AGAPEMONITES (ἀγάπη-μονή: “Abode of love”). - English Protestants, followers of H. J. Prince.
Prince (1811-99), originally a physician, became a pastor and preacher. His attempt to pass himself off as the Holy Spirit (May 1843) resulted in the Anglican bishops forbidding him to preach. In 1849, together with Starky, he began to proclaim the imminent end of the world and to inculcate communism of goods. He acquired a certain number of followers. The movement was centred around a communal house (Agapemone), which acquired a bad reputation because of the irregularities committed there.
In 1890 the sect received a considerable infusion of strength from a group of adherents of the Salvation Army. Among them was Smyth-Pigott, who succeeded Prince in directing the Agapemonite movement and in considering himself a divine person (Jesus Christ). At the beginning of the twentieth century the community had dwindled to only a few persons.