Pastor dies after attempting to go without food or water for 40 days to fast like Jesus

A pastor in Mozambique has died after attempting to fast for 40 days to emulate Jesus Christ.

Francisco Barajah, founder of the Santa Trindade Evangelical Church, was bidding to emulate the feats of Christ detailed in the Bible, but he died in a hospital in the city of Beira.

According to the BBC, the 39-year-old was unable to stand after 25 days without food or water, and he was taken to hospital on the insistence of his family and followers.

Barajah family

He was diagnosed with acute anaemia and failure of his digestive organs, and doctors rehydrated Barajah with serums and attempted to introduce liquid foods; however, he could not be saved and he died on Wednesday (15 February).

Members of the Santa Trindade Church said Barajah - who was also a French teacher - regularly fasted, but never for such a prolonged period.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Christ fasts for 40 days in the desert, and people have previously made fatal attempts to replicate the fast.

Barajah family

In 2021, a man who thought fasting for 40 days and nights would result in God giving him a Lamborghini almost died after attempting the extreme fast.

The 27-year-old church youth leader from Bindura in central Zimbabwe took himself off to a mountainous area where he hid out so no one would try and attempt to make him eat.

He was rescued 33 days later looking 'frail and almost unrecognisable', Mbare Times reported.

The man had been fasting in the hopes of getting a Lamborghini for his girlfriend, who told him it was her 'dream car'.

Unable to afford such a flash car, the man thought fasting might encourage God to step in and help him out.

Luckily for him, he was found in the nick of time and taken to Bindura General Hospital.

The details of his fast are not clear, but people can live for several weeks without food; however, survival time is cut much shorter without water, raising questions about how Barajah reportedly made it 25 days without food or water.

Speaking to NBC News in 2013, Dr Claude Piantadosi, of Duke University in North Carolina, said: "I have sort of a 100-hour rule. Depending on the temperature you are exposed to, you can go 100 hours without drinking at an average temperature outdoors.

"If it's cooler, you can go a little longer. If you are exposed to direct sunlight, it's less."

While Randall Packer, an expert on the body's water balance at George Washington University, added: "The more energy you expend the more likely you are to lose water.

"You lose a little bit of water every time you exhale. You lose water when you sweat.

"You do make a little water when you metabolise food... but the balance is such that you always need some sort of water intake."