No. 92 of 124 · A Name of God · The Long Healing Prayer
The Most Ancient Way
Before the first road was walked, this Way already was.
I call on Thee O Greatest Remembrance, O Noblest Name, O Most Ancient Way! Thou the Sufficing, Thou the Healing, Thou the Abiding, O Thou Abiding One! Bahá'u'lláh, The Long Healing Prayer · read the full prayer
What “The Most Ancient Way” means
What follows reflects on this 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.
There is something quietly staggering about the phrase 'The Most Ancient Way.' A way is a path, a direction, a means of getting somewhere, something inherently relational, oriented toward a destination. To call God Himself 'The Most Ancient Way' is to say that the divine is not merely the destination we seek but the very road beneath our feet as we seek it. The path and the one who laid it are, in some deep sense, one.
The word 'ancient' carries its own weight here. We tend to think of old things as worn-out or superseded, yet antiquity in the spiritual sense means something closer to primordial, foundational, before-all-else. This Way predates every civilization that has ever built a road, every philosophy that has mapped a method of living, every religion that has offered a creed. It is not one option among many historical paths. It is the original orientation of the human soul toward its Source.
When Bahá'u'lláh places this name alongside 'Greatest Remembrance' and 'Noblest Name' in the same breath of the prayer, the impression is of a God who is simultaneously memorable, nameable, and walkable, a God not locked away in abstraction but present and traversable, as real to the seeker as the ground underfoot. To invoke this name is to acknowledge that wherever we are in life, a path connecting us to the Divine has always existed and has never been closed.
Calling on The Most Ancient Way for healing
When illness or anguish strips away our familiar landmarks, we can lose all sense of direction. We may feel that we have wandered off every map we once trusted. Calling on God as The Most Ancient Way can be a quiet act of reorientation, a recognition that even in this disorienting moment, a path exists, it has always existed, and it has not abandoned us simply because we can no longer see it clearly. There is something grounding about that thought, a kind of spiritual north star that does not flicker regardless of how dark the night becomes.
It is worth saying plainly: invoking this name is not a formula that bypasses the body's need for good medical care. Seeking competent physicians, following treatment, resting, and asking for help from those around you, these are all part of how a person walks through illness with integrity. But alongside that practical care, there is a deeper healing the soul reaches for: the sense that one is not lost, that existence has a direction, and that the One who is that direction has always known the way through. Holding that trust, even tentatively, even on the hardest days, is itself a form of prayer.
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Living the Word
Applying The Most Ancient Way in your life
A name of God is a virtue to grow into. Where is The Most Ancient Way 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
“God Is the Great Compassionate Physician Who Alone Gives True Healing October 19th All true healing comes from God! There are two causes for sickness, one is material, the other spiritual. If the sickness is of the body, a material remedy is needed, if of the soul, a spiritual remedy. If the heavenly benediction be upon us while we are being healed then only can we be made whole, for medicine is but the outward and visible means through which we obtain the heavenly healing. Unless the spirit be healed, the cure of the body is worth nothing. All is in the hands of God, and without Him there can be no health in us! There have been many men who have died at last of the very disease of which they have made a special study. Aristotle, for instance, who made a special study of the digestion, died of a gastric malady. Avicenna was a specialist of the heart, but he died of heart disease. God is the great compassionate Physician who alone has the power to give true healing. All creatures are dependent upon God, however great may seem their knowledge, power and independence.”
Read in full at bahai.org →“20.2Answer: Know that such ways, words, and deeds are to be lauded and approved, and they redound to the glory of the human world. But these actions alone are not sufficient: They are a body of the greatest beauty, but without a spirit. No, that which leads to everlasting life, eternal honour, universal enlightenment, and true success and salvation is, first and foremost, the knowledge of God. It is clear that this knowledge takes precedence over every other knowledge and constitutes the greatest virtue of the human world. For the understanding of the reality of things confers a material advantage in the realm of being and brings about the progress of outward civilization, but the knowledge of God is the cause of spiritual progress and attraction, true vision and insight, the exaltation of humanity, the appearance of divine civilization, the rectification of morals, and the illumination of the conscience.”
Read in full at bahai.org →“2 Answer: Know that such ways, words, and deeds are to be lauded and approved, and they redound to the glory of the human world. But these actions alone are not sufficient: They are a body of the greatest beauty, but without a spirit. No, that which leads to everlasting life, eternal honour, universal enlightenment, and true success and salvation is, first and foremost, the knowledge of God. It is clear that this knowledge takes precedence over every other knowledge and constitutes the greatest virtue of the human world. For the understanding of the reality of things confers a material advantage in the realm of being and brings about the progress of outward civilization, but the knowledge of God is the cause of spiritual progress and attraction, true vision and insight, the exaltation of humanity, the appearance of divine civilization, the rectification of morals, and the illumination of the conscience.”
Read in full at bahai.org →Questions about The Most Ancient Way
- Why would a healing prayer call God 'a Way' rather than a Healer or a Protector?
- The Long Healing Prayer is remarkable for the sheer variety of names it calls upon, and each one illuminates a different facet of the relationship between the seeker and the Divine. 'The Most Ancient Way' suggests that healing is not just a destination we arrive at but a journey we travel in God's company. Framing God as the Way itself implies that every step taken in trust, including through illness, is already within the divine embrace, not outside it waiting to be reached.
- Does 'most ancient' mean this name refers to something from the past that no longer applies?
- Quite the opposite. In a spiritual context, 'most ancient' points to something that is foundational and ever-present, not outdated. The name suggests a Way that existed before human history began and continues to exist regardless of the era or circumstances of the one calling upon it. Antiquity here is a mark of reliability, not obsolescence.
- Can reciting the Long Healing Prayer cure a physical illness?
- The Bahá'í writings affirm that God is the ultimate source of all healing, while also clearly encouraging people to seek out competent physicians and follow sound medical advice. Prayer and medicine are understood to complement rather than replace each other. No specific outcome can be promised from any prayer, and it would be unwise to forgo medical care in favor of prayer alone.
- How is 'The Most Ancient Way' different from other divine names like 'The Sufficing' or 'The Abiding One' in the same passage?
- Each name in that line of the prayer opens a slightly different window onto the Divine. 'The Sufficing' speaks to God's completeness as a provision for our need; 'The Abiding One' speaks to constancy and permanence. 'The Most Ancient Way' is unique in that it is inherently relational and directional, it describes God in terms of movement and connection, as the path along which the soul travels toward its Source. Together these names create a remarkably full picture of a God who is simultaneously sufficient, eternal, and actively present as the means of our journey.
Listen to, recite, and reflect on the whole prayer, its more than one hundred names of God.
Hear the Long Healing Prayer