide audience, and they continued to serve this vital function.
The German Bahá’í Publishing Trust, in collaboration with other Bahá’í Publishing Trusts, began its successful biennial representation at the Moscow International Book Fair significantly before the Two Year Plan, and continued participation until the fair’s
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cancellation in 1989. At the close of several book fairs, Bahá’í books were donated to the Lenin Library in Moscow which in turn distributed them to other libraries, including one of the main libraries in Leningrad.
An annual internationa1 book and Video fair in Budapest, Hungary, first held in 1989, included Bahá’í participation every year. The Publishing Trust of the United Kingdom organized the Bahá’í booth, which was Visited by prominent people such as the Minister of Education, and drew the attention of the Hungarian National Television and Radio Company. Hundreds of items of literature were distributed each year.
The Bahá’í Committee for Eastern Literature organized a very successful book fair in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1989, at which 4,500 copies of the Perspective Series booklet The Bahá’í Faith in Serbian were distributed. The following year, the Bahá’í Book Distribution Service Austria participate ed in the thirty—fifth International Book Fair in Belgrade. Approximately 2,000 introductions to the Faith, 700 copies of The Promise of World Peace, and one hundred copies of prayers were distributed.
A Bahá’í Book Exhibition, held in Riga, Latvia, in October 1990 under the auspices of the Central Latvian State Library, attracted some 600 people. Following the exhibit a great number of the Bahá’í books were contributed to the State Library.
It is difficult to convey the significance of the translation, production, and distribution work which intensified during the Two Year Plan. Perhaps its importance can be hinted at by recounting the story of a Russian believer, Who, when she saw Bahd ’u 7162/1 and the New Era in Russian for the first time, was “like a starving person who just found food”. She grabbed two copies, held them to her breast and cried, “Now my friends can see that I am telling the truth they can read these”.
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‘ KnightofBalzd ’u ’lláh ‘Abbds Katirai (left) arrived in Sakhalin on 24 March 1990 with his wife, Riḍvánzyyih, fulfilling the last remaining pioneer goal offlze T en Year Crusade.
5. DEVELOPMENT OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER
By the end of the Two Year Plan, 127 Local Spiritual Assemblies had formed throughout Eastern Europe, Mongolia, and the former Soviet Union. Bahá’ís were residing in more than 700 localities. In a region of the world where just a few short years earlier it had been illegal to openly teach the Faith, the administrative order brought by Bahá’u’lláh had taken root.
The Spiritual Assembly of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
In March 1990 the Hand of the Cause of God ‘Ali Akbar Fun'itan, who had lived in the Soviet Union from 1914 to 1930, studying at Moscow University and serving the Cause in Ashkhabad, returned to the U.S.S.R. and witnessed the re-election of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Moscow after a lapse of some fifty years. Slightly more than one year later, at Riḍván 1991, he returned again, this time as a representative of the Universal House of Justice to attend the historic election of the first Spiritual Assembly of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
In the three major addresses Mr. Funitan gave to the Convention in the Russian language, he related some of his early experiences in Moscow; spoke about the spiritual importance of the election of a Spiritual Assembly
for the largest country of the world; reflected on the high expectations of the Guardian concerning the progress of the Faith in the Soviet Union; and prepared the delegates for their heavy responsibility. Mr. Furfitan also read, in Russian, the message from the Universal House of Justice to the Bahá’ís of the USSR. for Riḍván 1991.
When the time came for representatives of other National Assemblies to present gifts to the new Assembly, the Soviet Bahá’ís also felt moved to proceed to the front of the hall and make their contributions. Some gave books, others funds, and others recounted the great difficulties they had faced during the past decades and expressed their utmost joy about the formation of the Assembly. For more than ninety minutes, Bahá’ís from throughout the Soviet Union proceeded to the front to express their joy.
