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ESSENES
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ESSENES , a monastic See also:order among the See also:Jews See also:prior to See also:Christianity. Their first See also:appearance in See also:history is in the See also:time of See also:Jonathan the Maccabee (161–144 B.C.). How much older they may have been we have no means of determining, but our authorities agree in assigning to them a dateless antiquity. The name occurs in See also:Greek, in the two forms'Eaarivoi. and'EvQaIoi. 'Eoirlvoi is used by See also:Josephus fourteen times, 'Eouaor six, but the latter is the only See also:form used by See also:Philo (ii. 457, 471, 632). 'Eo'a77voi is also used by See also:Synesius and See also:Hippolytus, and its Latin See also:equivalent by See also:Pliny and See also:Solinus; 'Evvaiot by See also:Hegesippus and See also:Porphyry. In See also:Epiphanius we find the forms 'Ooaaiot, 'Oacr vot, and 'Ieaaaioi. There is a See also:place named Essa mentioned by Josephus (See also:Ant. xiii. 15, § 3), from which the name may have been formed, just as the Christians were originally called Naj'ap'gvoi or N4cwpaio1, from Nazara. This See also:etymology, however, is not much in favour now. See also:Lightfoot explains the name as meaning " the silent ones," others as meaning " physicians." Perhaps there is most authority in favour of deriving it from the See also:Syriac "'pa, which in the emphatic See also:state becomes a:pp, so that we have a Semitic See also:correspondence to both the Greek forms 'Eva-pot and'Eaaaiot. This etymology makes the word mean " pious." It has also been urged in excuse for Philo's absurd derivation from 6oaos.
The See also:original accounts we have of them are confined to three authors—Philo, Pliny the See also:Elder, and Josephus. Philo describes them in his See also:treatise known as Quod omnis See also:probus See also:liber (§§ 12, 13; ii. 457–460), and also in his " See also:Apology for the Jews," a fragment of which has been preserved by See also:Eusebius (Praep. Ev. viii. 11, 12). Pliny (N.H. v. 17) has a See also:short but striking See also:sketch of them, derived in all See also:probability from See also: 8), and more briefly in two passages of his Antiquities (xiii. 5, § 9; xviii. r, § 5). He has also interesting accounts of the prophetic See also:powers possessed by three individual members of the sect—Judas (B.J. i. 3, § 5 Ant. xiii. r1, § 2), See also:Menahem (Ant. xv. 10, § 5), and See also:Simon (B.J. ii. 7, § 3; Ant. xvii. 13, § 3). Besides this he mentions an Essene See also:Gate in See also:Jerusalem (B.J. v. 4, § 2) and a See also:person called See also: After this the notices that we have of the Essenes from antiquity are mete reproductions, except in the See also:case of Epiphanius (died A.D. 402), who, however, is so confused a writer as to be of little value. Solinus, who was known as " Pliny's See also:Ape," echoed the words of his See also:master about a See also:century after that writer's See also:death, which took place in A.D. 79. Similarly Hippolytus, who lived in the reign of See also:Commodus (A.D. 180-192), reproduced the See also:account of Josephus, adding a few touches of his own. Porphyry (A.D. 233–306) afterwards did the same, but had the See also:grace to mention Josephus in the context. Eusebius quoted the account as from Porphyry, though he must have known that he had derived it from Josephus (Praep. Ev. ix. 3, §§ 1, 13). But Porphyry's name would impress See also:pagan readers. There is also a mention of the Essenes by Hegesippus (Eus. H.E. iv. 22) and by Synesius in his See also:life of Dio See also:Chrysostom. It has been conjectured that the Clementine literature emanated from Essenes who had turned See also:Christian. See See also:EBIONITES.) The Essenes were an exclusive society, distinguished from the See also:rest of the Jewish nation in See also:Palestine by an organization See also:peculiar to themselves, and by a theory of life in which a severe See also:asceticism and a rare benevolence to one another and to mankind in See also:general were the most striking characteristics. They had fixed rules for See also:initiation, a See also:succession of strictly See also:separate grades within the limits of the society, and regulations for the conduct of their daily life even in its minutest details. . Their membership could be recruited only from the outside See also:world, as See also:marriage and all intercourse with See also:women were absolutely' renounced. They were the first society in the world to condemn See also:slavery both in theory and practice; they enforced and practised the most See also:complete community of goods. They See also:chose their. own priests and public See also:office-bearers, and even their own See also:judges. Though their prevailing tendency was See also:practical, and the tenets of the society were kept a profound See also:secret, it is perfectly clear from the concurrent testimony of Philo and Josephus that they cultivated a See also:kind of See also:speculation, which not only accounts for their spiritual asceticism, but indicates a See also:great deviation from the normal development of Judaism, and a profound sympathy with Greek See also:philosophy,. and probably also with See also:Oriental ideas. At the same time we do our Jewish authorities no injustice in imputing to them the patriotic tendency to idealize the society, and thus offer to their readers something in Jewish life that would See also:bear comparison at least with similar manifestations of See also:Gentile life. There is some difficulty in determining how far the Essenes separated themselves locally from their See also:fellow-countrymen. Josephus informs us that they had no single See also:city of their own, but that many of them dwelt in every city. While in his treatise Quod omnis, &c., Philo speaks of their avoiding towns and preferring to live in villages, in his "Apology for the Jews " we find them living in many cities, villages, and in great and prosperous towns. In Pliny they are a perennial See also:colony settled on the western See also:shore of the Dead See also:Sea. On the whole, as Philo and Josephus agree In estimating their number at 4000 (Philo, Q.O.P.L. § 12; Jos. Ant. xviii. 