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[Gr. ἀγάπη (agape) = love, and ἄνθος ( anthos ) = flower: love -flower, meaning lovely flower.] African Lily. genus of plants belonging to the order Liliaceæ, Lily-worts, and the family Hemerocallidese. The species are of a blue colour. a-gā'pe, adv . or adj . [Eng. a = on, and gape.] Gaping; having the mouth wide open with wonder, attention, or eager expectation. [GAPE.] "Dazzles the crowd, and sets them all agape ." Milton: P. L., v. 357. ag-a-pē, s .; pl. ag-a-pæ. [A Latinized form of the Greek ἀγάπαι. From Gr. ἀγάπη (agape), pl. ἀγάπαι ( agapai ) = brotherly love, or the love of God; not sexual affection, but affection founded on reason, implying respect and reverence. (For an excellent account of the distinction between ἀγαπάω (agapao) = to love, and φιλέω ( phileo ), which more generally implies sexual affection, or affection at least instinctive rather than founded on reason, see Trench's Synonymes of the New Testament, pp. 43-49.)] Church History: "A love-feast," a kind of feast held by the primitive Christians in connection with the administration of the sacred communion. Either before or after the Lord's Supper-it is not completely decided which the Christians sat down to a feast provided by the richer members, but to which all, however poor, who belonged to the Church, were invited. As piety declined, the Адаре began to cause scandal, and finally they were condemned by the Council of Laodicea and the 3rd of Carthage, in the fourth century, and by that of Orleans in A.D. 541. It was, however, found hard to eradicate them, and finally the Council in Trullo , A. D. 692, launched the penalty of excommunication against those who, in defiance of previous prohibitions, persisted in carrying them on.