In March 1992, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Spiritual Assembly of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was renamed the Regional Spiritual Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Baltic States and Georgia. At Riḍván 1992 this Assembly was renamed the Regional Spiritual Assembly of Russia, Georgia and Armenia, and the territory under its jurisdiction was reduced. Four other National or
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Regional Spiritual Assemblies were established to cover the territory of the former U.S.S.R.: the National Spiritual Assembly of Azerbaij an; the Regional Spiritual Assembly of the Baltic States; the Regional Spiritual Assembly of Central Asia; and the Regional Spiritual Assembly of the Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.
The Regional Spiritual Assembly of Russia, Georgia and Armenia
At the beginning of the Six Year Plan, there had been seven believers in Russia. Bahá’ís from various countries had been studying in the U.S.S.R., and a young couple from the United Kingdom had settled in Moscow in 1982. After the beginning of the Six Year Plan, other pioneers followed who greatly assisted the teaching work which had been persistently pursued by relays of travelling teachers for many years.
In 1990 ‘Abbas and Riḍvániyyih Katirai settled in Sakhalin, for which they were named Knights of Baha’u’llah, thereby completing the pioneering work called for by the Guardian at the opening of the Ten Year Crusade. At the end of the Six Year Plan, there were some forty pioneers in Russia.
By Riḍván 1992 there were some thirty Local Assemblies in Russia, one in Armenia and one group in Georgia. Assemblies in Moscow, Ulan—Ude, Kazan, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Kholmsk were registered, and a local centre had been purchased in Kazan. The Regional Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Russia, Georgia and Armenia was overseeing the largest Bahá’í territorial area in the world, with a general population of over 155 million.
The National Spiritual Assembly of Azerbaij an
There is no accurate record of the number of believers in Azerbaijan at the beginning of the Six Year Plan. The goal of the Two Year Plan was to form two Local Assemblies. By Riḍván 1992, Azerbaij an had three Local Assemblies, five groups and approximately
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150 believers, the majority living in Baku. Furthermore, the Baku Assembly was officially registered.
Teaching and consolidation were carried out in the early stages of the Six Year Plan by travelling teachers making contact with relatives in Azerbaijan. Many of the descendants of the early believers had kept their deep love for the Faith through all the years of religious oppression. Later in the Plan radio and television interviews brought the Faith to the attention of the public.
By the end of the Plan, four long-term pioneers had settled in Azerbaijan. Like the travelling teachers, they played a crucial role in the development of the community, and their efforts produced notable results.
At Riḍván 1992, the National Spiritual Assembly of Azerbaijan, with its seat in Baku, was elected after a lapse of more than fifty years.
The Regional Spiritual Assembly of the Baltic States
The Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were independent countries before being annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. These republics became sovereign countries again in 1991.
At Riḍván 1992 the first Regional Spiritual Assembly of the Baltic States was established with its seat in Tallinn, Estonia. One hundred Bahá’ís from the Baltic States and ten other countries filled the hall to capacity for this historic first convention, at which the Hand of the Cause of God ‘Ali Akbar Fun'itan represented the House of Justice. Mr. Funitan spoke in Russian when conveying the love and greetings of the House of Justice to the friends.
Estonia, whose population of nearly two million is eighty per cent Lutheran, had only three Bahá’ís at the beginning of the Six Year Plan, including Brigitte Lundblade, who had returned to her country of birth in April 1989. Other pioneers joined her, and their dedicated efforts led to the formation of two Local Assemblies: one in the capital city
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Bahd ’z's in T allimz, Estonia, U.S.S.R. 0n 7 June 1987. From left to right: Johannes Palu, Raja Palu, Antonina Apollo, Vjaceslav Hromov.
In Riga, Latvia, pioneers Darrel and Sylvia Vice, with. their children T amara and T alis, held their first Nineteen Day F east on 7 September 1989.
INTERNATIONAL SURVEY OF CURRENT Bahá’í ACTIVITIES
ofTa11inn formed at Riḍván 1990, and one in Tartu, formed at Riḍván 1991.
Latvia, With a population of nearly three million people, has three primary religions: Lutheran, Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox. The first Local Spiritual Assembly of Riga, the Latvian capital, was formed in January 1991. By the end of the Plan, two pioneers resided in this country.
