May 23, 1844, signalizes the commencement of the most
turbulent period of the Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Era, an age which marks the
opening of the most glorious epoch in the greatest cycle which the spiritual
history of mankind has yet witnessed. No more than a span of nine short years
marks the duration of this most spectacular, this most tragic, this most
eventful period of the first Bahá’í century. It was ushered in by the birth of
a Revelation whose Bearer posterity will acclaim as the “Point round Whom the
realities of the Prophets and Messengers revolve,” and terminated with the
first stirrings of a still more potent Revelation, “whose day,” Bahá’u’lláh
Himself affirms, “every Prophet hath announced,” for which “the soul of every
Divine Messenger hath thirsted,” and through which “God hath proved the hearts
of the entire company of His Messengers and Prophets.”
- Shoghi Effendi (Chapter 1, ‘God Passes By’)