Agape feast

An agape feast, or love feast, refers to a communal meal that Christians and others such as Freemasons share. The name derives from the Koine Greek word ἀγάπη (agápē), meaning divine love.

The early church began the practice of agape meals to foster fellowship among believers. These early Christians initially celebrated the Eucharist as part of the love feast, but between the late 1st century and around 250 AD, the two rites became distinct. Today, churches that revive this tradition typically use terms like "love feast" to describe meals distinct from the Eucharist. In the Eastern Orthodox Church and various pietistic traditions, Christians continue to celebrate love feasts to strengthen fellowship among parishioners.

Scripture mentions the agape meal in Jude 1:12, and many scholars describe it as a "common meal of the early church." The New Testament contains additional references to such meals, including 1 Corinthians 11:17–34, and Ignatius of Antioch, in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans, uses the word agape. Around 111 AD, Pliny the Younger wrote to Emperor Trajan describing how Christians met on a set day to offer prayers to Christ and then returned later in the day to share a "harmless meal."

The Coptic tradition preserves similar descriptions of communal meals, especially in writings attributed to Hippolytus of Rome, though he does not use the term agape. In contrast, Tertullian does use the term. By the time Cyprian (d. 258 AD) wrote, the Church had separated the Eucharist from the agape, reserving the Eucharist for the morning and the agape for evening fellowship. The Synod of Gangra (340 AD) mentioned love feasts in condemning a heretic who forbade his followers from attending them.

Although the Quinisext Council of 692 AD still referred to the agape feast, most churches soon abandoned the practice—except for churches in Ethiopia and India. In 1800, Carmelite friar Paolino da San Bartolomeo observed that the ancient Saint Thomas Christians in India continued to celebrate the agape meal using their traditional dish, appam. In the 18th century, Radical Pietist groups such as the Schwarzenau Brethren and the Moravian Church also embraced the love feast. The Methodist Church continues this tradition today.

In more recent times, Anglicans and groups involved in the American house church movement have either revived or adopted similar practices. The love feast has also served as an ecumenical tool, fostering unity between Methodists, Anglicans, and others.

Paul the Apostle's First Epistle to the Corinthians provides the earliest reference to a meal of the type called agape, although the term appears only implicitly in 1 Corinthians 13. Many New Testament scholars believe that the Christians in Corinth met in the evening to share a common meal that included a sacramental act involving bread and wine. In 1 Corinthians 11:20–34, Paul associates the rite with participation in a more general communal meal. This meal involved participants bringing their food and eating together in a common room. However, the gathering sometimes deteriorated into mere eating and drinking or displays of wealth, especially in Corinth, which drew Paul's sharp criticism:

"I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?"