Agape (meal)

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The agape , also known as the love meal , is a liturgical meal that dates back to early times in Christianity. On the one hand, it can be understood as the continuation of the meal originally associated with the Eucharist when this satiation meal was omitted in the 2nd century AD, and on the other hand, as a continuation of the table fellowship with Jesus of Nazareth , of which the New Testament reports. As a congregational celebration, differentiated from the Eucharist, the agape became recognizable in the 3rd century and was out of use in the western church around the 5th century , but lived on in Orthodoxy as Artoklasia .

Since the 18th century, the agape was revived as a church celebration in Protestantism, and since the middle of the 20th century also in Catholicism. The spectrum of designing agape celebrations is wide. An agape can be very close to the Eucharistic meal or it can be closer to everyday eating and drinking.

Old church

Artoklasia in the Greek Orthodox Cathedral Annunciation of the Virgin Mary , Ontario, Canada (2013)

The Traditio Apostolica describes an evening agape celebration without, of course, calling it that. It begins with bringing in or igniting the light ( Luzernar ). A bishop presides over the celebration. He blesses the cup with wine; psalms are sung. A special bread ( eulogy ) is broken and distributed. This is the beginning of the actual meal, which is accompanied by a table talk. It is designed in such a way that food remains that is taken away by the participants and then distributed to those in need.

Tertullian emphasizes caring for the poor as the motif of the Agap meal, from which it also got its name (Greek: "love"). Eat and drink only moderately. "After the water has been enough for the hands and the lights have been lit, everyone is asked as he can ... to sing praises to God" - said Tertullian. Clement of Alexandria shows, however, that things were not always ascetic and that some wealthy Christians "dare to call those feasts smelling of roast steam and broths an agape ..."

In the old church, the religious table conversation was part of the essence of the Agap meal. There are similarities here to the ancient symposium as well as to the Jewish Seder meal . Tertullian mentioned that the participant in an agap meal went home “like someone who has less enjoyed a meal than an apprenticeship”. According to the Traditio Apostolica, the bishop led the table talk.

A gathering of the whole community at an agape was hardly possible organizationally. Wealthy Christians made their home available to host, but care was taken to have a cleric lead the event. After the change of Constantine , the liturgical space gained in importance; several synods expressly forbade holding agape celebrations in a basilica . For example, a synod in Laodikeia in the 4th century ordered “that so-called agapes should not be held in church rooms or churches, and that there would be no eating and dining sofas in God's house.” The number of parishioners increased, but the agape was a domestic celebration which not very many people could attend. In Orthodoxy, the old church agape remained alive as Artoklasia .

Moravian Brethren

Usherwomen, Bethania Moravian Church , North Carolina (2015)
Handing out the pastries, Bethania Moravian Church (2015)

In the 18th century, Count Zinzendorf introduced so-called love feasts in the Moravian Brethren . It was originally not Zinzendorf's intention to renew the old church agape. After a sacrament celebration in Berthelsdorf on August 13, 1727, which had been particularly moving for the participants, several small groups spontaneously found themselves who wanted to stay together for a singing lesson until the evening. Zinzendorf had lunch delivered to them from his kitchen. The first love meals were full meals with one or two dishes, pastries and a drink (often also wine), paid for from the joint till or by Count Zinzendorf. The Moravian Love Supper quickly developed into a sociable gathering at weddings, birthdays, after funerals or on the occasion of a visit from a missionary. It offered an alternative to the festivities of the Baroque period and took on a classic form: the parishioners sat together over tea and biscuits, in summer also in gardens if possible. The process was not strictly defined; Talking, singing, reading aloud and table discussions alternated. The preferred date was Saturday.

To this day, the love supper is a hallmark of the Brethren and has a significantly different form than the celebration of the Lord's Supper. At the love supper, ushers in festive clothes, in some places in a special costume, walk through the church. They hand out raisin rolls or milk rolls and a cup of tea to those present. Pieces of music are performed, songs are sung, greetings are spoken, and people pray together. Raisin rolls and tea are sometimes interpreted in such a way that a clear difference to bread and wine should be preserved in the Lord's Supper. Others see it as a conscious anticipation of the sweetness of the heavenly meal of joy.

