Love Feasts

Love feasts (Greek agapai) were communal meals held by the early Christian community, apparently distinct from or closely associated with the Lord's Supper. The term appears in the NT in Jude 12, where false teachers are condemned for being "hidden reefs" at the agape feasts, and in 2 Peter 2:13 (in some manuscripts). From early Christian sources — Ignatius, Tertullian, and the Didache — it is clear that these communal meals served to feed the poor, demonstrate brotherhood across social divisions, and accompany the celebration of the Eucharist. Paul's rebuke in 1 Corinthians 11:17–34 likely addresses abuses at a combined love feast and Lord's Supper gathering: the wealthy ate their own food and became drunk while the poor went hungry, destroying the communal testimony of the meal. The agape meal subsequently became separated from the eucharistic rite as the church grew and liturgical practice became more formalized. Love feasts represent an important strand of early Christian social practice that expressed the leveling of class distinctions in the body of Christ.