Pretoria – A pastor has died after going 25 days without food and water while emulating Jesus with His 40-day fast.
Francisco Barajah, 39, founder of the Santa Trindade Evangelical Church, died at a hospital in the city of Beira, where he was evacuated in a critical condition, the BBC reported.
After 25 days, Barajah reportedly lost so much weight he could not stand up.
The BBC said his relatives and church members agreed to take him to hospital where he was diagnosed with acute aneamia and organ failure.
“He was rehydrated with serums and an attempt was made to introduce liquid foods, but it was too late and and he died,” the BBC reported.
According to the BBC, members of the Santa Trindade Church said it was common for the pastor and his followers to fast, but not for that long.
However, his brother Marques Manuel Barajah challenged the medical diagnosis about the pastor’s death.
“The truth is that my brother suffered from low blood pressure,” he was quoted as saying.
It was also reported that Barajah was a French teacher in the town of Messica in the central province of Manica.
Barajah is not the first devoted Christian to die trying to mimic Jesus. A 34-year-old woman in London died in 2006 after trying to follow Christ's fast by going 23 days without food or water.
Speaking to the Independent UK, her sister Juliet Gilbert said her sister only drank water and read the Bible.
“She was very religious and she used to say she was a child of God. She was not any particular Christian denomination but she was so strong in her beliefs,” Gilbert told the publication.
IOL