The pastor had lost so much weight after 25 days he couldn't stand up
A pastor has died after trying to fast for 40 days in an attempt to emulate what Christ is said to have done in the Bible.
Francisco Barajah, founder of the Santa Trindade Evangelical Church in Mozambique, died at a hospital in the city of Beira, where he was evacuated in critical condition, the
BBC reported.
The pastor, who was also a French teacher in the town of Messica in the central province of Manica, bordering Zimbabwe, was 39.
Just past the halfway point, at 25 days without food or water, Barajah had lost so much weight he could not stand up.
He was taken to hospital at the insistence of relatives and followers and was diagnosed with acute anaemia and failure of his digestive organs.
Barajah, the BBC reported, was rehydrated with serums and an attempt was made to introduce liquid foods, but it was too late and and he died Wednesday.
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Members of the Santa Trindade Church said it was common for the pastor and his followers to fast, but not for that long.
The BBC said Barajah's brother, Marques Manuel Barajah, acknowledged his sibling had fasted, but not not accept the medical diagnosis about his passing.
"The truth is that my brother suffered from low blood pressure," he said.
Barajah 40-day fast attempt, as described in the Gospel of Matthew, is not the first, the broadcaster noted.
In 2015, a Zimbabwean man died after 30 days, local media said. In 2006, a British coroner found that a woman died half-way through a similar fast in London.
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