No. 8 of 124 · A Name of God · The Long Healing Prayer
The Glorious One
When we call upon The Glorious One, we are reaching toward a splendor that no illness, grief, or limitation can diminish.
I call on Thee O Exalted One, O Faithful One, O Glorious One! Thou the Sufficing, Thou the Healing, Thou the Abiding, O Thou Abiding One! Bahá'u'lláh, The Long Healing Prayer · read the full prayer
Plain meaning · Glorious
1. Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. These are thy glorious works, Parent of good ! Milton. 2. Eager for glory or distinction; haughty; boastful; ostentatious; vainglorious. [Obs.] Most miserable Is the desire that's glorious. Shak. 3. Ecstatic; hilarious; elated with drink. [Colloq.] kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious, O'er all the ills of life victorious. Burns. During his office treason was no crime, The sons of Belial had a glorious time. Dryden. Syn.
Definition from Webster's Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain). When these Writings were translated into English, the translator relied on Webster's New International Dictionary, 1934 edition, of the same Webster's tradition. source
What “The Glorious One” means
The meaning above is the plain dictionary definition of the word. What follows reflects on it as a name of God, offered for your own contemplation, and not as an authoritative interpretation of the Bahá'í Writings, which rests with ‘Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi alone.
Glory, at its root, is about radiance, light that pours outward from a source so full it cannot be contained. When this name appears in the Long Healing Prayer, it is not simply a title of honor the way a king might bear one. It points to something more like the quality of the sun: intrinsic, inexhaustible, and indifferent to whether we happen to be looking at it or not. The Glorious One shines whether or not we are well enough to notice.
There is something quietly stabilizing about that image. Human glory is fragile. Achievements fade, reputations shift, beauty changes with time. But this name invites us to orient ourselves toward a glory that stands outside those cycles entirely, a divine majesty that was there before any of our struggles began and will remain when they resolve. Calling on The Glorious One is, in a sense, an act of reorientation: away from whatever feels diminished or broken in this moment, and toward a source of light that is fundamentally undiminished.
In the context of this prayer, the name sits alongside others, the Exalted, the Faithful, the Sufficing, the Healing, and the cumulative effect is one of layered reassurance. Glory here is not distant or cold. It is the glory of One who is also described, in the same breath, as close enough to suffice and heal. The Glorious One is not an unreachable monarch but a radiant presence being directly addressed, intimately, by someone who is hurting and in need.
Calling on The Glorious One for healing
When you are unwell, whether the wound is in your body, your mind, or somewhere harder to name, glory can feel like the last thing on your mind. Pain has a way of narrowing the world down to its own dimensions. This may be exactly why invoking The Glorious One carries such quiet force in those moments. It is an act of deliberate expansion: acknowledging that something vast and luminous exists beyond the walls of the present suffering, and choosing to turn toward it. That turning is itself a kind of medicine for the spirit, even when the body still requires the very real care of skilled physicians and healers, whose work we should never set aside.
There is no promise hidden in this name, or in any name in this prayer, that a specific outcome will follow. What the name offers is something different and perhaps more durable: a point of contact with a glory that is not subject to the same fragility as our circumstances. When you call on The Glorious One, you are not presenting a claim or striking a bargain. You are simply turning your face toward a light and trusting, in whatever way you are able, that the light is real. Many people find that this kind of prayerful orientation, held with honesty about uncertainty, and combined with gratitude for whatever healing resources are available, becomes a source of resilience that sustains them through long and difficult journeys toward wholeness.
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Living the Word
Applying The Glorious One in your life
A name of God is a virtue to grow into. Where is The Glorious One being asked of you right now, and how will you practice it? Keep a short note each time you return, and watch your own path with this name take shape over time. It stays on this device.
In the Bahá'í Writings
“He is the All-Glorious. 1 O thou spiritual physician! The body of humankind was afflicted with severe ills and chronic diseases, contagious maladies and prolonged fevers. Whereupon the ocean of divine favour surged, and the clouds of truth and bounty rained down upon the world of creation. The Sun of the firmament of Oneness shone forth, and vivifying breezes wafted from the meads of Singleness. The breath of the divine Messiah was diffused, the All-Knowing Physician appeared from behind the veil, and the skilled and true Healer emerged unconcealed. He prepared wholesome medicines from hidden substances, and created healing balms from concealed and treasured elements. He bestowed the panacea of unfailing efficacy, and conferred the sovereign remedy for every ill. He blended together spiritual elixirs, and created refreshing draughts made with heavenly pearls and rubies. And from the essence of Divine Unity and the quintessence of singleness, He taught and made known to us remedies that purify and tranquillize and soothe.”
Read in full at bahai.org →“34.2Not long ago this most sublime Word was revealed in the Crimson Book by the All-Glorious Pen: “The heaven of divine wisdom is illumined with two luminaries: consultation and compassion.” Please God, everyone may be enabled to observe this weighty and blessed word. 35.1By God besides Whom is none other God! Should any one arise for the triumph of our Cause, him will God render victorious though tens of thousands of enemies be leagued against him. And if his love for Me wax stronger, God will establish his ascendancy over all the powers of earth and heaven. Thus have We breathed the spirit of power into all regions.”
Read in full at bahai.org →“He is the Most Glorious. 1 O thou verdant, fresh, and radiant leaf! Were we to weep and moan for a hundred thousand years at this Supreme Affliction, to sigh and lament, to rend our garments in sorrow, to shed tears and heap dust upon our heads, and to pine away with grief, this pain would never be stilled, this wound never healed, this fire never quenched. It behoveth us, therefore, to see ourselves, at every breath, as standing ready to depart to the next world, and to arise to carry out that which is conducive to eternal life and would cause us to ascend unto the Kingdom and to attain the court of His Presence. The glory of God rest upon thee.”
Read in full at bahai.org →Questions about The Glorious One
- Why does the Long Healing Prayer use so many different names of God instead of just one?
- Each name illuminates a different facet of the divine, the way a single light passing through a prism reveals a spectrum of colors. By invoking many names, Exalted, Faithful, Glorious, Sufficing, Healing, the prayer builds a layered portrait of the One being addressed, and invites the one praying to meet that presence from many angles at once. This richness is characteristic of Bahá'í devotional language and reflects a longstanding tradition in Islamic and broader Abrahamic prayer of meditating on the attributes of God.
- Is it appropriate to use the Long Healing Prayer alongside medical treatment?
- Yes, absolutely. The Bahá'í teachings are clear that both spiritual devotion and the care of trained medical professionals have their proper place, and that consulting competent physicians is not in tension with prayer but complementary to it. The Long Healing Prayer is a spiritual resource, not a substitute for medical attention. If you or someone you love is ill, please seek qualified medical care alongside whatever spiritual practices bring comfort and strength.
- What does it mean to call God 'The Glorious One' when I am suffering and feel far from anything glorious?
- This is one of the most honest questions a person can bring to prayer. The act of naming God as Glorious in the middle of suffering is not a denial of the suffering, it is more like reaching past it toward something that the suffering has not touched. Many people who pray this way describe it not as a feeling of instant comfort but as a quiet, deliberate choice to acknowledge a reality larger than their pain. The name does not require you to feel glorious; it invites you to remember that something glorious exists and is near.
Listen to, recite, and reflect on the whole prayer, its more than one hundred names of God.
Hear the Long Healing Prayer