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October 28, 2015

Martha Root – “the foremost Hand raised by Bahá'u'lláh since 'Abdu'l-Bahá's passing”; “the first, finest fruit which the Formative Age of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh has as yet produced”; “that archetype of Bahá'í itinerant teachers”

Martha's unnumbered admirers throughout Bahá'í world lament with me the earthly extinction of her heroic life. Concourse on high acclaim her elevation to rightful position in galaxy of Bahá'í immortals. Posterity will establish her as foremost Hand which 'Abdu'l-Bahá's will has raised up in first Bahá'í century. Present generation of her fellow-believers recognize her to be the first, finest fruit which the Formative Age of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh has as yet produced. Advise hold befitting memorial gathering in Temple to honor one whose acts shed imperishable lustre on American Bahá'í community. Impelled share with National Assembly expenses of erection of monument in symbolic spot,[1] the meeting-place of East and West, to both of which she unsparingly dedicated the full force of her mighty energies.
- Shoghi Effendi  (Cablegram October 3, 1939, ‘Messages to America’)
[1 Honolulu]

To Martha Root, that archetype of Bahá'í itinerant teachers and the foremost Hand raised by Bahá'u'lláh since 'Abdu'l-Bahá's passing, must be awarded, if her manifold services and the supreme act of her life are to be correctly appraised, the title of Leading Ambassadress of His Faith and Pride of Bahá'í teachers, whether men or women, in both the East and the West. 
- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)