Doing Missions in the Spirit
This message is not even 30 minutes long, but I challenge you to take the time and listen to it today. If you do not sense the Spirit of God in the first five minutes, feel free to turn it off. I truly believe that this is a message from God that every minister, missionary and church must hear. It was preached at the annual mission’s conference organized by the Good Shepard Church of God in Pahokee, Florida under the title “Doing Missions in the Spirit.” What are you going to do when governments, organizations or finances do not permit you to do missions? What are you going to do when people and problems send you to the periphery of ministry, while God has called you to the epicenter of missions? All these questions and many others are answered in “Doing Missions in the Spirit.”
Click on the link to download and listen to the message https://cupandcross.com/mp3s/missioninspirit.mp3
Cup & Cross Ministries with a New Website
Since 1999, the website of Cup & Cross Ministries has become an international media center for evangelical churches in Eastern Europe. It has served as a reliable source of information for the ministry and developments of the Bulgarian Church of God publishing official statistics, interviews with church leaders, in-depth research and much more. Through this efforts, the website has become an information bank for Bulgarian Pentecostalism used by denominational medias, research centers, Bulgarian and foreign government and non-government organizations including the U.S. Department of State.
The new design and functionality of the website offers a large spectrum of text, audio and video materials which inform of the scope of our ministry. The renovating technologies implemented in the new web center allow visitors to receive regular news updates via email or text message on their cell phone. The audio streaming allows the live delivery of sermons and audio content, while the video option will allow us to broadcast live ministry events from Bulgaria, hold video conferences with team members and provide an opportunity for churches to publish broadcast information about their ministry in video format.
Recently, the national overseer of the Bulgarian Church of God asked our team to assist with the PR of the denomination while informing and promoting the ministry of the church via the internet and other medias. This new media strategy will include broadening the coverage through regular ministry reports of the dynamics and activities of the denomination, introduction of churches and ministers, interviews, statistics and analysis. Having received this great responsibility, Cup & Cross Ministries is committed to continue the mission of bringing up to date reliable information about the Bulgarian Church of God and to serve toward the broadening of its media ministry strategy in the 21st century.
Revival Bulgaria 2 Film Released
Cup & Cross Ministries is proud to announce that it has released its new film, Revival Bulgaria 2. The release of this film has been long awaited for since the release of the first Revival Bulgaria film in 2004. The current release gives report of the ministry of Cup & Cross in Bulgaria in the past three years and provides helpful information about our context of ministry. The film overviews several of our ministry’s efforts such as the Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association, the X Events, revival campaigns and youth rallies, as it concludes with an invitation to the 2008 national camp meeting planned in the Heart of Bulgaria. The film is distributed as a free promotional DVD and can be obtain upon request. Parts of the movie can be viewed at our ministry’s media center at: www.cupandcross.com
The Jesus Film Project Online
The Jesus Film Project in the Bulgarian vernacular is one of our web ministry projects in progress. We first introduced the Bulgarian version of the Jesus Film on the internet in 2006. It was offered in its original DVD form and in another compressed DivX format. To much of our surprise, over 10,000 copies of the film were downloaded in the first three days after it was posted. This number doubled every month that followed, but in September, 2007 it reached its peak of 46,000 downloads. That month our internet traffic surpassed ½ petabyte, which equals 500 TB. For comparison, San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) has a 1-petabyte hard disk store attached to the National Science Foundation\’s TeraGrid network. We give God the glory.
Holiness Website Released
For several years now our team has envisioned a new website as part of our website ministry, a website that deals exclusively with the subject of holiness. For over a month now, this vision has been a reality bringing thousands to the teaching of Biblical sanctification and holiness lifestyle through www.Osveten.com (meaning “sanctified” in Bulgarian).
I know that many would object to the idea of preaching holiness in the beginning of the 21st century. Who needs holiness in the world today, anyway? After all people today have more important issues with which to deal. In my opinion, perhaps many of the issues humanity deals with today, can be resolved though acquiring a lifestyle of Biblical holiness.
