Haralan Popov () (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 is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
, 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 (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
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 located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles.
As of 2024, Glendale ha ...
, 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#Lutheranism, priest, and professor of Jewish descent. In 1948, having become a Christian ten years before, he public ...
– A Romanian defector to the United States under similar circumstances
1907 births
1988 deaths
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century evangelicals
American Evangelical writers
American male non-fiction writers
American religious writers
Bulgarian emigrants to the United States
People from Veliko Tarnovo Province
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