Schwarzenauer brothers

Love meal with the Schwarzenau brothers ( Harper's Weekly , 1883)

For the Schwarzenau brothers , the love feast used to be a great social event, at which members of the religious community from the wider area came to the host community: a three to five hour meeting on Saturday evening, which was followed by a foot washing according to Jn 13, 1-17  LUT began. This was followed by the agap meal, with men and women traditionally forming separate table groups; today families can sit together. According to the biblical model, the main meal was traditionally a mutton dish, which has now been replaced by beef. You sit at the table, eat the bread and drink from the goblet, while chorales are sung, texts are read from the Bible and speeches are given, in between there are times of silence. The abstinence movement meant that individual goblets and grape juice have replaced drinking from a single goblet with wine. A specially baked, unleavened bread , along with grape juice, is part of a love meal today; There is also a wide variety of dishes: tea, milk, coffee, rolls, biscuits.

The Church of the Brethren as the largest church in the Schwarzenau tradition defines the love feast today as a four-part divine service: 1. reflection on one's personal path of faith, 2. washing each other's feet, 3. common meal and 4. communion as a reminder of the cross and resurrection of Jesus.

Other free churches

John Wesley got to know the love feast in 1737 at the Herrnhutern in Savannah . He noted in his diary: “After the evening prayer we met the Germans for a love feast . It began and ended with thanksgiving and prayer, and was celebrated so dignified and solemn that a Christian of the Apostolic Age would have deemed it worthy of Christ. ”The Love Supper quickly became a hallmark of the Evangelical Revival and a regular feature of Methodist gatherings throughout the world English speaking world. As pastors were lacking in many places in the Methodist churches in colonial areas, communion services were often not possible. Instead, the communities celebrated Agapen as "love festivals". These gatherings were very popular. A Methodist love feast includes witnessing , worship, prayer, and scripture reading. Wherever it is celebrated as a satiety meal, the food is chosen so that it cannot be confused with the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. The usual drink is water. The early Methodists used a special drinking vessel with two or three handles that was passed among the participants, but individual cups have long become the norm.

The Salvation Army does not have a Eucharistic celebration and instead celebrates a love feast to commemorate the Lord's Supper, which is open to all participants. The process and the food consumed can vary depending on the culture.

In the early Baptist congregations in Germany it was customary to stay together for tea and cake in the worship room after the service. For this purpose, the pews in Hamburg were constructed in such a way that they could be folded down as tables for the love meal. In order to promote cohesion and community among the otherwise largely autonomous Baptist congregations, there were love feasts: In a certain region, individual congregations invited the neighboring sister churches to such celebrations. State holidays were particularly popular. Each congregation had its fixed love supper date and on that day it hosted the other congregations. In addition to the sermon, prayer fellowship and common meals, personal experience reports from everyday life played an important role at these events.

Evangelical regional churches (EKD)

Wilhelm Löhe suggested a revival of the ancient Agapemahl in the 19th century. In his Book of Confessions and Communion , he explained that the breaking of the bread of the early community in Jerusalem , of which the Acts of the Apostles relates, happened “for the sacrament and the daily earthly meal”: “Truly, that was a beautiful and holy way to celebrate the sacrament, because the love meal was followed and because the joys of fraternal communion were enjoyed at the earthly meal, after one had sacramentally reunited with the Lord and His holy body. "Since" Lord's Supper and daily meal in union "is not legally possible in Löhe's time He recommended that after returning home from the sacrament service, it should be combined with the family midday meal. One could, for example, invite or support those in need by taking up the social-charitable aspect of the old church agape.

Various models of agape were tried out in the 20th century, often in the context of the liturgical movement .