Historically, the Bulgarian evangelism lacks the evolvement of sanctification as a second work of grace, as it was present in North America at the end of the 19th century. Missionaries to Bulgaria did not concentrate on the teaching of holiness, as other important issues were being addressed. It was not until the dawn of Bulgarian Pentecostalism, that definite holiness movements within among Bulgarian evangelicals began appearing. And of course, since the Assemblies of God was the major organized Pentecostal denomination, sanctification was viewed as part of the experience of salvation and Holy Spirit baptism, and never as a separate second work of grace as described by Wesley.
Yet, the strife toward Biblical holiness was ever present in the Bulgarian context ever since Christianity entered the Balkans in the 10th-11th centuries. Since then, Eastern Orthodox Christianity has taught, although practiced very little, the doctrine of holiness. During the Communist Regime, various Pentecostal groups declared their holiness stand, thus bringing the attention of the government along with extra persecution upon themselves. The national Pentecostal revival after the Fall of the Berlin Wall increased the interest in sanctification, and the issue of how to live a holiness life often became a point of separation between older and younger believers.
And although holiness is not often preached today, it still remains the standard of God. For this very reason, we released www.Osveten.com with the vision to bring Bulgarian evangelism back to the basics of Biblical sanctification and to lift up the standard of holiness as a lifestyle among the Bulgarian people.
Religious Freedom in Bulgaria
International Religious Freedom Report 2007
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the law prohibits the public practice of religion by unregistered groups. The Constitution also designates Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the “traditional” religion.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom by the Government during the period covered by this report, and government policy contributed to the generally free practice of religion.
There were some reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice. Discrimination, harassment, and general public intolerance, particularly in the media, of some religious groups remained an intermittent problem.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 42,855 square miles and a population of 7.7 million. The majority of citizens, estimated at 85 percent, identify themselves as Orthodox Christians. Muslims comprise the largest minority, estimated at 13 percent; other minorities include Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Gregorian-Armenian Christians, and others. Among the ethnic-Turkish minority, Islam is the predominant religion. Academic research estimated that up to 40 percent of the population is atheist or agnostic. Official registration of religious organizations is handled by the Sofia City Court; it reported that 12 new denominations were registered between February 2006 and February 2007, bringing the total number of registered religious groups to 85 denominations in addition to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC), an increase of more than 15 percent.
Some religious minorities were concentrated geographically. The Rhodope Mountains (along the country\’s southern border with Greece) are home to many Muslims, including ethnic Turks, Roma, and “Pomaks” (descendants of Slavic Bulgarians who converted to Islam under Ottoman rule). Ethnic Turkish and Roma Muslims also live in large numbers in the northeast of the country, primarily in and around the cities of Shumen and Razgrad, as well as along the Black Sea coast. More than half of the country\’s Roman Catholics are located in the region around Plovdiv. Many members of the country\’s small Jewish community live in Sofia, Rousse, and along the Black Sea coast. Protestants are dispersed more widely throughout the country. While clear statistics were not available, evangelical Protestant groups have had success in attracting converts from among the Roma minority, and areas with large Roma populations tend also to have some of the highest percentages of Protestants.
According to a 2005 report of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, only 50 percent of the six million citizens who identify themselves as Orthodox Christians participate in formal religious services. The same survey found that 90 percent of the country\’s estimated 70,000 Catholics regularly engage in public worship. Approximately 30 percent of Catholics belong to the Eastern Rite Uniate Church. The majority of Muslims, estimated to number 750,000, are Sunni; 50,000 are classified as Shi\’a. The Jewish community is estimated at 3,500 and evangelical Protestants at 50,000. The report also noted that more than 100,000 citizens practice “nontraditional” beliefs. (Orthodox Christianity, Hanafi Sunni Islam, Judaism, and Catholicism are generally understood to be “traditional” faiths.) Forty percent of these “nontraditional” practitioners are estimated to be Roma.
Statistics reported by the Council of Ministers Religious Confessions Directorate reported slightly different figures, listing nearly 1 million Muslims and 150,000 evangelical Protestants, as well as 20,000 to 30,000 Armenian Christians and approximately 3,000 Jews.
