A man of God in Mozambique has died after attempting to fast for 40 days, following the example of Christ in the Bible. Francisco Barajah, founder of the Santa Trindade Evangelical Church, died at a hospital in the city of Beira, where he was taken in critical condition.
Barajah had fasted for 25 days without food or water, causing him to lose weight to the point where he could not stand up. He was 39 years old. His relatives and followers insisted that he be taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed with acute anaemia and failure of his digestive organs.
The pastor was rehydrated with serums and an attempt was made to introduce liquid foods, but it was too late, and he died on Wednesday. Barajah was also a French teacher in the town of Messica in the central province of Manica, bordering Zimbabwe.
Members of the Santa Trindade Church said that while it was common for the pastor and his followers to fast, it was not for such a long period. However, Barajah’s brother, Marques Manuel Barajah, challenged the medical diagnosis about his brother’s death, claiming that he suffered from low blood pressure instead.
This is not the first reported case of a deadly attempt to imitate Christ’s 40-day fast in the desert, as described in the Gospel of Matthew. In 2015, a Zimbabwean man died after 30 days of fasting, and in 2006, a British coroner found that a woman died halfway through a similar fast in London.
