or ESSENIANS, one of the three ancient sects of the Jews. They
appear to have been an enthusiastic sect, never numerous, and but little
known; directly opposite to the Pharisees with respect to their reliance
upon tradition, and their scrupulous regard to the ceremonial law, but
pretending, like them, to superior sanctity of manners. They existed in
the time of our Saviour; and though they are not mentioned in the New
Testament, they are supposed to be alluded to by St. Paul in his
Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, and in his first Epistle to
Timothy. From the account given of the doctrines and institutions of
this sect by Philo and Josephus, we learn that they believed in the
immortality of the soul; that they were absolute predestinarians; that
they observed the seventh day with peculiar strictness; that they held
the Scriptures in the highest reverence, but considered them as mystic
writings, and expounded them allegorically; that they sent gifts to the
temple, but offered no sacrifices; that they admitted no one into their
society till after a probation of three years; that they lived in a
state of perfect equality, except that they paid respect to the aged,
and to their priests; that they considered all secular employment as
unlawful, except that of agriculture; that they had all things in
common, and were industrious, quiet, and free from every species of
vice; that they held celibacy and solitude in high esteem; that they
allowed no change of raiment till necessity required it; that they
abstained from wine; that they were not permitted to eat but with their
own sect; and that a certain portion of food was allotted to each
person, of which they partook together, after solemn ablutions. The
austere and retired life of the Essenes is supposed to have given rise
to monkish superstition.
The Therapeutæ were a distinct branch of the Essenes. Jahn has thus
described the difference between them: The principal ground of
difference between the Essenes or Essaëi, and Therapeutæ consisted in
this; the former were Jews, who spoke the Aramean; the latter were Greek
Jews, as the names themselves intimate, namely, אסיא and Θεραπευταὶ. The
Essenes lived chiefly in Palestine; the Therapeutæ, in Egypt. The
Therapeutæ were more rigid than the Essenes, since the latter, although
they made it a practice to keep at a distance from large cities, lived,
nevertheless, in towns and villages, and practised agriculture and the
arts, with the exception of those arts which were made more directly
subservient to the purposes of war. The Therapeutæ, on the contrary,
fled from all inhabited places, dwelt in fields and deserts and gardens,
and gave themselves up to contemplation. Both the Essenes and the
Therapeutæ held their property in common, and those things which they
stood in need of for the support and the comforts of life, were
distributed to them from the common stock. The candidates for admission
among the Essenes gave their property to the society; but those who were
destined for a membership with the Therapeutæ, left theirs to their
friends; and both, after a number of years of probation, made a
profession which bound them to the exercise of the strictest
uprightness. The Romanists pretend, as Dr. Prideaux observes, without
any foundation, that the Essenes were Christian monks, formed into a
society by St. Mark, who founded the first church at Alexandria. But it
is evident, from the accounts of Josephus and Philo, that the Essenes
were not Christians, but Jews.
Dr. Neander’s account of the Essenes is as follows:--A company of pious
men, much experienced in the trials of the outward and of the inward
life, had withdrawn themselves out of the strife of theological and
political parties, at first apparently (according to Pliny the elder) to
the western side of the Dead Sea; where they lived together in intimate
connection, partly in the same sort of society as the monks of later
days, and partly as mystical orders in all periods have done. From this
society, other smaller ones afterward proceeded, and spread themselves
over all Palestine. They were called Essenes, Ἐσσηνοὶ or Ἐσσαιοὶ. They
employed themselves in the arts of peace, agriculture, pasture,
handicraft works, and especially in the art of healing, while they took
great delight in investigating the healing powers of nature. It is
probable, also, that they imagined themselves under the guidance of a
supernatural illumination in their search into nature, and their use of
her powers. Their natural knowledge, and their art of healing, appear
also to have had a religious, theosophic character, as they professed
also to have peculiar prophetical gifts. The Essenes were, no doubt,
distinguished from the mass of ordinary Jews by this, that they knew and
loved something higher than the outward ceremonial and a dead faith,
that they did really strive after holiness of heart, and inward
communion with God. Their quiet, pious habits also rendered them
remarkable, and by means of these they remained quiet amidst all the
political changes, respected by all parties, even by the Heathens; and
by their laborious habits and kindness, their obedience toward the
higher powers, as ordained of God, their fidelity and love of truth,
they were enabled to extend themselves in all directions. In their
society every yea and nay had the force of an oath; for every oath, said
they, pre-supposes a mutual distrust, which ought not to be the case
among a society of honest men. Only in one case was an oath suffered
among them, namely, as a pledge for those who after a three years’
noviciate were to be received into the number of the initiated.