Foreign missionaries from numerous denominations are active in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the law prohibits the public practice of religion by unregistered groups. The Constitution designates Eastern Orthodox Christianity, represented by the BOC, as the “traditional” religion, and the Government provided preferential financial support to it, as well as to several other religious communities perceived as holding historic places in society, such as the Muslim, Roman Catholic, and Jewish faiths.
The 2002 Denominations Act requires all religious groups other than the Orthodox Church to register in the Sofia City Court, which is also responsible for maintaining the national register of such groups. The act allows only legally registered groups to perform public activities outside their places of worship. Article 36 of the act punishes “any person carrying out religious activity in the name of a religion without representational authority.”
The Council of Ministers\’ Religious Confessions Directorate, formerly responsible for registration of religious groups, provides “expert opinions” on registration matters upon request of the Court. The Directorate also ensures that national and local authorities comply with national religious freedom legislation. In contrast with previous periods, the Directorate became more transparent and more responsive to denominations\’ concerns during the period covered by this report. All applicants have the right to appeal negative registration decisions to the Court of Appeals. Denominations reported a general improvement in the registration process since the court took over this responsibility in 2003. Some local branches of nationally registered denominations continued to experience problems with local authorities who insisted that the branches be registered locally, despite the fact that the 2002 Denominations Act does not require local formal registration of denominations. Jehovah\’s Witnesses reported that their branches had to wait up to 2 years before they could successfully register locally in Dimitrovgrad, Veliko Tarnovo, and Smolyan. These complaints were less frequent than in previous periods.
Article 8 of the act allows the courts to punish religious organizations for a variety of offenses by banning their activities for up to 6 months, banning the publication or distribution of publications, or canceling an organization\’s registration.
Concerns that the 2002 Denominations Act would make it hard for small religious denominations to register and function did not fully materialize. While the Council of Europe\’s 2003 review of the Act highlighted that the provisions for registration remained ambiguous, most religious groups reported that they successfully registered. However, some remained concerned that the act does not specify the consequences of failure to register or outline any recourse if a competent court refuses to grant registration.
Representatives of some evangelical Protestant churches reported problems in holding public meetings, particularly in the Dobrich and Varna municipalities.
The 4-year legal dispute surrounding leadership of the Muslim community remained unsettled, in part due to conflicting court decisions. In January 2006 the City Court issued official certificates of registration to rival Islamic parties in the dispute–to Nedim Gendzhev on January 25 and to Mustafa Alish Hadji on January 26. This allowed both sides to claim legal recognition and control of community funds. Previously, the Sofia City Court attempted to resolve the issue in May 2005 by formally registering Mustafa Alish Hadji as Chief Mufti. Rival Muslim leader Nedim Gendzhev then filed an appeal, and in December 2005, the Sofia Appellate Court ordered Gendzhev\’s registration as leader.
The 2002 Denominations Act designates the Metropolitan of Sofia as the patriarch of the BOC. The law prohibits any group or person who has broken off from a registered religious group from using the same name or claiming any properties belonging to that group. The Jubilee Campaign Report maintains that the law effectively outlaws the Bulgarian Orthodox “Alternative Synod” and makes it unlikely that the Alternative Synod would be recognized as a separate religious organization from the BOC.
The case of the Bulgarian Orthodox “Alternate Synod,” filed after the 2004 forceful eviction of the movement\’s priests from churches, was pending before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) at the end of the reporting period. There were no developments in several smaller cases involving property disputes between the Orthodox Church and the Alternative Synod.
For most registered religious groups, there were no restrictions on attendance at religious services or on private religious instruction. Two BOC seminaries, a Jewish school, three Islamic schools, the university-level Islamic Higher Institute, a Muslim cultural center, a multidenominational Protestant seminary, and university theological faculties operated freely. Bibles, Qur\’ans, and other religious materials in the Bulgarian language were imported or printed freely, and religious publications were produced regularly.
Schools offer an optional religious education course that covers Christianity and Islam. The course examines the historical, philosophical, and cultural aspects of religion and introduces students to the moral values of different confessions. All officially registered religious confessions can request that their religious beliefs be included in the course\’s curriculum. While the Ministry provides the course material for free to students, religious education teachers participating in the program are funded directly from municipal budgets.