In the EKD room, it is possible and customary to combine table supper and saturation meal (agape). The Protestant service book contains the following information: A service “in connection with the early Christian tradition of the evening meal” can be celebrated in the adjoining room of a church, in a parish or conference building or in a residential building. After the opening part, a biblical reading is given. B. also happen in a joint table discussion. The Lord's Prayer follows , a Eucharistic grace and the greeting of peace . “Words of institution and distribution are combined (following the example of Martin Luther ) in such a way that the reception of bread and wine follows the corresponding part of the words of institution ." A prayer of thanks, a word of blessing and music at the exit conclude this celebration. When setting up a saturation meal, it should be ensured that - if the saturation meal has preceded it - the table is cleared and prepared for the Eucharistic celebration. In any case, the Lord's Supper and the Satisfaction Supper are "two clearly different, albeit related, parts of this divine service."

The Evangelical Lutheran agende Passion and Easter (2011) gives more precise information about the dinner on Maundy Thursday . If possible, the church interior will be prepared so that there is space to set up tables. An “altar table” can be in the center and surrounded by the other tables, or the sacrament can be instituted at the altar, and bread and wine are then passed around the tables. “At the beginning of the celebration, only the sacrament implements are on the table or the altar, no food. When the sacrament service is over, food is served. That is the clearest form of the separation of one from the other. ”Instead of a sermon there is a“ spiritual dinner speech ”, which can be distributed among several people.

Evangelical Reformed Churches in German-speaking Switzerland

The official liturgical book of the Evangelical Reformed Churches in German-speaking Switzerland , Last Supper (1983), defines the agape as a “community meal ” and suggests various models for it. “Agapes can break open fronts with regard to the question of intercommunion and bring about a new reflection.” The Liturgy Conference regrets that a common Eucharistic celebration with Roman Catholic Christians “is only possible on the edge of legality or even outside of it”. Ecumenical agape celebrations could "temporarily fill the gap and, in addition, perhaps even help pave the way to the common Eucharistic celebration."

Roman Catholic Church

In 1975 the Joint Synod of the Dioceses of the Federal Republic of Germany recommended Agapen following special services. The difference between the Eucharist and agape, however, had to be clearly observed. The Episcopal Ordinariate of the Diocese of Basel gives the following information on the design of Agapen (2005/2018):

  • Clear temporal separation from the sacramental celebration;
  • Non-sacred space;
  • Everyday food and drink, not only (but also) bread and wine;
  • "Avoidance of words and texts which belong to the celebration of the resurrection or which have the Eucharistic words of Jesus as their subject."

The Episcopal Ordinariate of the Diocese of Speyer published a draft of an ecumenical agape in 2015. It is defined as an independent liturgical celebration that can be led by laypeople and does not require liturgical clothing . An agape “is not celebrated at the altar and as a rule not in a church”; it is also no reenactment of historical meals (sitting on the floor) and no imitation of celebrations of other religions or denominations (Seder meal, Artoklasia).

