Hopko’s seventh maxim, ‘Eat good foods in moderation and fast on fast days’, is rooted in the understanding that food is a good gift of God, not an enemy to be conquered or a god to be served. For an autistic Orthodox Christian, this means resisting both obsessive preoccupation with food (tracking every gram, endlessly researching diets, catastrophic thinking if routines change), and a kind of practical Manichaeism that treats certain foods as ‘unclean’ in themselves rather than receiving all things with thanksgiving and discernment. Food becomes truly Christian when it is eaten with gratitude, with a blessing, and with the intention that your body be strong enough to love God and neighbour in prayer, work, and service. So, moderation is not merely ‘eating less’, but eating so that your body remains a servant of your nous (heart, centre of soul), rather than your nous becoming a servant of your belly.
However, autistic people often live with real sensory issues, interoceptive differences, and very concrete needs around blood sugar and routine, and these should not be ignored in the name of a false asceticism. If you struggle to notice hunger or thirst, interoception-aware strategies such as setting alarms for meals, using visual schedules, or linking food to fixed daily events (after Matins, after work, before Compline) can be a humble, ascetical way of ‘keeping watch’ over the body, rather than a lack of faith. Choosing ‘good foods’ here can simply mean foods that you can tolerate sensorially, that nourish you and keep your blood sugar reasonably stable, so that you are less vulnerable to meltdowns and ‘hangry’ episodes that make prayer, confession, and peaceful relationships much harder. This may involve eating smaller, frequent meals, ensuring some protein and fat at each meal, and having safe, predictable snacks available before services or stressful social situations.
Given that fasting is an integral part of the Orthodox life, neurodivergent Christians will need to do so with discernment, taking into account their sensory, medical, and psychological needs. The Fathers insist that there is no single rule of fasting for everyone, but one common goal: the point of fasting is to use food for salvation, not self-destruction. Precisely what this means for each individual is something to be discussed with your parish priest or spiritual father/mother with a view to finding a modified rule of fasting that maintains the routines and nutrients needed to prevent meltdowns/shutdowns, while still gently limiting excess, emotional eating, or impulsive snacking. Thus, Hopko’s maxim becomes a compassionate path that enables us to receive food as gift, honour our autistic wiring, and slowly train both body and soul to live in grateful, watchful freedom before God.
