Haralan Popov
Encyclopedia
Haralan Popov was a Protestant minister who spent thirteen years in Bulgarian communist prisons on charges of treason. He later founded Door of Hope International, a Christian relief and development organization.
In the early morning hours of July 23, 1948, in the capital city of Sofia
, he was arrested on false charges of espionage against the state. After being brainwashed and tortured for eight months in prison, Popov, and other ministers who had been arrested with him pleaded guilty under duress. Popov was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He spent the next 13 years and two months tortured in prisons and concentration camps. He was released on September 25, 1961 and joined his family in Sweden a year later. The Bulgarian government has since apologized for the wrongful sentence.
After moving to the United States
in 1970, Popov founded Evangelism to Communist Lands Inc., now known as Door of Hope International to bring Bibles and relief to people in oppressive countries in 1972. He recorded his testimony and prison experiences in his autobiography Tortured For His Faith: An Epic of Christian Courage and Heroism in Our Day.
In October 1988, during Glasnost, and for the first time in 26 years, Popov was permitted by Bulgarian authorities to visit the church he pastored in Bulgaria. He died the next month on November 14, 1988 in Glendale, California
of complications related to cancer.
Biography
Haralan Popov was born in the small Bulgarian village of Krasno Gradishte. Although initially an atheist, Popov became a Christian as a teenager. In 1929 he was accepted as pastor in the Bulgarian Pentecostal Church. Shortly after attending Bible School in London, he married a Swedish woman, Ruth. He returned to Bulgaria before the outbreak of World War II.In the early morning hours of July 23, 1948, in the capital city of Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, he was arrested on false charges of espionage against the state. After being brainwashed and tortured for eight months in prison, Popov, and other ministers who had been arrested with him pleaded guilty under duress. Popov was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He spent the next 13 years and two months tortured in prisons and concentration camps. He was released on September 25, 1961 and joined his family in Sweden a year later. The Bulgarian government has since apologized for the wrongful sentence.
After moving to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1970, Popov founded Evangelism to Communist Lands Inc., now known as Door of Hope International to bring Bibles and relief to people in oppressive countries in 1972. He recorded his testimony and prison experiences in his autobiography Tortured For His Faith: An Epic of Christian Courage and Heroism in Our Day.
In October 1988, during Glasnost, and for the first time in 26 years, Popov was permitted by Bulgarian authorities to visit the church he pastored in Bulgaria. He died the next month on November 14, 1988 in Glendale, California
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
of complications related to cancer.
See also
- Richard WurmbrandRichard WurmbrandRichard Wurmbrand was a Romanian Christian minister of Jewish descent. He was a youth during a time of anti-Semitic activity in Romania, but it was later, after becoming a believer in Jesus Christ as Messiah, and daring to publicly say that Communism and Christianity were not compatible, that he...
– A Romanian defector to the United States under similar circumstances