The Office of the Chief Mufti also supports summer Quranic education courses.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
While the state of religious freedom improved for some “nontraditional” groups, other groups continued to face limited discrimination and antipathy from local authorities, despite successfully registering through the Sofia City Court. Article 19 of the 2002 Denominations Act states that nationally registered religious groups may have local branches. The law does not require formal local registration of denominations, although some municipalities claimed that it does.
Some municipalities, such as Rousse, Shumen, Pleven, Stara Zagora, Plovdiv, Blagoevgrad, and Kurdzhali, had local ordinances curtailing religious practices that have not been changed to conform to the 2002 Denominations Act. In most cases, these ordinances were not strictly enforced, although Mormon missionaries were prevented from distributing religious pamphlets in Plovdiv and Pleven.
The Ahmadi Muslim Organization reported that Blagoevgrad authorities obstructed its members\’ right to practice. On December 8, 2006, the local public prosecutor brought a case against the Ahmadi community for carrying out religious activities without proper national registration. The group resorted to registering as a nongovernmental organization (NGO) after its attempt to register as a religious group nationally was denied in 2005. The prosecution challenged the group\’s NGO status, claiming that the Ahmadis went beyond NGO boundaries by proselytizing and holding religious meetings. The case was pending at the end of the reporting period. Public Prosecutor Maria Zoteva of Blagoevgrad reportedly opposed the community, noting that it had already been denied registration and implying that the community was not an acceptable religion.
The Ahmadi community reapplied for national registration with the Sofia City Court, attempting to register as the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. By law the Sofia City Court may request the opinion of the Religious Confessions Directorate (under the Council of Ministers), which may ask for the Chief Mufti\’s input. The Muftiship seemingly would not consent to any outside group registering as Muslims. The court case was pending at the end of the period covered by this report. The expert statement of the Religious Directorate, released May 8, 2007, stated that the name Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was problematic because the court should not be involved in a theological dispute as to whether Ahmadis are Muslims. Additionally, the Directorate stated that registration of the Ahmadis would “lead to the rise and institutionalization of a very serious dissent in the Muslim community,” and to the spread of an interpretation of Islam that is not traditional in the country.
Some local governments restricted certain forms of proselytizing. In Plovdiv local officials restricted Jehovah Witnesses from much of their proselytizing activity. Special regulations forbid public preaching; a church has the right to preach only in its own place of worship, otherwise individuals risk sanctions. Jehovah\’s Witnesses reported that police in Veliko Tarnovo required missionaries to present proof of registration before they could preach publicly. One member said that municipal police often stopped Jehovah\’s Witnesses who were conducting missionary activity, asked them to show their identity papers, and warned them to stop their activity. Unlike in previous periods, no missionaries reported being arrested or fined for proselytizing.
While municipalities such as Burgas, Plovdiv, Pleven, Pernik, Stamboliyski, Haskovo, and Targovishte had decrees prohibiting the offering of religious literature “on the streets and at the houses of citizens” or allowing religious literature only from the religious group registered by the municipality, during the reporting period some of these decrees were changed or softened.
Jehovah\’s Witnesses were rarely stopped while engaging in preaching activity; however, on May 24, 2007, police stopped and questioned a 14-year-old Jehovah\’s Witness preaching with an adult companion in Gorna Oryahovitsa. A local newspaper published an article accusing the group of breaking the law by using underage children to distribute “religious propaganda.”
On April 25, 2007, police stopped two Jehovah\’s Witnesses preaching in Veliko Tarnovo and asked them to produce proof that they had the right to preach publicly. The police officers wrote a protocol and warned the two to discontinue their public preaching or there would be serious consequences.
Jehovah\’s Witnesses also reported that local authorities obstructed the construction of a meeting house in Varna; after a long battle, they gained permission to begin construction on May 7, 2007. After the municipality blocked the construction, the group took the case to court and won the lower court decision and the appeal. They reapplied to have the permit verified in March 2007, and after new complaints and a new refusal to grant permission to begin construction, the survey was finally verified on May 7, 2007.