According to the portraiture of them, given by Philo, the Alexandrian,
in his separate treatise concerning the “True Freedom of the Virtuous,”
we should take the Essenes for men of an entirely practical religious
turn, far removed from all theosophy and all idle speculation; and we
should ascribe to them an inward religious habit of mind, free from all
mixture of superstition and reliance on outward things. But the account
of Philo does not at all accord with that of Josephus; and the more
historical Josephus deserves in general more credit than Philo, who was
too apt to indulge in philosophizing and idealism. Beside, Josephus had
more opportunity of knowing this sect thoroughly, than Philo; for Philo
lived in Egypt, and the Essenes did not extend beyond Palestine.
Josephus had here passed the greater part of his life, and had certainly
taken all necessary pains to inform himself accurately of the nature of
the different sects, among which he was determined, as a youth of
sixteen years of age, to make choice, although he can hardly have
completely passed through a noviciate in the sect of the Essenes,
because he made the round of all the three Jewish sects, in a period of
from three to four years. Josephus, also, shows himself completely
unprejudiced in this description; while Philo, on the contrary, wished
to represent the Essenes to the more cultivated Greeks as models of
practical wisdom, and, therefore, he allowed himself to represent much,
not as it really was, but as it suited his purpose. We must conclude
that the Essenes did also busy themselves with theosophy, and pretended
to impart to those of their order disclosures relating to the
supernatural world of spirits, because those who were about to be
initiated, were obliged to swear that they would never make known to any
one the names of the angels then to be communicated to them. The manner
in which they kept secret the ancient books of their sect is also a
proof of this. And, indeed, Philo himself makes it probable, when he
says, that they employed themselves with a φιλοσοφία διά συμβολῶν, a
philosophy which was supported by an allegorical interpretation of
Scripture, for this kind of allegorizing interpretation was usually the
accompaniment of a certain speculative system. According to Philo, they
rejected the sacrifice of victims, because they considered, that to
consecrate and offer up themselves wholly to God, was the only true
sacrifice, the only sacrifice worthy of God. But according to Josephus
they certainly considered sacrifice as something peculiarly holy, but
they thought that from its peculiar holiness it must have been
desecrated by the profane Jews in the temple of Jerusalem, and that it
could be worthily celebrated only in their holy community, just as
mystic sects of this nature are constantly accustomed to make the
_objective_ acts of religion dependent on the _subjective_ condition of
those who perform or take part in them. In the troublesome and
superstitious observance of the rest of the Sabbath, according to the
letter, and not according to the spirit, they went even farther than the
other Jews, only with this difference, that they were in good earnest in
the matter, while the Pharisees by their casuistry relaxed their rules,
or drew them tighter, just as it suited their purpose. The Essenes, not
only strenuously abhorred, like the other Jews, contact with the
uncircumcised, but, having divided themselves into four classes, the
Essenes of a higher grade were averse from contact with those of a
lower, as if they were rendered unclean by it, and when any thing of
this kind did happen, they purified themselves after it. Like many other
Jews, they attributed great value, in general, to lustration by bathing
in cold water. To their ascetic notions, the constant and healthy
practice in the east of anointing with oil seemed unholy, and if it
befel any one of them, he was obliged to purify himself. It was also a
great abomination to them to eat any food except such as had been
prepared by persons of their own sect. They would die rather than eat of
any other. This is a sufficient proof that although the Essenes might
possess a certain inward religious life, and a certain practical piety,
yet that these qualities with them, as well as with many other mystical
sects, as for example, those of the middle ages, were connected with a
theosophy, which desired to know things hidden from human reason,
ἐμβατευειν εἰς ἁ τις μη ἑωρακεν, and therefore lost itself in idle
imaginations and dreams, and were also mixed up with an outward
asceticism, a proud spirit of separation from the rest of mankind, and
superstitious observances and demeanours totally at variance with the
true spirit of inward religion.
