Leroy C Ioas (15 February 1896, Wilmington, Illinois - 22 July 1965, Haifa, Israel) was a Hand of the Cause of the Baháʼí Faith. His parents declared themselves Baháʼís in 1898 and took Ioas to meet ʻAbdu'l-Bahá during the latter's travels in the United States in 1912. Ioas moved to San Francisco after marrying Sylvia Kuhlman and soon became active in the local Baháʼí community.[1]
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Shoghi Effendi. His Life in Pictures.
Transcription
Shoghi Effendi was a very remarkable young man and of course he just worshipped 'Abdu'l-Baha And when 'Abdu'l-Baha passed away the whole world became dark for him All light had gone out When he returned to the Holy Land he had in mind from the things which 'Abdu'l-Baha had said to him and I am now telling you what he said he said: "I had in mind that 'Abdu'l-Baha would give me the honour of calling together the great conclave which would elect the Universal House of Justice. And I thought in His Will and Testament that that was probably what He was instructing be done." "But," he said, "instead of that I found that I was appointed The Guardian of the Cause of God I didn't want to be The Guardian of the Cause. In the first place, I didn't think that I was worthy. Next place, I didn't want to face these responsibilities and I didn't want to be The Guardian. I knew what it meant. I knew that my life as a human being was over. I didn't want it and I didn't want to face it. You remember I left the Holy Land, and I went up into the mountains of Switzerland, and I fought with myself until I conquered myself. Then I came back and I turned myself over to God and I was The Guardian." "Now," he said, "every Baha'i in the world, every person in the world has to do exactly that same thing. Whether you are a Hand of the Cause, whether you are a Knight of Baha'u'llah, whether you are a member of a National Assembly, whether you are a teacher, whether you are a pioneer, whether you are an administrator, regardless of what you are, whatever you are doing in the Cause, every Baha'i must fight with himself and conquer himself. And when he has conquered himself, then he becomes a true instrument for the service of the Cause of God."
Service at the Baháʼí World Centre
The head of the Baháʼí Faith in the first half of the 20th century, Shoghi Effendi, appointed Ioas to the International Baháʼí Council, precursor to the Universal House of Justice, in December 1951, where he served until 1961 as secretary-general. In order to fulfill his duties, he quit his job in the railway industry, where he had worked for nearly forty years, and moved to Haifa, where he would reside until the end of his life.
He closely supervised the construction and completion of the Shrine of the Báb, for which Shoghi Effendi named the door on the octagon after him.[2]
After the death of Shoghi Effendi, Ioas was among nine Hands of the Cause elected as a Custodian of the Baháʼí Faith on 25 November 1957. He travelled far and frequently to promote and expand the faith, even as his health weakened after heart problems began in 1953. His last trip, to eight areas in the United States during 1964, weakened him so much that he could not return to Haifa for six months and died less than a year later.[3] He is buried in the Mount Carmel Baháʼí cemetery in Haifa.
Works
- Ioas, Leroy C, Julia Lynch Chanler, and Mirza Ahmad Sohrab. Three Letters. New York: Caravan of East and West, 1954.
References
- ^ Adamson, Historical dictionary, 252.
- ^ "Golden anniversary of the Queen of Carmel". Bahá'í World News Service. Oct 12, 2003. Retrieved Apr 3, 2022.
- ^ Adamson, Historical dictionary, 254.
Bibliography
- Adamson, Hugh C. "Ioas, Leroy C." Historical dictionary of the Baháʼí faith. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2007.
- Chapman, Anita Ioas (1998). Leroy Ioas: Hand of the Cause of God. Oxford: George Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-426-3.
- Harper, Barron (1997). Lights of Fortitude (Paperback ed.). Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-413-1.
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This page was last edited on 27 January 2024, at 19:18