Wals Agape 12y: Why This SoundCloud Artist is Taking the Internet by Storm

An agape feast or lovefeast (also spelled love feast or love-feast, sometimes capitalized) is a communal meal shared among Christians.[2] The name comes from agape, a Greek term for 'love' in its broadest sense.

Wals Agape 12y

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Though still mentioned in the Quinisext Council of 692, the agape 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]

Soon after the year 100, Ignatius of Antioch refers to the agape feast.[19] In Letter 97 to Trajan,[20] Pliny the Younger perhaps indicates, in about 112, that such a meal was normally taken separately from the Eucharistic celebration (although he is silent about its nomenclature): he speaks of the Christians separating after having offered prayer, on the morning of a fixed day, to Christ as God, and reassembling later for a common meal.[21] The rescheduling of the agape meal was triggered by Corinthian selfishness and gluttony.[22] Tertullian too seems to write of these meals,[23][24] though what he describes is not quite clear.[7]

At least some of the Oriental Orthodox churches continue the tradition of this meal, including the Saint Thomas Christians of India.[8] Their Lovefeasts are attended by individuals who travel great distances for it, and are presided over by a priest.[35] They are often held when a new priest is ordained and those in attendance bring gifts for him.[35] The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has also continued to celebrate the agape feast, which is held every Saturday, and many Coptic Orthodox churches celebrate it as well.[36][37][unreliable source?]

The Schwarzenau Brethren groups (the largest being the Church of the Brethren) regularly practice agape feasts (called "Love Feast"), which include feetwashing, a supper, and communion, with hymns and brief scriptural meditations interspersed throughout the worship service.

A number of Eastern Orthodox Christian parishes will have an agape meal (Turkish: sevgi ziyafeti), commonly known as coffee hour (Spanish: café comunitario), on Sundays and feast days following the Divine Liturgy, and especially at the conclusion of the Paschal Vigil.

King described agape as a divine love operating in the heart of man. A selfless love, an incandescent love, the highest there is. He called his Negro audience to cultivate that pure love for their oppressors, that it might carry them to the other side of the struggle. 2ff7e9595c