Haralan Popov ( bg, Харалан Попов) (March 7, 1907–November 14, 1988) was a Protestant minister who spent thirteen years in Bulgarian communist prisons on charges of treason. He later founde
Door of Hope International a Christian relief and development organization.
Biography
Haralan Popov was born in the small Bulgarian village of Krasno Gradishte. Although initially an
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, 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 1948, in the capital city of
Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
, he was arrested on charges of espionage against the state.
After eight months in prison, Popov, and other ministers who had been arrested with him, pleaded guilty through a cruel, forced confession. Popov was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
He spent the next 13 years and two months in prison. He was released on September 25, 1961 and joined his family in Sweden a year later.
After moving to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in 1970, Popov founded Evangelism to Communist Lands Inc., now known a
Door of Hope Internationalto 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 is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...
of complications related to cancer.
References
*
External links
Door of Hope International official website
See also
*
Richard Wurmbrand
Richard Wurmbrand, also known as Nicolai Ionescu (24 March 1909 – 17 February 2001) was a Romanian Evangelical Lutheran priest, and professor of Jewish descent. In 1948, having become a Christian ten years before, he publicly said Communism a ...
– A Romanian defector to the United States under similar circumstances
1907 births
1988 deaths
People from Veliko Tarnovo Province
Bulgarian emigrants to the United States
American evangelicals
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