Lithuania, with a population of neariy four million, is ninety per cent Roman Catholic. The first Local Assembly of Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, was formed in September 1990. In January 1992 Lithuania held its first large—scale teaching project called “Project Kaunas”. It was sponsored by the International Goals Committee of Sweden and proved to be very successful. The Plan ended with four pioneers in Lithuania.
The Regional Spiritual Assembly of Central Asia The population of this region is approximately fifty million and includes the republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. There is no accurate record of the number of believers in these republics at the beginning of the Six Year Plan; however, by the end of the Plan, there were approximately 500 Bahá’ís, and all the goals had been achieved, with eight Local Assemblies established or re~estab1ished. The historic re—establishment of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Ashkhabad had taken place at Riḍván 1989, and the Assembly had been registered the same year. The first Local Assemb1y in Tajikistan had been formed in Dushanbe at Riḍván 1990 and was recognized by the Ministry for Religious Affairs in November of that year. A local centre had been purchased in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. At Riḍván 1992 the Regiona1 Spiritual Assembly of Central Asia With its seat in Ashkhabad was re-fonned, having previously existed from 1925 to 1939 as the National Spiritual Assemb1y of Turkistan. Inspired and guided by the Counse11ors at the Convention, the new National Assembly immediately
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formulated a one-year teaching plan which was received by the assembled believers with joy and appreciation.
The Regional Spiritual Assembly of the Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova In the Ukraine, three Local Assemblies had been formed by 1990 as a result of the consolidation work of travelling teachers and a few pioneers. By Riḍván 1991 the community had grown to six Local Assemblies and 200 believers; by the end of that year, eighteen long-teim pioneers were settled in various parts of the country. The Plan ended with some 250 believers in the Ukraine. Be1arus (White Russia) had been opened by Knight of Bahá’u’lláh Helmut Winkelbach in 1978, who stayed for two years. He returned in 1986 with his wife, Olga, a native of that country. Their teaching efforts and the arrival of one more pioneer produced a group of eight believers by Riḍván 1991. By September that year a Local Assembly had been formed in Minsk. Other enrohnents occurred after a group of twenty enthusiastic travelling teachers came through from the United Kingdom. By the end of the Plan there were twenty—three adults, six youth and one Local Assembly in Belarus. Moldova began the Six Year Plan With one believer. In May 1991 the first Local Assembly was formed in Chisinau (KishineV), and a pioneer from the United States arrived. At the end of the Plan there were approximately fifty believers in Mo1dova. At Riḍván 1992 as a result of the teaching activity during the Two Year Plan, the Regional Spiritual Assembly of the Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova was formed with its seat in Kiev. The Hand of the Cause of God Dr. ‘Ali-Muhammad Varqa represented the House of Justice at this Regional Convention. By then there were six Local Assemblies in the Ukraine with two, Kiev and Odessa, officially registered; one Local Assembly in Belarus; and one in Moldova, all goals having been achieved. A local centre had been purchased in Chis inau, Moldova.
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A:
Seventy-five Bahd ’z's from twelve cities and villages attending the National T eaching Conference held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria from 25 2‘0 2 7 October 1991.
Participants in the regional conference held in Odessa, Ukraine, from 14 t0 1 6 F ebruary, 1992. “Fellowship, deepening, and rich artistic presentation filled our hours, ” according to the conference report.
INTERNATIONAL SURVEY OF CURRENT BAHA’T ACTIVITIES
Other Countries of the Former Eastern Bloc ALBANIA
The goal of the TWO Year Plan for Albania was to establish one group of nine adults and open three localities, but by the end of that Pian there were between 3,000 and 4,000 Bahá’ís in A1bania With eighteen Local Spiritual Assemblies and fouiteen groups. The number of travelling teachers and the subsequent diffusion of the Faith had accelerated dramatically following the contacts made With descendants of the Capari famfly in 1985 in Tirana. These activities had been enthusiastically promoted by the National Assembly of Italy, which had been asked to lead this work, sharing the responsibility long held by the Bahá’ís of Germany.
