Little is
recorded on the nature of the early Christian Love Feasts.
They were known by the Christian Love word Agape.
There were prohibitions introduced at various councils,
such forbidding the use of beds or couches in Church
buildings. They were often defamed by non-christians
as immoral affairs.
By Augustine's time they had become something of a
Charity meal, and they had largely ceased by the end of
the Patristic era.
Early Texts include
- St Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaens (No
baptisms or love feasts with out a bishop's
supervision)
- Tertullian
- Plinys letter to Trajan (...the sum and substance of
their fault or error had been that they were
accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing
responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind
themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to
commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their
trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called
upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom
to depart and to assemble again to partake of
food--but ordinary and innocent food) Full Text at Ancient
History
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Early Christianity
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