Assideans

ASSIDEANS. - "Pious" men of Judaism in the Maccabean and Hasmonean era. The Hebrew ḥāsidhim "pious" (in the Septuagint 'Aou82[6]os) occurs often in the Old Testament (Ps. 4, 4; 11, 2 etc.; Prov. 2, 8; Mic. 7, 2, etc.); in the 2nd century B.C. it designates the adherents of a strong group made up of the best of the Jewish people, devoted to the strictest observance of the Mosaic law (I Macc. 2, 42; 3, 44; 7, 13 ff.) for which they suffered and fought even with arms. Its origin is not known. At the time of Mattathias (d. 166 B.C.) they were already powerful and must have reacted against the invading Hellenism. They perhaps belonged to those faithful of whom a thousand were massacred for having refused to fight on the sabbath day (I Macc. 2, 29-38). Ready for Mattathias's call to revolt, they took part in the Maccabean wars against Antiochus IV Epiphanes (v.) and his successors (ibid. 2, 42). Of deep but naive faith, they fell into the trap set by Demetrius I Soter (162-150) who, together with the army of Bacchides, had sent to Judea the intriguer Alcimus (v.), after having made him high priest, to fraudulently offer freedom to the Jews. The A. [Asideans], unable to doubt the sincerity of a descendant of Aaron, believed

Alcimus and distrusted the wary Judas Maccabeus (165-161). And judging that the time had come to be able to carry out their religious program, they laid down their arms and together with the "synagogue of the scribes" came to ask for peace. But Alcimus (or Bacchides, according to Flavius Josephus, Antiq. Jud., XII, 10, 2), faithless, slaughtered 60 of them in one day, fulfilling with this massacre Ps. 78, 2-3 (I Macc. 7, 12-17). Having discovered the deceit and taken up arms again with greater fury, they reduced Alcimus to dire straits, who confessed to Demetrius that the A. [Asideans] formed the main strength of Judas Maccabeus's army, rekindled the war, provoked and threatened hostilities menacing the stability of the kingdom, and prevented him from exercising the pontificate (II Macc. 14, 6 f.). From this moment all trace of them is lost.

Since at the time of Jonathan (161-143), Flavius Josephus (Antiq. Jud., XIII, 5, 9; cf. XII, 10, 1), mentioning for the first time the Jewish sects (Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes) does not name them, and because their program approaches that of the Pharisees (v.), some maintain the identity of the two parties. The silence of Flavius Josephus regarding them is strange, given that he uses the books of Maccabees. The Pharisees can be considered continuators of the party of the A. [Asideans]. According to some, the stricter current of the A. [Asideans] would have merged with the Essenes, the more moderate with the Pharisees. Perhaps they are to be traced in the "saints" (Gavoi) of the Psalms of Solomon (2, 40; 3, 10; 4, 7, 9; etc.) and in the "holy people" of Jubilees (33, 20-31). In the apocryphon of Enoch (whose primitive core some attribute to an A. [Asidean]) 90, 6-7, they would be depicted in the lambs born from the white sheep, toward which the flock of the people of Israel would not have bleated.

According to W. Bousset, W. Baldensperger, A. Causse and others, the A. [Asideans] gave rise in Israel to an important spiritual current (the "pious" or "silent" or "poor of Israel" [v. EBIONITES] or "messianist-pietists") which, far from political intrigues and trusting only in God, regarded official religion with distrust.

In the Talmud the ḥāsidhim are the rigid observers of the Law, with a tendency to asceticism (Bērāhāth, 5, 1; Ḥaghighāh, 2, 7 etc.). Therein are distinguished the ḥāsidhim ḥā-ri'šōnim (the ancient ones), or 'anīē ma'āšeh (the men of the work). Perhaps a Māghillath ḥāsidhim existed (v. HASSIDISM).

Bonaventura Mariani