appear to have been an enthusiastic sect, never numerous, and but little
known; directly opposite to the Pharisees with respect to their reliance
upon tradition, and their scrupulous regard to the ceremonial law, but
pretending, like them, to superior sanctity of manners. They existed in
the time of our Saviour; and though they are not mentioned in the New
Testament, they are supposed to be alluded to by St. Paul in his
Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, and in his first Epistle to
Timothy. From the account given of the doctrines and institutions of
this sect by Philo and Josephus, we learn that they believed in the
immortality of the soul; that they were absolute predestinarians; that
they observed the seventh day with peculiar strictness; that they held
the Scriptures in the highest reverence, but considered them as mystic
writings, and expounded them allegorically; that they sent gifts to the
temple, but offered no sacrifices; that they admitted no one into their
society till after a probation of three years; that they lived in a
state of perfect equality, except that they paid respect to the aged,
and to their priests; that they considered all secular employment as
unlawful, except that of agriculture; that they had all things in
common, and were industrious, quiet, and free from every species of
vice; that they held celibacy and solitude in high esteem; that they
allowed no change of raiment till necessity required it; that they
abstained from wine; that they were not permitted to eat but with their
own sect; and that a certain portion of food was allotted to each
person, of which they partook together, after solemn ablutions. The
austere and retired life of the Essenes is supposed to have given rise
to monkish superstition.
The Therapeutæ were a distinct branch of the Essenes. Jahn has thus
described the difference between them: The principal ground of
difference between the Essenes or Essaëi, and Therapeutæ consisted in
this; the former were Jews, who spoke the Aramean; the latter were Greek
Jews, as the names themselves intimate, namely, אסיא and Θεραπευταὶ. The
Essenes lived chiefly in Palestine; the Therapeutæ, in Egypt. The
Therapeutæ were more rigid than the Essenes, since the latter, although
they made it a practice to keep at a distance from large cities, lived,
nevertheless, in towns and villages, and practised agriculture and the
arts, with the exception of those arts which were made more directly
subservient to the purposes of war. The Therapeutæ, on the contrary,
fled from all inhabited places, dwelt in fields and deserts and gardens,
and gave themselves up to contemplation. Both the Essenes and the
Therapeutæ held their property in common, and those things which they
stood in need of for the support and the comforts of life, were
distributed to them from the common stock. The candidates for admission
among the Essenes gave their property to the society; but those who were
destined for a membership with the Therapeutæ, left theirs to their
friends; and both, after a number of years of probation, made a
profession which bound them to the exercise of the strictest
uprightness. The Romanists pretend, as Dr. Prideaux observes, without
any foundation, that the Essenes were Christian monks, formed into a
society by St. Mark, who founded the first church at Alexandria. But it
is evident, from the accounts of Josephus and Philo, that the Essenes
were not Christians, but Jews.
Dr. Neander’s account of the Essenes is as follows:--A company of pious
men, much experienced in the trials of the outward and of the inward
life, had withdrawn themselves out of the strife of theological and
political parties, at first apparently (according to Pliny the elder) to
the western side of the Dead Sea; where they lived together in intimate
connection, partly in the same sort of society as the monks of later
days, and partly as mystical orders in all periods have done. From this
society, other smaller ones afterward proceeded, and spread themselves
over all Palestine. They were called Essenes, Ἐσσηνοὶ or Ἐσσαιοὶ. They
employed themselves in the arts of peace, agriculture, pasture,
handicraft works, and especially in the art of healing, while they took
great delight in investigating the healing powers of nature. It is
probable, also, that they imagined themselves under the guidance of a
supernatural illumination in their search into nature, and their use of
her powers. Their natural knowledge, and their art of healing, appear
also to have had a religious, theosophic character, as they professed
also to have peculiar prophetical gifts. The Essenes were, no doubt,
distinguished from the mass of ordinary Jews by this, that they knew and
loved something higher than the outward ceremonial and a dead faith,
that they did really strive after holiness of heart, and inward
communion with God. Their quiet, pious habits also rendered them
remarkable, and by means of these they remained quiet amidst all the
political changes, respected by all parties, even by the Heathens; and
by their laborious habits and kindness, their obedience toward the
higher powers, as ordained of God, their fidelity and love of truth,
they were enabled to extend themselves in all directions. In their
society every yea and nay had the force of an oath; for every oath, said
they, pre-supposes a mutual distrust, which ought not to be the case
among a society of honest men. Only in one case was an oath suffered
among them, namely, as a pledge for those who after a three years’
noviciate were to be received into the number of the initiated.