The country\’s entry into the European Union on January 1, 2007, lifted visa restrictions for EU citizens, making it significantly easier for EU-member missionaries to work in the country. In contrast with previous years, there were no reports of foreign missionaries being denied visas.
Local political and religious leaders in the Smolyan area alleged that local education authorities discouraged female students from wearing headscarves in public schools. An NGO filed a complaint with the Commission Against Discrimination (CPD) stating that the local policy effectively banned headscarves. While there is no formal national policy on religious symbols in schools, the Commission decided in August 2006 that school uniform requirements did not discriminate against female Muslim students.
There were no indications that the Government discriminated against members of any religious group in restitution of properties that were nationalized during the communist period. However, the BOC, Catholic Church, Muslim community, Jewish community, and several Protestant denominations complained that a number of their confiscated properties had not been returned. For example, the Catholic Church reported that the Government was less responsive than in previous periods, with the courts refusing to restitute a few properties.
The Jewish community reported difficulties in recovering some restituted buildings, including a hospital in central Sofia and a former rabbi’s house in Varna. After the Government formed a special commission in 2006 to review seven outstanding claims of the Jewish community, the commission’s report, presented to the Prime Minister in October 2006, found that the community had valid claims and recommended that the Government either return the properties to the community or find comparable properties as compensation. The commission chose not to review the controversial 2005 court decision on the Rila Hotel, which held that the expropriation procedure was properly executed by the communist government and that the community was not legally entitled to any further compensation. The Government and Shalom were working on resolving all outstanding restitution cases at the end of the period covered by this report.
The Constitution prohibits the formation of political parties along religious lines.
Military law does not allow religious groups to conduct any activity on military premises and prohibits ministering at any level within the armed forces. However, military personnel can attend religious events outside the barracks.
Minority religious groups complained they had no access to television to broadcast religious services or programs. One Protestant radio group was given a broadcast in 2002, but as of 2006 it had not been allocated a frequency. The case was taken to the Supreme Court.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the country.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
The Alternative Orthodox Synod continued to await a decision from the European Court of Human Rights on the case related to the 2004 forceful expulsion of its members from their parishes.
Protestants said that heavily Muslim areas with a majority ethnic Turkish population sometimes place restrictions on their worship. Protestant pastor Pavel Hristov, head of the Bulgarian Missionary Network, reported that in the town of Djebel, a church which failed to apply for a tax declaration in time was closed by the local court. The pastor claimed that the ethnic Turkish authorities were searching for an excuse to move against the church.
In July 2005 a Jehovah’s Witness was fined by Plovdiv authorities for “distributing brochures with religious content,” but on July 17, 2006, the Plovdiv District Court dismissed the penalty upon appeal. Jehovah\’s Witnesses reported that no members were fined for distributing religious literature during the period covered by this report.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
Dimitar Stoyanov, a member of the extremist political party Ataka and a new Member of the European Parliament as of January 1, 2007, stated that he opposed the “Jewish establishment” and was quoted saying, “There are a lot of powerful Jews, with a lot of money, who are paying the media to form the social awareness of the people. They are also playing with economic crises in countries like Bulgaria and getting rich.”
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
Despite initial fears that the 2002 Denominations Act would hamper religious organizations’ ability to operate freely, the number of groups registered with the Government increased from 36 in 2003, when the Sofia City Court took over this responsibility, to 85 in 2007.
Some religious denominations reported that the Religious Confessions Directorate had become more active in assuring that national and local authorities respect and promoted religious freedom and that the national government was more receptive to their concerns. For example, a Protestant group, the Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association, gained legal status on February 23, 2007. The association represents approximately 120 Protestant pastors and individuals mainly affiliated with the Church of God and Assemblies of God but also includes Baptists and Lutherans.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
There were some reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice.
Relations between different religious groups generally remained civil and tolerant; however, discrimination, harassment, and public intolerance of some religious groups remained an intermittent problem. While human rights groups reported that societal discrimination against “nontraditional” religious groups continued to gradually lessen, it was not uncommon for the media to disseminate negative and derogatory stories about such groups. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) reported a slight improvement with media, but Jehovah\’s Witnesses continued to report numerous print and broadcast media stories with negative, derogatory, and sometimes slanderous information about their activities and beliefs.
