A pastor in Mozambique died on Wednesday, February 15, after trying to fast for 40 days, imitating what Jesus is said to have done in the Bible.
According to BBC News, Francisco Barajah, the founder of the Santa Trindade Evangelical Church, died at a Hospital in the city of Beira, where he was evacuated due to his critical condition.
After 25 days without food or water, he had already lost weight to the point where he could not stand on his feet.
His brother Marques Manuel Barajah said the pastor had fasted, but he challenged the medical diagnosis of his death.
“The truth is that my brother suffered from low blood pressure,” Marques Manuel Barajah stated.
Barajah (39) was diagnosed with acute anaemia and failure of his digestive organs.
He was rehydrated with serums and an attempt was made to introduce liquid foods, but it was too late and he died.
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The pastor was also a French teacher in the town of Messica in the central province of Manica, bordering Zimbabwe.
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Members of the Santa Trindade Church clarified that it was common for the pastor and his followers to carry out a fasting period, but not for that long.
In 2015, local media reported that a Zimbabwean man died after 30 days of fasting.
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One cannot help but wonder, was Barajah’s death a result of divine intervention or was it just an unfortunate event? Despite the tragedy, one thing is for sure, the pastor’s commitment to his faith and his attempt to imitate Jesus’ fasting has left a mark on his followers.
As they say, religion can move mountains, but it seems that it cannot always conquer bodily limitations.
