AGAPE, AGAPIE (dt-ydr72, eryclraL), the Greek term for love, used by ecclesiastical writers (most frequently in the plural) to signify the social meal of the primitive Christians, which generally accom panied the Eucharist. Much learned research has been spent in tracing the origin of this custom ; but though considerable obscurity may rest on the details, the general historical connection is tolerably obvious. It is true that the gpavot and gratpiat, and other similar institutions of Greece and Rome, presented some points of resemblance which facili tated both the adoption and the abuse of the Agapm by the Gentile converts of Christianity ; but we cannot consider them as the direct models of the latter. If we reflect on the profound impression which the transactions of ' the night on which the Lord was betrayed' (i Cor. xi. 23) must have made on the minds of the apostles, nothing can be conceived more natural, or in closer accordance with the genius of the new dispensation, than a wish to perpetuate the commemoration of his death in connection with their social meal (Neander, Leben yesu, p. 643 • or Eng. Transl. The life of Christ, translated from the fourth German edition ; Bolin 1851, p. 431. Geschichte der Pjlan zung tend Leitung, etc., 4th ed., vol. i. p. 36 ; Eng. Transl. History of the Planting and Training of the Christian Church, etc., vol. i. p. 23). The celebration of the Eucharist impressed a sacredness on the previous repast (comp. gathoorcov colrfov, Matt. xxvi. 26 ; Mark xiv. 22, with fiera ra aeorvijo-at, Luke xxii. 2o ; 1 Cor. xi. 25) ; and when to this consideration we add the ardent faith and love of the new converts on the one hand, and the disruption of old connections and attachments on the other, which must have heightened the feeling of brotherhood, we need not look further to account for the institution of the Agapse, at once a symbol of Christian love and a striking exemplification of its benevolent energy. How ever soon its purity was soiled, at first it was not undeserving of the eulogy pronounced by the great orator of the church—Mos Kai xpnot uararoo' Kai yap ct-ydr77s inrbGeols xal 7rapa,uvela, Kal 7rXoeirou acocbpovecrubs, Ka! rarrewo MaoKaMa. ' A custom most beautiful and most beneficial ; for it was a supporter of love, a solace of poverty, a moderator of wealth, and a discipline of humility !' Thus the common meal and the Eucharist formed together one whole, and were conjointly denomi nated Selsrvov Tel Kup/ou, Kuptadv, and cl-ydrn. They were also signified (according to Mosheim, Neander, and other eminent critics) by the phrases KNEVres aprov (Acts ii. 46), adent Tor)
dprov (Acts ii. 42), acicrat itprov (Acts xx. 7). We find the term erydrat thus applied once, at least, in the New Testament (Jude 12), These are spots in your feasts of charity' iryciirats i),(u2v). The reading in 2 Pet. ii. 13 is of doubtful authority : Spots and blemishes, living luxuriously in their Agapm' (ivrpurpet'vrcs iv rail cirycirats. coirc2v) ; the common reading is iv rail circtrats 'in their own deceivings.' The phrase cirydr7F 7roteiv was early employed in the sense of celebrating the Eucharist ; thus in the epistle of Ignatius to the church at Smyrna, § viii. etc i 6v xwpIo rot arc dire VOVIV. In § vii. leyarp appears to refer more especially to the Agapm.
By ecclesiastical writers several synonymes are used for the Agap, such as (Balsamon, ad Can. xxvii. Conch. Laadicen.); notval rpctirqca, eUr.oxia, notval kncicre4s, 'coma aticr6o-ta(Chrysostom); SEE7rva nowd CEcumenius) ; Kai (Zonaras).
The Agapx are not alluded to in Justin Martyr's description of the Eucharist (Apol. i. § 65, 67); Tertullian, on the contrary, in his account of the Agapm, makes no distinct mention of the Eucharist. The nature of our C'erna,' he says, may be gathered from its name, which is the Greek term for love Wheelie)). However much it may cost us, it is real gain to incur such expense in the cause of piety : for we aid the poor by this refreshment ; we do not sit down to it till we have first tasted of prayer to God (non prizes discumbitur, quam °ratio ad Deum prapestetur) ; we eat to satisfy our hunger ; we drink no more than befits the tem perate ; we feast as those who recollect that they are to spend the night in devotion ; we converse as those who know that the Lord is an ear-witness. After water for washing hands, and lights have been brought in, every one is required to sing something to the praise of God, either from the Scriptures or from his own thoughts ; by this means, if any one has indulged in excess, he is detected. The feast is closed with prayer.' Contributions or oblations of provisions and money were made on these occasions, and the surplus was placed in the hands of the presiding elder (6 rpoEurrl)s—compare I Tim. v. 17, at by whom it was applied to the relief of orphans and widows, the sick and destitute, prisoners and strangers (Tertull. Apol. § 39 ; Justin. Apol. i. 67). In the first age of the Church, the Eucharist was celebrated after the Agapx, but in Chrysostom's time the order was frequently reversed. (Hamill. xxii. xxvii. in 1 Con xi.