The National Spiritual Assembly ofA1bania was elected at Riḍván 1992 at a Convention attended by over 180 Albanian Bahá’ís from all parts of the country. The news of this Convention and the announcement of the election of the Assembly was broadcast the following day by the national television during prime-time news.
BULGARIA The original Six Year Plan goal for Bulgaria was to establish one group of nine believers and open six localities. With the Two Year Plan the goal was expanded to establish two Local Spiritual Assemblies and open six localities to the Faith.
The first Local Spiritual Assembly was formed in P1ovdiv in January 1991. During the week of the election there were teaching activities in which thirty-one people embraced the Faith. In March 1991 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Sofia was re-formed, and by Riḍván there were 150 Bahá’ís in eight localities with three Local Assemblies. During that same year the first National Teaching Conference was held and the first National Teaching Committee appointed.
The Faith was officially registered in Bulgaria on 26 November 1991, and by that date a sma11Bahá’í centre had been rented in
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Sofia. By the end of the Six Year Plan, there were 400 Bahá’ís residing in twenty-five localities with ten Local Assemblies. The first National Spiritual Assembly of Bulgaria was elected at Riḍván 1992 in the presence of the Hand of the Cause of God Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih K__hanum, the representative of the Universal House of Justice.
Nearly 200 people from eighteen countries and twenty—one localities in Bulgaria attended the Convention, which was held in Sofia. “Bulgaria is bursting into a beautiful and abundant spring which seems symbolic of the wonderful, united, enthusiastic and happy spirit animating the first Bahá’í Convention held in this promising land,” it was reported. On the last day of the Convention, the participants accompanied the Hand of the Cause to the burial places of Adam Benke and Marion Jack in the central cemetery of Sofia. That evening, ninety per centof the audience, carried away by sheer joy, optimism and exuberance about the significance of the convention, danced together holding hands, a snaking column Winding around the aisles of the ha11.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
At the beginning of the Six Year Plan there were fifteen believers in Czechoslovakia, and the initial goal was to form one group of nine adults and open five localities to the Faith. With the Two Year Plan this goal was raised to forming four Local Spiritual Assemblies, opening six localities and forming a National Spiritual Assembly at Riḍván 1992. These goals were all surpassed. The first Local Assembly was elected in Prague in June 1990. Approximately forty-five per cent of the growth in the number of believers during the Six Year Plan occurred during the final year. By the end of the Plan, Czechoslovakia had five Local Spiritual Assemblies, seven groups and approximately 170 be1ieVers, including forty~one pioneers.
The National Spiritual Assembly of Czechoslovakia was elected at Riḍván 1991 in the presence of the Hand of the Cause of
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God Dr. ‘Ali—Muhammad Varqa as representative of the Universal House of Justice. The Convention participants reported: “Indeed, a new and glorious chapter in the history of the Bahá’í community of Czechoslovakia has opened. The future is truly dazzling. We stand committed to face these prospects united in service to our beloved Lord, ever mindful of the immeasurable sacrifices made by those heroic souls whose immortal services have brought us to where we now stand.”
EAST GERMANY
Although the territories of both parts of Germany had always been under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany, that Assembly had experienced great difficulty in making contact with the few Bahá’ís living in the East until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the opening of the frontier.
In September 1990, just before the unification of the two parts of Germany, the National Spiritual Assembly obtained official recognition from the Cabinet Council’s Department of Religious Affairs as “The Religious Community of the Bahá’ís in the German Democratic Republic”. This farsighted action by the National Assembly ensured the recognition of the Faith in each of the five new eastern states of the united Federal Republic. The first Loca1 Assembly
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in that region was elected in March 1992 in Erfurt. By the end of the Six Year Plan there were approximately fifty Bahá’ís in the eastern part of Germany, with two Local Spiritual
Assemblies and twenty pioneers.
HUNGARY
The goals of the Six Year Plan for Hungary were to form two groups of nine adult Bahá’ís each and to open six localities. In 1987 Amatu’l—B aha Rúḥíyyih Khánum Visited Budapest, greatly encouraging the small number of local friends and inspiring an increase in the flow of travelling teachers.