1, § 5), we are justified in suspecting some exaggeration as to the many cities, towns and villages where they were said to be found. As See also:agriculture was their favourite occupation, and as their tendency was to withdraw from the haunts and See also:ordinary interests of mankind, we may assume that with the growing confusion and corruption of Jewish society they See also:felt themselves attracted from the See also:mass of the See also:population to the sparsely peopled districts, till they found a congenial See also:settlement and See also:free See also:scope for their peculiar view of life by the shore of the Dead Sea. While their principles were consistent with the neighbourhood of men, they were better adapted to a state of seclusion. The Essenes did not renounce marriage because they denied the validity of the institution or the See also:necessity of it as providing for the continuance of the human See also:race, but because they had a See also:low opinion of the See also:character of women (Jos. B.J. ii. 8, § 2; Philo, " Apol. for the Jews " in Ens. Praep. Ev. viii. 11, § 8). They adopted See also:children when very See also:young, and brought them up on
their own principles. See also:Pleasure generally they rejected as evil. They despised riches not less than pleasure; neither poverty nor See also:wealth was observable among them; at initiation every one gave his See also:property into the See also:common stock; every member in See also:receipt of See also:wages handed them over to the funds of the society. In matters of See also:dress the asceticism of the society was very pronounced. They regarded oil as a defilement, even washing it off if anointed with it against their will. 'They did not See also:change their clothes or their shoes till they were torn in pieces or worn completely away. The See also:colour of their garments was always See also: Thereafter they went about their daily tasks, working continuously at whatever See also:trade they knew till the fifth See also:hour, when they assembled, and, girding on a garment of See also:linen, bathed in See also:cold See also:water. They next seated themselves quietly in the dining See also: They were just and temperate in anger, the guardians of See also:good faith, and the ministers of See also:peace, obedient to their elders and to the See also:majority. But the moral characteristics which they most earnestly cultivated and enjoined will best appear in their rules of initiation. There was a novitiate of three years, during which the intending member was tested as to his fitness for entering the society. If the result was satisfactory, he was admitted, but before partaking of the common See also:meal he was required to swear awful oaths, that he would reverence the, deity, do justice to men, hurt no See also:man voluntarily or at the command of another, hate the unjust and assist the just, and that he would render fidelity to all men, but especially to the rulers, seeing that no one rules but of See also:God. He also vowed, if he should bear See also:rule himself, to make no violent use of his See also:power, nor outshine those set under him by See also:superior display, to make it his aim to cherish the truth and unmask liars, to be pure from See also:theft and unjust gain, to conceal nothing from his fellow-members, nor to divulge any of their affairs to other men, even at the See also:risk of death, to transmit their doctrines unchanged, and to keep secret the books of the society and the names of the angels. Within the limits of the society there were four grades so distinct that if any one touched a member of an inferior grade he required to cleanse himself by bathing in water; members who had been found guilty of serious crimes were expelled from the society, and could not be received again till reduced to the very last extremity of want or sickness. As the result of the ascetic training of the Essenes, and of their temperate See also:diet, it is said that they lived to a great See also:age, and were superior to See also:pain and fear. During the See also:Roman war they cheerfully underwent the most grievous tortures rather than break any of the principles of their faith. In fact, they had in many respects reached the very highest moral See also:elevation attained by the See also:ancient world; they were just, humane, benevolent, and spiritually-minded;the sick and aged were the See also:objects of a special affectionate regard; and they condemned slavery, not only as an injustice, but as an impious violation of the natural brotherhood of men (Philo ii. 457). There were some of the Essenes who permitted marriage, but strictly with a view to the preservation of the race; in other respects they agreed with the See also:main See also:body of the society. It will be apparent that the predominant tendency of the society was practical. Philo tells us expressly that they rejected See also:logic as unnecessary to the acquisition of virtue, and speculation on nature as too lofty for the human See also:intellect. Yet they had views of their own as to God, See also:Providence, the soul, and a future state, which, while they had a practical use, were yet essentially speculative. On the one See also:hand, indeed, they held tenaciously by the traditional Judaism: See also:blasphemy against their lawgiver was punished with death, the sacred books were preserved and read with great reverence, though not without an allegorical See also:interpretation, and the See also:Sabbath was most scrupulously observed. But in many important points their deviation from the strait path of Judaic development was complete. They rejected See also:animal See also:sacrifice as well as marriage; the oil with which priests and See also:kings were anointed