'But today the Christmas trees are lighted with electric bulbs. One no longer need bend over or climb up. A slight movement of the hand is enough to switch on the great light-giving power of electricity, and all the bulbs shine at the same time. The entire Christmas tree is illumined equally - and it is so today with the tree of mankind. Away with misunderstandings, divisions and hypocrisy; away with fear; let the light shine forth: this light will not go out. It is the light of Baha'u'llah, which will illumine the whole of mankind and the farthest comers of the earth, the light which will bum for the whole time-cycle of human progress on this planet, for a cycle of five hundred thousand years. . .
'When the Word of God is revealed . . . what power can oppose it? Whatever opposes it will perish and will come to nothing. Kings, armies, nations may still oppose the Word of God - kings, armies and nations will perish. The near future may still be one of opposition and destruction. But the later, no longer very distant future, will see the triumph of the Word of God, the glory of the day of God. And that is why, my dear friends, whatever the near future brings - let us be firm. The roofs under which we live may fall on our heads - let us yet be firm. The air we breathe may be changed into poison - let us yet be firm. And let us be happy and confident that behind the densest clouds the sun is shining, that the Most Great Peace will come . . .'
In the dark days of the Great War, Ludwik Zamenhof had foreseen that there would be no peace until the nations of the earth came together in a world government. In his appeal to the diplomats who would remake the map of Europe after the war, he had pleaded that they secure the rights of all the peoples and that they 'abolish for ever the chief cause of wars, the barbarous survival from the most remote pre-civilized antiquity, the dominance of one race over other races'.
His predictions had come true. Now on the eve of another world- wrenching conflict, his daughter Lidia once again was pleading for justice, equality and unity among the peoples and the nations. Even now, as world war was imminent, she was convinced that someaay peace would come. And while most people's attention was fixed on the hatred and rivalry that divided the nations of the world, Lidia was able to look ahead to a vision that went beyond even the unification of the planet.
'There will come a time,' she wrote, 'when our planet will pass out of its solitude, when the most courageous dreams of the courageous will become reality and the inhabitants of earth will make contact with the inhabitants of other planets. Then surely a new prophet will appear to proclaim to all planets that they are the trees ofone forest, the stars of one heaven. But that is a distant day . . . hidden behind the veil of the future. Our day is the day of mankind. This is the day of the birth of mankind through the all-powerful and all-unifying potency of the Word of God - this is a new Christmas.
'Christmas - the Word of God made flesh once more. The Christmas tree - mankind - is lighted by the light of the One Who is the Creator of all light. Shall we not be happy? Shall we not be joyful?'
now is not their time
The year 1939 began as a lonely one for Lidia; letters were not arriving from the United States, and she wondered ifher friends in America had forgotten her. Lidia often reminisced about the time she had spent in America - she even dreamed about it. in my thoughts I often visit the Baha'f Center,' she wrote Della, 'and remember it from my first visits there after my arrival to the last, unforgettable and holy night, when truly the Master was with us.' The difficulties Lidia had encountered in America had already begun to recede into forgetfulness; she looked back on her journey now only with fondness and nostalgia. In her letters she never mentioned the troubles and disappointments, only the friendships.
Although she had not heard from her friends in America, she had received a letter from Haifa. Shoghi Effendi's secretary wrote: 'The Guardian . . . is indeed glad to know that you feel quite satisfied over the results you have accomplished during the fourteen months ofyour stay in America. Although your efforts to obtain a permit for a further prolongation of your visit in the States did not prove successful, you should nevertheless be thankful for the opportunity you have had of undertaking such a long and fruitfuljourney. He hopes the experiences you have gathered during all these months of uninterrupted teaching will now help you to work more effectively for the spread of the Cause in the various European countries you visit, and particularly in your native country Poland, where the Faith is still practically unknown, and where there is considerable pioneer work still to be done ..."
In his own hand the Guardian had added a postscript: 'Dear and valued co-worker: I am truly proud of what you have achieved in the States. The believers were delighted and encouraged. I trust the day is not far distant when I will meet you face to face in the Holy Land and assure you in person of my deep appreciation and gratitude. May the Beloved aid you to enrich in Europe the record of your past and notable services. Your true and grateful brother, Shoghi.'
'Those words are so kind,' Lidia wrote Della, 'that I feel simply ashamed! But also very thankful and happy.'
While she was still in America, Lidia had come to feel that she had important work to do in Poland: to raise up believers in Baha'uilah. Years earlier, Martha Root had recognized how difficult it would be for Lidia to be a Baha'1 alone in her homeland. But now the situation was much worse than it was in the 1920s. Europe was on the edge of war; Poland was in a frenzy of anti-Semitism. Nevertheless, at this dark moment, Lidia turned her efforts to seeking out people to whom she could teach the Baha'1 Faith. During that winter, early in 1939, she traveled to several cities in Poland to visit people who were interested in the Faith. Some of those people became Baha'fs. 'We sow and water,' she wrote, 'but only the rays of the Divine Sun can make the seeds sprout and the flowers develop. I pray that Baha'u'llah will lead me to those people who are willing to accept.'
One of the cities Lidia visited during that winter was Kremenets, where she stayed four days, giving four talks on the Baha'i Faith before the Theosophical Society and Vasyl Doroshenko's group of seven 'seekers'. Mr Doroshenko was a retired teacher and school inspector living in the country near Kremenets, in what had been Ukrainian territory. In that city, he was 'the moving spirit' ofa group of'seekers' associated with the Theosophical group there. 'Figuratively speaking,' he explained, they iit their oil lamps and set out in search of the Coming of the Promised One. We study and examine different claims of different movements, and if any of us feels persuaded that he or she found what they have sought, they drop out and join that movement.' Ever since the Esperanto congress in Warsaw he had been corresponding with Lidia. Vasyl Doroshenko had found what he sought in the Baha'i Faith and had become a believer, the first Ukrainian Baha'i.
In March, confined in a hospital, Mr Doroshenko sent a penciled note to Anne Lynch at the International Baha'f Bureau in Geneva. Mrs Lynch was also of Ukrainian descent and often corresponded with him. * 'I bless the Heavenly Father for this illness and for being in the common ward with the other sufferers,' he wrote. 'It is a preparation for another life for me, a fuller one than this . . . Just received a long letter from Lidia Zamenhof - full of encouragement and love, enclosing many prayers by Baha'uilah.'
Lidia had finished the Polish translation of Bahd'u'llah and the New Era, which she had begun in the United States, and now she was typing it on her brother's Polish typewriter, which she had 'confiscated' for the purpose. 'He is kind and allowed that,' she wrote, 'and because he isn't the grumbling type, he isn't grumbling. At least for that, I had to be in Poland!'
It did not look as though Lidia would be able to leave Poland soon. The French government had refused her permission to work in France. i'm not complaining or lamenting,' she wrote Della. 'I accept what Baha'uilah decides. Perhaps I will have a chance to do something more in Poland.' She wrote to Shoghi Effendi: would it be possible to visit Haifa in the Spring?