Black-hole stellar accretion in active galactic nuclei.

We consider the accretion of main sequence or slightly evolved stars by a massive Kerr black hole in an active galactic nucleus (AGN). We show that in many cases the stars are stably accreted via Roche lobe overflow over 10^4^-10^5^yr. If several stars accrete simultaneously, this is sufficient to power typical AGN. Periodic modulations would be rather weak, as each star contributes only a fraction of the luminosity. Long term variability (years) might result from the dynamical instability of mass transfer from one of the stars.