Agapetae

agapetae English Alternative forms en agapetae en Agapetæ Etymology Eponym from en Agape -tae Pronunciation en Noun p en historical Women of the early Christian church who cohabited in a state of "spiritual love" with clergy or laymen who had vowed chastity. en Who Is This King of Glory?: Alvin Boyd Kuhn 2007 175 1585093181 It describes the Agapetae as virgins who consecrated themselves to God with a vow of chastity and associated with laymen who like themselves had taken a vow of chastity. en Autobiography and the Psychological Study of Religious Lives Jacob A. v Belzen, Jacob Adrianus Belzen, & Antoon Geels 2008 9042025689 The novel itself suggests that Huxley knew about this attempt to go beyond gender, that the earliest Christian priests had Agapetae, or female ritual lovers, and that both the early Christian Gnostics and the later Catholic moralists permitted a form of coitus reservatus, the latter "claiming that it was known to Adam in the Garden and therefore a part of Paradise." en historical Monks or clergy who cohabited with virgins and widows of the church. en historical A 4th century Spanish sect founded by Agape and her husband Elpidius that rejected the institution of marriage and was deemed heretical for its perceived hedonism. Considered also to be a forerunner of Priscillianism.en 1874 Rev. John Henry Blunt Dictionary of sects, heresies, ecclesiastical parties, and schools of religious thought. Agapetæ https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001391045 13 en The enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists considered by .Bishop Lavington Polwhele 1820 298 He was instructed and assisted by Agape, an honourable woman, in carrying on the secret mysteries ; and she was the mother of the Agapetae, or love-feasters ; whose rites became by degrees so very scandalous, that St. Jerome tells Oceanus "you are exposed to the teeth of detractors, unless you dismiss the assemblies of the Agapetae." Synonyms en Dilectae (male cohabitants) en subintroductae Related terms en agapet en Agapeti References en Christianity