The case of “Petrohan“ in recent weeks has caused a wave of comments, political skirmishes and numerous plots that sound like conspiracy theories.
From an illegal channel, pedophilia, dubious spiritual teachings and even accusations of being a sect. These are some of the doubts and accusations surrounding the “Petrohan“ mystery.
How a woman spent years in a religious community and needed decades to break away from it...
She stands in front of the BTV camera, albeit anonymously - out of fear, but also in the hope of warning other people. How are followers attracted, how is control maintained, and what could the consequences be?
Ivana, this is not her real name, but she stands before us without showing her face. She says she is afraid, but also that silence is not a solution. Her story begins in the 1990s with a seemingly innocuous invitation to an event left in the mailbox.
„I was 30 years old at the time and I had no idea that this would lead me to where many people enter waters they cannot swim in“, the woman shares.
She begins to attend the meetings regularly. They are presented as educational and spiritual courses.
„Like basic teachings of the Bible - that's what this course was called, there was a lot of attendance, we took notes“, Ivana explained.
Gradually her commitments increase. She receives specific tasks and begins to actively participate in the group's activities.
„I am an evangelist, I spread the good news. That's how they presented it to me, that this was the most important task, that God had chosen me to carry out this activity and for that I would receive a reward. Then I ended up where they were gathering people from all over the country - everything was presented as a saving action of Jesus Christ for the population of Bulgaria and that we would receive a reward - eternal life in Paradise“, the woman's story continues.
At that time she was still a student, but gradually the organization began to displace other aspects of her life.
“They constantly drilled into our brains that God was seeking to save people and that this was the mission of their lives and that I was chosen to be such an instrument in the hands of God. "That was my recruitment, I couldn't understand that I was falling into the clutches of religious crime," Ivana explained.
According to her, participants are encouraged to make financial donations and dedicate a large part of their time to the activities. She loses property and money: "They want one tenth of your income immediately, every month, from which they also ask for donations, for their books and lessons. They gave you materials to read so that they could occupy your time, your thoughts, your life. They constantly thought that something had to be given for God's people. If we don't give - we will be cursed by God. I know other members of the group there whose homes were transferred to the sect.“
After years in the trap - Ivana now claims that the main mechanism of influence is strong emotional pressure.
„The feelings that they pumped us with and with which the human mind is most easily manipulated, these are the strongest feelings for suggestion. These are love and fear. Love for God and fear of Him. However, behind the word God stands the leader of the organization“, she says.
The only truth was what they were taught.
„The truth about this and above all that the end of the world is coming, the second coming is coming, before that there will be the coming of the antichrist. That is, they started to scare us with this and that this would happen soon“, says Ivana.
The only way to recruit people for the organization is through courses:
The other is the family way, everyone is obliged to recruit their family circle, friends, acquaintances and tell how much God loved them. The red buttons of life are being pressed, related to the needs of the human soul.
Were there children?
Many, including my daughter, who was 7 years old when I entered and she was 11 years old with me, so there were children's lessons for them.
Defines the basic idea of money, property and free labor.
“This is the goal, enriching the organization, because if it does not recruit people - it will not exist and everyone is lied to, because promises have been made. The organization will provide everything through the guru, who gives instructions on how to live,“ says the woman.
In her words, the lives of the participants gradually begin to be subject to strict rules: “They obsess over your whole life. How you dress, what food to eat, what to drink, what to think, complete devotion to the guru and the organization. If you don't listen - there are also threats that if you leave the group, the Devil or Satan will be on your heels, he will create misfortunes for you that you cannot imagine.“
Thanks to education - and at the risk of the Devil being on her heels - Ivana realizes that she is part of a religious crime. Depressed by the isolation from those closest to her, she tries to find a way out of the closed community.
No religion begins with a call for murder or suicide, but in some cults such a chosen end to life is reached - history knows more than one or two cruel cases of mass religious murders and suicides.
“After I started my thesis, I discovered that many deprogrammers have been threatened before. Members who leave have a lot of trouble and then there are deaths, there are threats. People who explain the criminal activity are threatened, I was threatened too“, says Ivana.
Thus, the woman is already trying to help other victims who are trapped in closed religious communities like the one she lived in. And she says what the most characteristic signs are:
„There is talk of Cosmos, God, the universe, of certain books from which information is drawn, words from the religious dictionary. There is a lot of work with God's curse, which arouses fear in people, they have to help each other, it becomes like a family. You must not make friends, you must not go to restaurants, you must not dance, all social activities are denied and everything is of a prohibitive nature.“
The big trap for new members - the religious texts, which she reveals how they are used selectively:
„One sentence from here, another sentence from there. That is, in all religious societies and cults it is read in a checkerboard pattern. For example, on page 50 of the Bible, one sentence and one paragraph are taken, then you move on to page 5. Sentences are taken selectively and presented as a teaching. As in the Bible it says “Judas went and hanged himself” one sentence from the Gospel and then you go to the Old Testament and take only one sentence, which is “Go and do likewise”. In this way you will never understand what the author wanted to say, but you will always hear what the processor wanted to say“.
Years after Ivana broke away from the group she calls a sect, she is still recovering. Her life will never be the same because she is still afraid of the consequences of leaving the group. But she also has the faith that her experience can help others recognize the dangerous signs in time.