The Chief Mufti\’s Office reported several cases of mosque desecrations. On May 3, 2007, pigs\’ heads were hung on two mosques in Silistra. In late July 2006, a swastika was drawn on the wall of the mosque in Kazanluk; police identified the perpetrators as five teenagers who were part of a group of soccer fans spraying graffiti on buildings, apparently without political or ethnic motives. On July 26, 2006, the Kazanluk mosque was set on fire by a torch thrown through a window. On July 18, 2006, a window of the Banyabassi Mosque in Sofia was broken, and the door of a mosque in the town of Aytos was defaced with paint. The Chief Mufti’s Office expressed concern that while the vandals were usually apprehended, they rarely received legal penalties or punishments. The National Assembly adopted a declaration condemning the escalating threats to religious tolerance and ethnic peace.
VMRO, a fringe political party, attempted unsuccessfully to disrupt a large gathering of Jehovah\’s Witnesses on April 28 and 29, 2007, in the city of Dobrich, and the municipality allowed the organization to go on with the event. A few weeks prior, on April 2, 2007, the VMRO succeeded in preventing a religious gathering of Jehovah\’s Witnesses in Varna, forcing cancellation of their contract with the Palace Cinema. Leading up to the April 28-29 gathering, local media outlets publicized VMRO views on Jehovah’s Witnesses, citing the group\’s comments about the antisocial practices of Jehovah\’s Witnesses, their demands that the municipality stop the gathering, and threats to gather “members and sympathizers” as a sign of protest. After intervention from the Religious Confessions Directorate, the municipality of Dobrich provided Jehovah\’s Witnesses with enough police protection to assure that the event was not disrupted.
The Ataka party launched a campaign to silence the speakers on the Sofia Mosque, claiming that the invitation to prayer was disturbing persons in the capital’s central area. On the request of the Sofia mayor, the Chief Mufti\’s Office promised to turn down the volume “if [it] exceeded the permitted limit.”
In November 2006 some newspapers published articles alleging that the Ahmadi Muslims were terrorists and asserting that letting Ahmadis register was a threat to national security.
The investigation into the 2005 desecration of Turkish graves in Haskovo by three teenagers was ongoing at the end of the reporting period, and a case regarding the cancelled traineeship of a young female Jehovah\’s Witness student was pending in the Supreme Administrative Court.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The U.S. Embassy regularly monitored religious freedom in contacts with government officials, Members of Parliament (MPs), clergy and lay leaders of religious communities, and NGOs.
Embassy officers met with Orthodox leaders and clergy, senior and local Muslim leaders, religious and lay leaders of the Jewish community, and leaders of numerous Protestant and “nontraditional” denominations. During the period covered by this report, the Embassy remained closely engaged with government officials, MPs, religious organizations, and NGOs concerning the 2002 Denominations Act. The Embassy also remained concerned with government interference in the BOC schism and with reports of discrimination against “nontraditional” religious organizations. Embassy representatives met with various religious groups and government entities regarding the restitution of properties and with Muslim leaders regarding Islamic extremism and the Muslim leadership dispute.
Released on September 14, 2007
Important Bulgarian Books
Haralan Popov. Bulgarska Golgota. Sofia: Ab Publishing House, 2005.
English title: Bulgarian Golgotha. First edition in Bulgarian. The book was originally published in 1980 in Grand Rapids under the title Tortured for the Faith. It tells the story of one of the fifteen Bulgarian pastors of the infamous Pastoral Trial of 1948-1949 which took place in Bulgaria. During the trial, evangelical ministers were sentenced to years in maximum security prisons for allegedly serving as spies for various western governments. Pastor Haralan Popov spent over thirteen years in various prison facilities across Bulgaria, many of them were at the notorious Belene Death Camp located on an island in the middle of the Danube River.
Ivan Zarev. Istoria na ewangelskite petdesiatni carkvi v Bulgaria 1920-1989. Sofia, 1993.