According to the portraiture of them, given by Philo, the Alexandrian,
in his separate treatise concerning the “True Freedom of the Virtuous,”
we should take the Essenes for men of an entirely practical religious
turn, far removed from all theosophy and all idle speculation; and we
should ascribe to them an inward religious habit of mind, free from all
mixture of superstition and reliance on outward things. But the account
of Philo does not at all accord with that of Josephus; and the more
historical Josephus deserves in general more credit than Philo, who was
too apt to indulge in philosophizing and idealism. Beside, Josephus had
more opportunity of knowing this sect thoroughly, than Philo; for Philo
lived in Egypt, and the Essenes did not extend beyond Palestine.
Josephus had here passed the greater part of his life, and had certainly
taken all necessary pains to inform himself accurately of the nature of
the different sects, among which he was determined, as a youth of
sixteen years of age, to make choice, although he can hardly have
completely passed through a noviciate in the sect of the Essenes,
because he made the round of all the three Jewish sects, in a period of
from three to four years. Josephus, also, shows himself completely
unprejudiced in this description; while Philo, on the contrary, wished
to represent the Essenes to the more cultivated Greeks as models of
practical wisdom, and, therefore, he allowed himself to represent much,
not as it really was, but as it suited his purpose. We must conclude
that the Essenes did also busy themselves with theosophy, and pretended
to impart to those of their order disclosures relating to the
supernatural world of spirits, because those who were about to be
initiated, were obliged to swear that they would never make known to any
one the names of the angels then to be communicated to them. The manner
in which they kept secret the ancient books of their sect is also a
proof of this. And, indeed, Philo himself makes it probable, when he
says, that they employed themselves with a φιλοσοφία διά συμβολῶν, a
philosophy which was supported by an allegorical interpretation of
Scripture, for this kind of allegorizing interpretation was usually the
accompaniment of a certain speculative system. According to Philo, they
rejected the sacrifice of victims, because they considered, that to
consecrate and offer up themselves wholly to God, was the only true
sacrifice, the only sacrifice worthy of God. But according to Josephus
they certainly considered sacrifice as something peculiarly holy, but
they thought that from its peculiar holiness it must have been
desecrated by the profane Jews in the temple of Jerusalem, and that it
could be worthily celebrated only in their holy community, just as
mystic sects of this nature are constantly accustomed to make the
_objective_ acts of religion dependent on the _subjective_ condition of
those who perform or take part in them. In the troublesome and
superstitious observance of the rest of the Sabbath, according to the
letter, and not according to the spirit, they went even farther than the
other Jews, only with this difference, that they were in good earnest in
the matter, while the Pharisees by their casuistry relaxed their rules,
or drew them tighter, just as it suited their purpose. The Essenes, not
only strenuously abhorred, like the other Jews, contact with the
uncircumcised, but, having divided themselves into four classes, the
Essenes of a higher grade were averse from contact with those of a
lower, as if they were rendered unclean by it, and when any thing of
this kind did happen, they purified themselves after it. Like many other
Jews, they attributed great value, in general, to lustration by bathing
in cold water. To their ascetic notions, the constant and healthy
practice in the east of anointing with oil seemed unholy, and if it
befel any one of them, he was obliged to purify himself. It was also a
great abomination to them to eat any food except such as had been
prepared by persons of their own sect. They would die rather than eat of
any other. This is a sufficient proof that although the Essenes might
possess a certain inward religious life, and a certain practical piety,
yet that these qualities with them, as well as with many other mystical
sects, as for example, those of the middle ages, were connected with a
theosophy, which desired to know things hidden from human reason,
ἐμβατευειν εἰς ἁ τις μη ἑωρακεν, and therefore lost itself in idle
imaginations and dreams, and were also mixed up with an outward
asceticism, a proud spirit of separation from the rest of mankind, and
superstitious observances and demeanours totally at variance with the
true spirit of inward religion.