By 1989 there were five‘pioneers residing in three localities. In that same year the first summer school was held, followed by one each subsequent year. By 1990 there were forty believers, including eight pioneers. The Local Assembly of Budapest was reformed in the presence of a Counsellor, the members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Austria, and fifty Hungarian believers and Austrian Visitors, at what was called the most joyous Riḍván since before World War II. The friends recalled the historic Visit of the beloved Master to Budapest and His stay on1y a few metres from the place the election was being held.
By 1991, after a number of teaching proj ects and the foxmation of the first National Teaching Committee, the community had grown to two Local Spiritual Assemblies
Bahá’í youth from several diflerent countries staffing
a display in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, 0n
2 7 August 1990.
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INTERNATIONAL SURVEY OF CURRENT BAHA’t ACTIVITIES
and eight localities, and there were nineteen resident pioneers. By the end of the Plan there were 130 believers, four Local Spiritual Assemblies, twenty—six localities and twentyfive pioneers scattered around the country.
The first National Spiritual Assembly was elected at Riḍván 1992, With the Hand of the Cause of God ‘Ali Akbar Furfitan representing the Universal House of Justice. After the devotional part of the Convention, the approximately 160 participants from nineteen countries were thrilled to witness the enrolments of three more Hungarian friends into the Faith.
POLAND
Poland was opened to the Faith in 1926 by Martha Root, who visited again in 1932. After the seeds she planted lay dormant for many years, the Faith began to blossom in 1990 when Bahá’ís from many countries, particularly Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland, responded to new teaching opportunities. In 1991, Ola Pavlovska returned to the land of her birth and settled in Warsaw. By the beginning of the Six Year Plan thirteen believers were reported to be in Po1and; by the end of the Two Year Plan there were approximately eighty.
By April 1992, there were seven Local Assemblies in Poland, and the Bahá’í Faith was officially registered and recognized by the Department of Religious Affairs of the
F ive 71zembers of New Zealand ’3 Youth for One World, who travelled to East Germany in the summer Of1990, then went on to Romania.
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Council of Ministers, in Warsaw, thus ensuring full legal status for existing and future Assemblies. The National Assembly was elected at Riḍván 1992 in the presence of the Hand of the Cause of God Amatu’l—Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum, who served as the representative of the Universal House of Justice.
Almost the entire Polish Bahá’í community and guests from thirty-four countries attended the first National Convention, held in Warsaw. The Convention paid a special tribute to Knight of Baha’u’llah Ola Pavlovska, who after many years in the pioneering field, was able to return to her native Poland.
ROMANIA
After the communist takeover of Romania following World War II, the Bahá’ís were forbidden to teach the Faith. In 1989 government restraints relaxed, and the Faith began to spread with the support of travelling teachers from Austria and Germany. At the outset of the Six Year Plan the Romanian Bahá’í community consisted of three students from Germany and one native believer.
By Riḍván 1989 six localities had been opened to the Faith, and there were sixteen adult believers. Many music groups and travelling teachers continued to spread the Faith in different parts of the country, leading to the holding of the first National Bahá’í Teaching Conference in 1990, at which forty people became Bahá’ís.
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THE Bahá’í WORLD
The Knight of Bahá’u’lláhfor Mongolia, Sean Hinton (left) seated with thefirst native Mongolian Bahd ’z', Oyundelger; 1990.
By Riḍván 1991 the great receptivity Of the Romanian people and the ardent services of the Bahá’ís had raised the community to twelve Local Assemblies, twenty—eight groups and fifty-seven isolated centres, with some 1,000 believers in all. A firm foundation had been created for the election of the National Assembly that Riḍván, in the presence of the Hand of the Cause Amatu’l—Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum, representing the House of Justice.
The historic Convention was covered on a forty—minute—long national television programme Which included an interview with Rúḥíyyih _K1_1anum. A dynamic press conference with twenty-four journalists was also held. During the Convention and closing public meeting, the 300 participants welcomed forty-four new believers into the Faith.