they accounted unclean; and the condemnation of oaths and the community of goods were unmistakable innovations for which they found no hint or See also:warrant in the old See also:Hebrew writings. Their most singular feature, perhaps, was their reverence for the sun. In their speculative hints respecting the soul and a future state, we find another important deviation from Judaism, and the explanation of their asceticism. They held that the body is mortal, and its substance transitory; that the soul is immortal, but, coming from the subtlest See also:ether, is lured as by a sorcery of nature into the See also:prison-See also:house of the body. At death it is released from its bonds, as from See also:long slavery, and, joyously soars aloft. To the souls of the good there is reserved a life beyond the ocean, and a See also:country oppressed by neither See also:rain, nor See also:snow, nor See also:heat, but refreshed by a See also:gentle See also:west See also:wind blowing continually from the sea (cf. See also:Horn. Od. iv. 566-568), but to the wicked a region of wintry darkness and of unceasing torment. Josephus tells us too that the Essenes believed in See also:fate; but in what sense, and what relation it See also:bore to Divine Providence, does not appear. The above See also:evidence has See also:left students in doubt as to whether Essenism is to be regarded as a pure product of the Jewish mind or as due in See also:part to some See also:foreign See also:influence. On the one hand it might be maintained that the Essenes out-Pharisee'd the See also:Pharisees. They had in common with that sect their veneration for See also:Moses and the See also:Law, their Sabbatarianism, their striving after ceremonial purity, and their tendency towards See also:fatalism. But if the Pharisees abstained from good See also:works on the Sabbath, the Essenes abstained even from natural necessities (Jos. B.J. ii. 8, § 9); if the Pharisees washed, the Essenes bathed before dinner; if the Pharisees ascribed some things to Fate, the Essenes ascribed all (Jos. Ant. xiii. 5, § 9). But on the other hand the Essenes avoided marriage, which the Pharisees held in See also:honour; they offered no animal-sacrifices in the See also:Temple; they refrained from the use of oil, which was customary among the Pharisees (See also:Luke vii. 46); above all, they offered prayers to the sun, after the manner denounced in See also:Ezekiel (viii. 16). These and other points of divergences are not explained by See also:Ritschl's interesting theory that Essenism was an organized See also:attempt to carry out the See also:idea of " a See also:kingdom of priests and an See also:holy nation " (Ex. xix. 6).
Granting then that some foreign influence was at work an Essenism, we have four theories offered to us—that this influence was See also:Persian, Buddhist, See also:Pythagorean, or lastly, as maintained by See also:Lipsius, that of the surrounding Syrian heathenism. Each of these views has had able See also:advocates, but it must not be supposed that they are mutually exclusive. If we consider how Philo, while remaining a devout See also:Jew in See also:religion, yet managed to assimilate the whole Stoic philosophy, we can well believe that the Essenes might have been influenced, as See also:Zeller maintained that they were, by Neo-Pythagoreanism. But as See also:Pythagoras himself came from See also:Samos, and his doctrines have a decidedly Oriental tinge, it may very well be that both he and the Essenes See also:drew from a common source; for there is no need to reject, as
is so commonly done, the statements of our authorities as to the antiquity of the Essenes. This common source we may believe with Lightfoot to have been the Persian religion, which we know to have profoundly influenced that of See also:Israel, independently of the Essenes.
The fact that the Pharisees and See also:Sadducees so often figure in the pages of the New Testament, while the Essenes are never mentioned, might plausibly be interpreted to show that the New Testament emanated from the See also:side of the Essenes. So far as concerns the See also:Epistle of St See also: Both held property in common; both had scattered communities which received guests one from the other; both avoided a See also:light use of oaths; both taught passive obedience to See also:political authority. The See also:list might be enlarged, but it would not necessarily prove more than that the early Christians shared in the ideas of their age. Christianity was to some extent a popularization of Essenism, but there is little See also:reason for believing that Jesus himself was an Essene. De Quincey's contention that there were no Essenes but the early Christians is now a See also:literary curiosity. The original See also:sources of our knowledge of the Essenes have been mentioned at the beginning of this See also:paper; the best See also:modern discussions of them are to be found in such works as Zeller's Philosophie der Griechen, vol. iii.1 See also:Ewald, Geschichte d. V. Israel, iii. 419-428; See also:Reuss, La Theologie chretienne au siecle apostolique, i. 122-131; See also:Keim, Life of Jesus of Nazara, vol. i.; Lightfoot on the See also:Colossians; See also:Lucius, Der Essenismus in seinem Verhdltniss zum Judenthum; See also:Wellhausen, Israelitische and judische Geschichte; Ed. See also:Schurer, The Jewish See also:People in the Time of Jesus See also:Christ, div. ii. vol. ii. § 30. The copious bibliography in See also:Conybeare's edition of Philo's De vita contemplativa bears upon the Essenes as well as upon the Therapeutes. For a specially Jewish view of the Essenes see Kohler's See also:article in the Jewish See also:Encyclopaedia. They are there regarded as being " simply the rigorists among the Pharisees." But we are also told that " the Pharisees characterized the Essene as ' a See also:fool who destroyed the world.' " (T. K.; ST G. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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