Haifa, Palestine.
March 5, 1922.

Letter of Circa May, 1922 (undated).

IN THE NAME OF GOD

This servant, after that grievous event and great calamity, the ascension
of His Holiness 'Abdu'l-Baha to the Abha Kingdom, has been so stricken
with grief and pain and so entangled in the troubles (created) by the
enemies of the Cause of God, that I consider that my presence here, at
such a time and in such an atmosphere, is not in accordance with the
fulfilment of my important and sacred duties.

For this reason, unable to do otherwise, I have left for a time the
affairs of the Cause both at home and abroad, under the supervision of the
Holy Family and the headship of the Greatest Holy Leaf(2) until, by the
Grace of God, having gained health, strength, self-confidence and
spiritual energy, and having taken into my hands, in accordance with my
aim and desire, entirely and regularly the work of service I shall attain
to my utmost spiritual hope and aspiration.

The servant of His Threshold,
SHOGHI.

Haifa, Palestine.
Circa May, 1922 (undated).

Our Common Servitude

May I also express my heartfelt desire that the friends of God in every
land regard me in no other light but that of a true brother, united with
them in our common servitude to the Master's Sacred Threshold, and refer
to me in their letters and verbal addresses always as Shoghi Effendi, for
I desire to be known by no other name save the one our Beloved Master was
wont to utter, a name which of all other designations is the most
conducive to my spiritual growth and advancement.

Haifa, Palestine.
Circa May, 1922 (undated).

Letter of December 16, 1922

To the loved ones of 'Abdu'l-Baha throughout the continent of America.

Dear fellow-workers in the Holy Vineyard of Baha!

Now that my long hours of rest and meditation are happily at an end, I
turn my face with renewed hope and vigor to that vast continent the soil
of which is pregnant with those seeds that our beloved Master has so
tenderly and so profusely scattered in the past. Prolonged though this
period has been, yet I have strongly felt ever since the New Day has
dawned upon me that such a needed retirement, despite the temporary
dislocations it might entail, would far outweigh in its results any
immediate service I could have humbly tendered at the Threshold of
Baha'u'llah.

I am now confident that the energies of my beloved brethren and sisters
across the seas, far