Following the Convention, Amatu’l—Bahá Rúḥíyyih I__{__hanum Visited the grave of Queen Marie of Romania with Bahá’í friends.
YUGOSLAVIA The goal of the Six Year Plan for Yugoslavia was to form two groups of nine adults and to open eleven localities. The goal of the subsidiary Two Year Plan was to establish
four Local Spiritual Assemblies, increase the number of localities t0 thirteen and form the National Assembly. All of the goals were reached except the formation of the National Assembly, which could not be achieved due to the extreme political unrest in the country. The National Assembly of Austria continued to be responsible for the Faith in Yugoslavia throughout the period. After the political breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991 two Regional Teaching Committees were formed to cover the geographical areas of the former republic. They were named the Regional Teaching Committee of the Bahá’ís of BosniaHerzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia; and the Regional Teaching Committee of the Bahá’ís of Croatia and Slovenia. Despite the challenges of ethnic rivalries, political unrest and extremely diverse cultures and languages, Bahá’í travelling teachers, mainly from Austria, contributed greatly to the growth of the Faith in Yugoslavia. Greater awareness of the Faith had been raised in 1988 when Bahá’ís presented papers on current issues at several conferences. By the end of the Plan the former Yugoslavia had approximately 120 believers,
INTERNATIONAL SURVEY OF CURRENT BAHA’T ACTIVITIES
including twenty pioneers, and four Local Assemblies. In April 1992 the Faith was officially recognized in Slovenia.
MONGOLIA
When Sean Hinton, a young Bahá’í from Australia, first entered Mongolia in December 1988 to do research, it was still a Virgin territory and one of two remaining pioneer goals from the Ten Year Crusade. Mr. Hinton was named a Knight of Baha’u’llah for being the first Bahá’í to settle in Mongolia. He spent several prolonged periods in the country studying Mongolian folk music, sometimes in very remote areas of the Altai Mountains. In 1989, the first Mongolian enrolled in the Faith.
Amatu’l—Baha Rúḥíyyih Khánum Visited Mongolia for one week in May 1989. She gave a series of lectures about her travels and about world peace to university students studying English in Mongolia. In the spring
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of 1990, the music group E1 Viento Canta communicated the Bahá’í spirit to nationwide television and radio audiences, and the second and third Mongolians became Bahá’ís. One of these new believers, Burembayar, translated the first Bahá’í prayers into Mongolian.
The goal of the Two Year Plan was to establish one group and to open three localities. Travelling teachers from Germany, Switzerland, Canada, the United States and Malaysia were among those who Visited the country, and two new pioneers, one from Germany and one from the United States, joined Mr. Hinton in settling there.
Toward the end of 1991 responsibility for the Faith in Mongolia was transferred from the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany to the Spiritual Assembly of Singapore. The formation of the first Mongolian Local Spiritual Assembly in Ulaan—B aatar was reported at Riḍván 1992.
6. MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE Two YEAR PLAN
There is no doubt that the day will come when the very people who are now engaged in destroying the foundations of faith in God and promoting this baseless doctrine of materialism will arise and, by their own hand, snuff out the flame Of this commotion. . ., the Guardian wrote in 1923, concerning
the events then transpiring in Russia. They will sweep away the entire structure of their unrestrained godlessness and will arise with heart and soul, and with
hitherto unmatched vigour, to atone for
their past failures. They will join the
ranks of the followers of Baha’u’llah and arise to promote His Cause...
This time seems finally to have come. An indication of the extraordinary achievements made during the short span of the Two Year Plan can be seen from the listing of the goals at the outset of the Six Year Plan, the goals established for the Two Year Plan, and the actual situation in each country at Riḍván 1992 when both plans came to an end.
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THE BAHA’t WORLD
GOALS AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN EASTERN EUROPE AND MONGOLIA
Territory
Albania
Bulgaria.