literature

  • Guido Fuchs : grinding culture. Grace and table ritual. Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 1998. ISBN 3-7917-1595-X .
  • Guido Fuchs: Ma (h) l different: Eating and drinking in church services and church rooms. Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2014. ISBN 978-3-7917-7030-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Guido Fuchs: Ma (h) l anders , Regensburg 2014, p. 71.
  2. ^ Tertullian: Apologeticum 39, 16-19.
  3. ↑ Christoph Markschies : The ancient Christianity: piety, life forms, institutions , CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-406-54108-7 , p. 177.
  4. ↑ Clemens of Alexandria: The Pedagogue II 4,3.
  5. ↑ Guido Fuchs: Mahlkultur, Regensburg 1998, p. 214 f.
  6. ↑ Tertullian: Apologeticum 39: 16-19.
  7. ↑ Hippolyt : Traditio Apostolica 29 ( Fontes Christiani 1, 282 f.)
  8. ↑ Guido Fuchs: Ma (h) l anders , Regensburg 2014, p. 72.
  9. ↑ Christoph Markschies : The ancient Christianity: Piety, life forms, institutions , CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-406-54108-7 , p. 178.
  10. ↑ Guido Fuchs: Ma (h) l anders , Regensburg 2014, p. 73.
  11. ↑ William Lütjeharms: community life in the character of the liturgy (worship - Liturgical Traditions - custom) . In: Heinz Renkewitz (ed.): Die Brüder-Unität , Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1967, p. 134–147, here p. 137. Hanns-Joachim Wollstadt: Ordered service in the Christian community, represented by the way of life of the Moravian Brethren in their beginnings , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1966, p. 74.
  12. ↑ Hanns-Joachim Wollstadt: Orderly serving in the Christian community, illustrated by the ways of life of the Moravian Brethren in their beginnings , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1966, p. 74.
  13. ↑ Guido Fuchs: Ma (h) l anders , Regensburg 2014, p. 74.
  14. ↑ Love Supper. In: Evangelical Brothers Unity. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Guido Fuchs: Ma (h) l anders , Regensburg 2014, p. 82 f.
  16. ^ Dale W. Brown: Liturgy . In: Donald F. Durnbaugh (ed.): The Church of the Brethren: Past and Present . Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-7715-0119-9 . Pp. 70–87, here pp. 75 f.
  17. ^ Dale W. Brown: Liturgy . In: Donald F. Durnbaugh (ed.): The Church of the Brethren: Past and Present . Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-7715-0119-9 . Pp. 70–87, here p. 77.
  18. ↑ Love Feast. In: Church of the Brethren. Retrieved April 19, 2019 .
  19. ↑ a b c The Love Feast. In: Discipleship Ministries. The United Methodist Church, accessed April 18, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Guido Fuchs: Ma (h) l anders , Regensburg 2014, p. 83.
  21. ↑ Guido Fuchs: Ma (h) l anders , Regensburg 2014, p. 83 f.
  22. ↑ Guido Fuchs: Ma (h) l anders , Regensburg 2014, p. 83.
  23. ↑ Agape celebration . In: RGG . 4th edition. tape 1 , p. 178 .
  24. ^ Wilhelm Löhe: Confession and Communion Book for Protestant Christians: for use both in and outside of the d. Church of God , 5th enlarged and improved edition, Nuremberg 1871, p. 302.
  25. ^ Wilhelm Löhe: Confession and Communion Book for Protestant Christians , Nuremberg 1871, p. 303.
  26. ↑ Guido Fuchs: Ma (h) l anders , Regensburg 2014, p. 75.
  27. ↑ Evangelisches Gottesdienstbuch, p. 159.
  28. ↑ Evangelisches Gottesdienstbuch, p. 160.
  29. ^ Church leadership of the VELKD (ed.): Passion and Easter . Agende for Evangelical Lutheran churches and communities, Volume II / 1, Lutherisches Verlagshaus, Hanover 2011, ISBN 978-3-7859-1039-9 . P. 47.
  30. ↑ Passion and Easter . Agende for Evangelical Lutheran churches and parishes, Hannover 2011, p. 48.
  31. ^ Liturgy Conference of the Evangelical Reformed Churches in German-speaking Switzerland (ed.): Liturgie , Volume III: Abendmahl , Bern 1983, p. 410.
  32. ^ Liturgy Conference of the Evangelical Reformed Churches in German-speaking Switzerland (Ed.): Liturgie , Volume III: Abendmahl , Bern 1983, p. 54.
  33. ↑ Guido Fuchs: Ma (h) l anders , Regensburg 2014, pp. 75–76.
  34. ↑ Eucharistic celebration, Word celebration, Communion celebration, Agape celebration. Principles, guidelines and work aids for pastors. P. 20 , accessed April 20, 2019 .
  35. ↑ Ecumenism, materials: Divine service templates and work aids. In: Diocese of Speyer. P. 11 , accessed April 20, 2019 .