Agape Feast

Agape Feast

The term Agape or Love feast was used of certain religious meals among early Christians that seem to have been originally closely related to the Eucharist. In modern times it is used to refer to a Christian ritual meal distinct from the Eucharist.

References to such communal meals are discerned in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, in Saint Ignatius of Antioch's Letter to the Smyrnaeans, where the term "agape" is used, and in a letter from Pliny the Younger to Trajan, in which he reported that the Christians, after having met "on a stated day" in the early morning to "address a form of prayer to Christ, as to a divinity", later in the day would "reassemble, to eat in common a harmless meal". Similar communal meals are attested also in the "Apostolic Tradition" often attributed to Hippolytus of Rome (who does not use the term "agape") and by Tertullian, who does. The connection between such substantial meals and the Eucharist had virtually ceased by the time of Cyprian (died 258), when the Eucharist was celebrated fasting in the morning and the agape in the evening. The Council of Laodicea of about 363-364 forbade the use of churches for celebrating the Agape or love feast. Though still mentioned in the Quinisext Council of 692, the Agape fell into disuse soon after, except perhaps in Ethiopia.

A form of meal referred to as Agape was introduced among certain eighteenth-century Pietist groups, such as the Schwarzenau Brethren and the Moravian Church, and was adopted by Methodism. The name has been revived more recently among other groups, including Anglicans and the American "House Church" movement.