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Agape feast

"Love feast" redirects here. For other uses, see Love feast (disambiguation).

Fresco of a banquet[a] at a tomb in the Catacomb of Saints Marcellinus and Peter, Via Labicana, Rome.
A Moravian diener serves bread to fellow members of her congregation during the celebration of a lovefeast at Bethania Moravian Church in North Carolina.

An agape feast or lovefeast (also spelled love feast or love-feast, sometimes capitalized) is a term used for various communal meals shared among Christians.[2] The name comes from the Greek word ἀγάπη (agape), which implies love in the sense of brotherly or familial affection.

Agape meals originated in the early Church and was a time of fellowship for believers.[2][3] The Eucharist was a part of the lovefeast in the earliest times, although at some point (probably between the latter part of the 1st century AD and 250 AD), the two became separate.[4][5][6] Thus, in modern time revivals of this tradition, terms such as "Lovefeast" refer to meals distinct from the Eucharist.[7] Such lovefeasts, celebrated within the Eastern Orthodox tradition and also in pietistic traditions, seek to strengthen the brotherly bonds between parishioners.[8]

The practice of sharing an agape meal is mentioned in Jude 1:12 of the Christian Bible and has been said to be a "common meal of the early church".[9] References to communal meals are discerned in 1 Corinthians 11:17–34 and 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,[10] (ca. 111 A.D.) 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".[7] Similar communal meals are attested also in the Coptic Tradition often identified as the Apostolic Tradition attributed to Hippolytus of Rome, who does not use the term agape, and in works of 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 with fasting in the morning and the agape in the evening.[7] The Synod of Gangra in 340 makes mention of lovefeasts in relation to a heretic who had barred his followers from attending them.[11]

Though still mentioned in the Quinisext Council of 692, the agape meal fell into disuse soon after, except among the churches in Ethiopia and India.[7][12] At the end of the 18th century, the Carmelite friar Paolino da San Bartolomeo reported that the ancient Saint Thomas Christians of India still celebrated the lovefeast, using their typical dish called appam.[12][13] In addition, Radical Pietist groups originating in the eighteenth-century, such as the Schwarzenau Brethren and the Moravian Church, celebrate the lovefeast. Methodist churches also continue the practice.[8]

Similar practices have been revived or created more recently among other groups, including Anglicans,[7] as well as the American house church movement.[14] The modern lovefeast has often been used in ecumenical settings, such as between Methodists and Anglicans.[15]

  1. ^ "Catacombe", Storia [History] (in Italian), Italy, archived from the original on 18 January 2010, retrieved 8 September 2007
  2. ^ a b Coveney, John (2006). Food, Morals and Meaning: The Pleasure and Anxiety of Eating. Routledge. p. 74. ISBN 9781134184484. For the early Christians, the agape signified the importance of fellowship. It was a ritual to celebrate the joy of eating, pleasure, and company.
  3. ^ Burns, Jim (10 July 2012). Uncommon Youth Parties. Gospel Light Publications. p. 37. ISBN 9780830762132. During the days of the Early Church, the believers would all gather together to share what was known as an agape feast, or 'love feast.' Those who could afford to bring food brought it to the feast and shared it with the other believers.
  4. ^ Walls, Jerry L.; Collins, Kenneth J. (2010). Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation. Baker Academic. p. 169. ISBN 9781493411740. So strong were the overtones of the Eucharist as a meal of fellowship that in its earliest practice it often took place in concert with the Agape feast. By the latter part of the first century, however, as Andrew McGowan points out, this conjoined communal banquet was separated into 'a morning sacramental ritual [and a] prosaic communal supper.'
  5. ^ Davies, Horton (1999). Bread of Life and Cup of Joy: Newer Ecumenical Perspectives on the Eucharist. Wipf & Stock. p. 18. ISBN 9781579102098. Agape (love feast), which ultimately became separate from the Eucharist ....
  6. ^ Daughrity, Dyron (2016). Roots: Uncovering Why We Do What We Do in Church. ACU Press. p. 77. ISBN 9780891126010. Around AD 250 the lovefeast and Eucharist seem to separate, leaving the Eucharist to develop outside the context of a shared meal.
  7. ^ a b c d e "agape", Dictionary of the Christian Church (article), Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3
  8. ^ a b Crowther, Jonathan (1815). A Portraiture of Methodism: Or, The History of the Wesleyan Methodists. T. Blanshard. pp. 282–283.
  9. ^ Stutzman, Paul Fike (1 January 2011). Recovering the Love Feast: Broadening Our Eucharistic Celebrations. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 42. ISBN 9781498273176.
  10. ^ Pliny, To Trajan, vol. Book 10, Letter 97, archived from the original on 30 May 2012
  11. ^ "NPNF2-14. The Seven Ecumenical Councils". CCEL.org. Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
  12. ^ a b Paolino da San Bartolomeo (1800). A voyage to the East Indies: containing an account of the manners, customs &c. of the natives. Vernor and Hood. p. 198. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  13. ^ Yeates, Thomas (1818). Indian Church History. Richard Edwards. p. 160. The Christians of St. Thomas, says Fra. Paolino, still celebrate their Agapae, or love-feasts, as was usual in former times.
  14. ^ Supper, Sanctification, archived from the original on 6 January 2010
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tovey2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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