Czechoslovakia
Former East Germany
Hungary
Poland
Romania
Yugoslavia
Mongolia
Six Year Plan Goals
Open to the Faith
Form 1 group of 9 Open 6 localities
Form 1 group of 9 Open 5 localities
Form 4 groups of 9
Form 2 groups of 9‘ Open 6 localities
Form 4 groups of 9
Open 6 localities
F orm 2 groups of 9 Open 11 localities
Open to the Faith
Two Year Plan Goals
One group of 9 in Tirana Open 3 localities
F orrn 2 LSAS Open 6 localities
Form 4 LSAS Open 6 localities Establish NSA at Riḍván 1992
Form 6 LSAs
Open 30 localities ’
At least 12 groups
Form 5 LSAS Open 13 localities Establish NSA at Riḍván 1992
Form 6 LSAS Establish NSA at Riḍván 1992
Form 4 LSAS Open 10 locahties Establish NSA at Riḍván 1992
Form 4 LSAs Open 13 localities Establish NSA at Riḍván 1992
Establish 1 group Open 3 localities
Achievements
18 LSAS
21 other localities NSA formed and registered at Riḍván 1992
10 LSAs
25 localities NSA formed at Riḍván 1992
5 LSAs
11 localities NSA formed at Riḍván 1991
2 LSAs 26 other localities
4 LSAs
17 1oca1ities NSA formed at Ridve’m 1992
8 LSAs
29 other localities NSA formed at Riḍván 1992 Faith registered
25 LSAS
485 localities NSA formed at Riḍván 1991
4 LSAS
20 other localities Political situation did not allow NSA to be formed
1 LSA in UlaanBaatar
INTERNATIONAL SURVEY OF CURRENT Bahá’í ACTIVITIES
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GOALS AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION
Territory
Armenia
Azerbaij an
Belarus (Bielarus) Estonia
Georgia Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan (Kirgizia)
Latvia
Lithuania
Moldova (Moldavia)
Russia
Tajikistan (Tadzhikistan)
Turkmenistan
Six Year Plan Goals
Consolidate
Consolidate
Reopen to the Faith Form 1 group of 9 Consolidate Consolidate Consolidate
Form 1 group of 9
in Riga
Form 1 group of 9 in Vilnius
Settle one pioneer
Groups of 9 in Leningrad & Moscow Open Petroskoi Open at least 6 localities
Consolidate
Consolidate
Two Year Plan Goals
LSA in Yerevan Establish 2 LSAs
Form LSA in Minsk
Form 1 LSA Open 4 localities
Form 1 LSA in Tbilisi
Form 1 LSA Form 1 group
Form 1 LSA in Bishkek (Frunze)
F orm 1 LSA Open 3 localities
Form 1 LSA Open 3 localities
Form 1 LSA in Kishinev (Chisinau)
Form at least 7 LSAs
1 LSA and 3 localities in Sakhalin Establish NSA at Riḍván 1992
LSA in Dushanbe
Form 2 LSAs
Achievements
LSA Yerevan
3 LSAS
5 other localities NSA at Riḍván 1992
1 LSA in Minsk
2 LSAS
3 other localities
’31 group in Tbilisi
1 LSA 1 looality
1 LSA in Bishkek
1 LSA 2 other localities
‘1 LSA ‘ 2 other localities
1’ LSA in Kishinev (Chisingu)
25 LSAs
More than 50 other localities
NSA formed at Riḍván 1991
1 LSA in Dushanbe 3 other localities
3 LSAs 3 other localities
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THE Bahá’í WORLD
GOALS AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION (CONTINUED) %
Territory
Ukraine
Uzbekistan
The first Local Spiritual Assembly offlle Bahd ’z's Of Marv, T urkmenistan, Russia. Formed on 23 September 1990.
Six Year Plan
Two Year Plan Goals
Form 4—5 LSAS
Form 2 LSAs in Tashkent and Samarkand
Achievements
7 LSAs More than 10 other localities
2 LSAs in Tashkent and Samarkand 2 other localities
The first issue of the Russian Bahá’í’ newsletter, “T he Express ”, is done afterfi‘iends worked all night to meet their selfimposed deadline.
December 199] .
