He also considers that the building should be a relatively small one, both because of the size of the Community in Germany, and the financial resources of the Faith at present. The most important thing of all is to build this first Temple on European soil.
In the days when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was urging the American Bahá’ís to build the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the western world, He repeatedly emphasized that it could be a modest building, and that the important thing was the spiritual element that this House of Worship in the name of Bahá’u’lláh should be raised in the heart of America. The same thing applies now to your Temple in Germany. Size and pretentiousness are not important. The important thing is that the building should be speedily erected, and be a financial possibility, not placing, as the American Temple, a terrible strain on the friends for years to come.
He is happy to see that the German friends have been able, during the last few years, to move about much more, attend conferences in other European countries, go forth as pioneers, and gradually increase the number of centres in Germany and Austria. He attaches the greatest importance to this because one of the main tasks of your Assembly is to insure that Austria will have an independent National Assembly by the end of the Plan; and she cannot do this unless she multiplies her Spiritual Assemblies in order to build a broad foundation for the National Body. He hopes you will constantly encourage the Vienna Bahá’ís and the isolated believers in Austria to increase their teaching activities, to strengthen the work of the Faith, to pioneer in new centres, and, above all, to be united; as unity is one of the greatest forces at our disposal for achieving the work of the Cause.
He assures you one and all that he remembers you most lovingly in his prayers in the holy Shrine, and supplicates for the removal of every obstacle in your path and the attainment of all your goals....
P.S. The Guardian wishes particularly to thank you all for your loving message to him on the occasion of Ridván, which he appreciated receiving very much. He assures you all that he prays that great victories may attend your efforts to spread the Faith and consolidate its foundations.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers:
The steady extension and consolidation of the activities in which the members of the Bahá’í communities in Germany and Austria are so devotedly, so unitedly and strenuously engaged, have greatly cheered my heart, heightened my admiration for them, and reinforced my hopes for the triumphant conclusion of their collective enterprises undertaken in accordance with the provisions of the Ten-Year Plan.
By virtue of the important position they occupy in the heart of the European continent; singled out for special favours by the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant among their sister communities in that same continent; distinguished through the appointment of two Hands of the Cause from among their members; entrusted with the tremendous and sacred responsibility of erecting the first Bahá’í House of Worship on European soil; displaying, on the morrow of the ordeals which have for so long and so cruelly afflicted them, a virility, a courage, a fidelity worthy of emulation by their sister communities not only in neighbouring lands but throughout the Bahá’í world, these twin communities, destined through their common language, racial characteristics and traditions to play a notable and distinct part in the world-wide progress of the Faith in both the European and Asiatic continents, must continue to forge ahead, with inflexible resolve, unshakable faith, undimmed vision, and unabated vigour, along the road leading them to the fulfilment of their high destiny.
The steady increase in the number of the adherents of the Faith in both countries and the multiplication of isolated centres, groups and local assemblies is a task of primary importance to which they must direct special attention during the last year of the second phase of this world-embracing spiritual Crusade. Equally vital in sacredness and importance is the definite settlement of the issue that has arisen in connexion with the purchase of the site of the future Temple in the neighbourhood of Frankfurt, as well as the selection of its design, as essential preliminaries to the excavation of its foundations and the erection of its structure. Both of these require the concentrated and sustained attention of the elected representatives of these communities, whose task is to expedite this pre-eminent undertaking destined to exert a far-reaching spiritual influence on the fortunes of the Faith not only in Germany and Austria but throughout the European continent and even far beyond its borders.