English title: History of the Evangelical Pentecostal Churches in Bulgaria 1920-1989. The author served as pastor and president of the Union of Pentecostal Churches in Bulgaria during the time of the Communist Regime. This publication is the first attempt to provide a historical overview of the Bulgarian Pentecostal Movement published in the Bulgarian vernacular after the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Mitko Mattev. Na Slovoto Ti upovah … Sofia: ORA Bulgaria, 1993.
English title: Your Word I Trusted. First edition in Bulgarian. The book tells the story of one of the fifteen Bulgarian pastors of the infamous Pastoral Trial of 1948-1949 which took place in Bulgaria. During the trial evangelical ministers were sentenced to years in maximum security prisons for allegedly serving as spies for various western governments. Pastor Mitko Mateev spent over four years in various prison facilities across Bulgaria, many of them were at the notorious Belene Death Camp located on an island in the middle of the Danube River.
Hristo Kulichev ed., Dimitar Furnadjiev, Gerasim Popov, Todor Shopov, Vladimir Todorv-Hindalov. Vestiteli na istinata. 2ed. Bulgarsko Bibleisko Druzhestvo, 1994.
English title: Heralds of the Truth: A History of the Evangelical Churches in Bulgaria.
The book is, by far the most comprehensive historical overview of the Bulgarian Evangelist Movement available in the Bulgarian vernacular. It was combined by Bulgarian evangelical pastors prior to the establishment of the Communist Regime in 1944 and reedited after the Fall of the Berlin Wall. The editor, Pastor Hristo Kulichev, is one of the Bulgarian heroes of the evangelical faith who survived persecution for his faith by the Regime to tell a story that needs to be remembered by future generations.
Pavel Ignatov, Bezkravnoto gonenie na carkvata. Sofia: Lik, 2004
English title: The Bloodless Persecution of the Church.
The author has served as a pastor for the Central Church of God in Sofia and a head presbyter of the Church of God in Bulgaria since 1982. This is his first book which overviews the roots of the Bulgarian Protestant movement, follows through the establishment of the first Pentecostal churches in Bulgaria in 1920 and continues with the persecution of the underground Church of God in Bulgaria during the Communist Regime (1944-1989) and spiritual revival in Bulgaria which followed in the early years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
Pavel Ignatov, Problemi na evangelizma (Chast 1). Sofia: Lik, 2006
English title: Problems of Evangelism (Part 1)
The author has served as a pastor for the Central Church of God in Sofia and a head presbyter of the Church of God in Bulgaria since 1982. This is his second book which deals with the roots of Protestantism in the Bulgarian lands and follows the history of the contemporary Bulgarian evangelical movement through the establishment of the Communist Regime in Bulgaria in 1944.
Mladen Mladenov, Epizod na viarata. Sofia: Maranatha, 2002.
English title: Episode of Faith.
This is an autobiography of Bulgarian Pentecostal pastor Mladen Mladenov. The book tells the story of his life, salvific experience, calling to ministry and his exile for preaching the Gospel. The author chooses short stories from each period of his life to convey his personal experience as a Christian believer and minister during and after the Communist Regime in Bulgaria (1944-1989). The book concludes with several devotions that have become stepping stones in the ministry of Pastor Mladenov.
Church of God Theological Seminary Address (MP3)
Click on the link to listen to the message: https://cupandcross.com/news/2004-05/address.mp3
Cup & Cross to Release New Ministry DVD
A new DVD is to be released by Cup & Cross Ministries next month. The documentary film covers the activities of the ministry in Easter Europe in the past three years with a special focus on the X Youth Event, which Cup & Cross has been holding in various Bulgarian locations for several years now. The release is a co-production of Shalom TV, the Bulgarian Faith Channel, a Bulgarian Sound Studio of Nashville and Cup & Cross’ own media team. The film will be broadcasted on Bulgarian televisions while being made available on the internet and released as a DVD.
Molitvata.com Released
A new website dedicated to prayer and fasting was released on April 1, 2007. Molitvata.com (the prayer) is an web co-production of Bibliata.com and Wide-and-High Ministries which presents prayer needs of Bulgarian evangelicals.
