…the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh… a Dispensation which, as
the Author of the Faith has Himself categorically asserted, must extend over a
period of no less than one thousand years, and which will constitute the first
stage in a series of Dispensations, to be established by future Manifestations,
all deriving their inspiration from the Author of the Bahá’í Revelation, and
destined to last, in their aggregate, no less than five thousand centuries.
(Shoghi Effendi, from a letter dated June 5, 1947; ‘Citadel of Faith’)
