History

Our story began in 1948 after the communist occupation of Bulgaria, a land called “Little Russia.”

At 4 a.m. on July 24, 1948, Dr. Haralan Popov, a prominent pastor, was arrested by the Bulgarian Secret Police on false charges of “being a spy” for the United States and Great Britain. In a world-publicized “show trial” of 15 arrested pastors, after Stalin’s brainwashing technique and intense torture, Haralan confessed to being a “spy.”

Pastor Popov spent more than 13 years in 16 communist prisons and concentration camps for his uncompromising faith in Jesus Christ. Despite tremendous suffering and torture he continued his work for God inside the prison to reach fellow prisoners.

His only crime was being the pastor of the largest Protestant church in Bulgaria.

Haralan’s wife, Ruth, a Swedish missionary, followed her newlywed husband to Bulgaria in 1937. The arrest of her husband left Ruth to care for two small children alone in a strange land. She was marked as “the wife of a spy” and therefore not to be employed or helped. She was also forbidden to leave Bulgaria. After three difficult years, through the help of the Swedish government, she finally received permission to return to her homeland with her two children, Rhoda and Paul.

Heartbroken to have left her husband behind, Ruth dedicated herself to helping Haralan and the other imprisoned Bulgarian pastors. Upon her arrival in Stockholm, Sweden, Ruth began ministering in churches across Scandinavia and Great Britain. She spoke about her husband’s imprisonment and torture and of the plight and needs of Christians behind the Iron Curtain.

Ruth encouraged Christians to organize prayer groups and petitions on behalf of her husband Haralan and other imprisoned pastors and Christians.

Even after his release from prison on September 24, 1961, the communist government told Haralan he would never be allowed to leave Bulgaria. But God worked a miracle, and Haralan was reunited with his family in 1963. He immediately focused all his energy to inform the world of the plight of persecuted Christians and to bring God’s Word into communist countries where Bibles had been confiscated and burned.

Haralan’s vision was clear, to be “A Voice and a Helping Hand” to the Persecuted Church.

Pastor Haralan Popov’s amazing testimony of Christian courage is recorded in his autobiography, I Was a Communist Prisoner and in the bestseller, Tortured For His Faith.

Haralan began broadcasting God’s Word behind the Iron Curtain through Trans World Radio—with the support from The Slavic Mission in Sweden and churches in England, Norway, and Denmark. He was the first person to broadcast the gospel message in the Bulgarian language, despite the communists’ efforts to jam his broadcasts. Listeners behind the Iron Curtain were blessed, and members of the Bulgarian church he had faithfully served received encouragement. More than half of his sermons were specifically preached to the atheists and unbelievers. He insisted that “God does exist.”

Still, despite all his efforts, Haralan’s heart remained torn for his fellow-countrymen and the prisoners who remained suffering in cells he once shared. He wanted to do more.

In 1972, after moving to America, Haralan founded Evangelism to Communist Lands (ECL), now Door of Hope International (DOHI).

DOHI began Operation Jericho, a Bible printing ministry to secretly distribute Bibles behind the Iron Curtain. 100,000 Bibles and New Testaments were printed and smuggled behind the Iron Curtain. The production of the film Operation Jericho, which was distributed and shown in churches in the West, encouraged people to pray that the Word of God would penetrate and then bring down the modern wall of Jericho.

Through DOHI’s New Testament Letter Ministry project, more than one million New Testaments have been distributed in Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. This unique project infiltrated communist countries through an unstoppable method. Christians from around the world became our “Home Missionaries” who mailed portions of New Testaments that were disguised beneath the cover of personal letters to recipients living under communist ideology. Portion-by-portion, Individuals received a complete New Testament through these personalized letters, unknowingly delivered by postmen inside the countries.

DOHI began a Bible Courier Program through which thousands upon thousands of Bibles and other pieces of Christian literature were “smuggled” behind communist borders in specially prepared vehicles. For the 1980 Moscow Olympics, DOHI printed and secretly delivered into Russia 500,000 Russian New Testaments that were disguised by a cover depicting the Olympic Torch.

Another major undertaking was translating, printing, and distributing Thomas Nelson’s Open Bible study Bible in Bulgarian, Romanian, and Russian. These Bibles were later dubbed as the “Portable Bible School” for pastors.

DOHI has also produced children’s Bibles and songbooks in various languages, as well as Haley’s Bible Handbook in Romanian and the Chinese Spoken Bible.

Many of DOHI’s staff were once refugees escaping communist oppression; DOHI became part of the forefront of the emigration movement in the Soviet Union. Concentrating on about 1,000 of the most extreme cases of Christian persecution, DOHI generated Prayer and Action bulletins which documented specific needs. A worldwide prayer chain flourished into fervent bases of support.

From 1967-1975 DOHI representatives attended Senate hearings, protested at the World Council of Churches headquarters, worked with the Human Rights Commission, and made great strides with the Helsinki monitoring group. President Ronald Reagan relied on our extensive knowledge and invited Haralan’s son, Paul, to the White House in order to assist his speechwriters while they prepared his famous “Evil Empire” speech. Reagan often referred to the lack of freedom and the persecution of Christians in the USSR.

Our courier network secretly brought sponsorship invitation documents to the West for Soviet families. One of the first two families became known as the Embassy Seven when they stormed the American Embassy in Moscow and made world news. DOHI published a book, Let My People Go, featuring the Embassy Seven—which later became a film with Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and broadcast on TV throughout the United States.

For twenty-six years, Haralan Popov, was separated from his native country of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian people he loved so much. He yearned to once again see his homeland. God made a way for his dream to come true.

Despite his 81 years and failing health, Haralan enjoyed a wonderful visit back to Bulgaria in 1988. When he walked into the Sunday morning service of the church he had previously pastored for many years, a young brother rose to offer the elderly stranger his seat. As Haralan sat, tears streaming down his face, praising God, a man sitting next to him stared at him with astonishment. Word quickly spread throughout the church and people began to weep. Haralan Popov, their old pastor and friend had returned!

On November 13, 1988, a few weeks after returning from his beloved Bulgaria, Haralan Popov died. After more than 50 years of ministry, he went home to his heavenly Father.