Agapae (Gr.Agapae 100112 plur.Agapae 100113 love; generally used in the plural), feasts of love, originally a simple meal, taken by the primitive Christians, at first in their places of worship and in connection with the eucharist. It usually followed the sacrament, but there is reason to suppose that it sometimes preceded it, especially in the earliest times. Extravagance and disorder seem to have been early introduced at these feasts in some places, and were rebuked by St. Paul in 1 Cor. xi. In the 2d century the eucharist came to be commonly celebrated alone. The agapae) were suspected by the Roman government as scenes of secret intrigue. They were regulated by various councils down to the 9th century, and gradually disappeared. In modern times they have been revived, under the name of love leasts, by the Moravians and Methodists.