ELCESAITI. - A sect with doctrinal and liturgical elements of Jewish origin, they show affinities with the Ebionites and some Gnostic elements, influenced by astrology, magic, and esotericism. The sources are provided by the *Philosophumena*, IX (ed. P. M. Crinice, Paris 1860) and St. Epiphanius, *Haer.*, XIX, XXX, LII: PG 41, 259-69; 405-73; 959-62.
The Elcesaites used only certain books of the Old Testament, rejecting those concerning sacrifices. They rejected all of St. Paul (v. EBIONITES), and probably never formed a proper New Testament, since their doctrine has nothing Christian about II. They did, however, possess their own book, brought from the region of the Parthians by a sage, whose name’s spelling varies: "Hizazzi" (*Philosophumena*), "Ezkal," "Hazal" (St. Epiphanius, *Haer.*, XIX, 2); "Ezkazal" (Theodoret, *Haer. Fab.*, II, 7; PG 83, 393), whose very existence is moreover questionable.
The Elcesaites believed in a creator God, in a Son of God, not equal to Him but His creature, though the most perfect; the Holy Spirit was then a being similar to the Son but feminine (cf. the syzygies of Gnostic theories). For salvation, blind and absolute faith in the doctrine contained in their sacred book was sufficient, and to obtain the remission of sins, they administered a baptism in the name of God and of His Son, the Great King, after the penitent had confessed their sins and invoked heaven, water, the holy spirits, the angels of prayer, oil, salt, and earth. This baptism could be repeated and had great healing power; moreover, water was held in great veneration among them. The Elcesaites observed nearly all Jewish customs and practices, particularly circumcision, and believed in the influence of the stars, especially on the days of the week, of which the third day and Saturday were considered inauspicious. St. Epiphanius (*Haer.*, XIX, 4; PG 41, 268) recorded their esoteric formula, which G. Bareille (*Elektasier*, in *DThC*, IV, cols. 2239) interprets as a blasphemous formula against the worshippers of Christ, admitting an occultist character to the sixth of the Elcesaites.
In moral matters, they were rather lax, condemning virginity and continuing to oblige marriage (St. Epiphanius, *Haer.*, XIX, 1; PG 41, 261). Although their book claims the Revelation was dictated in the third year of Trajan, in reality they appeared at the beginning of the 3rd century and soon spread beyond the Judeo-Christian environment of the East, with the arrival in Rome of one of their number, Alcibiades of Apamea, who, however, encountered the strength of the sixth. From the 3rd century to the mid-4th, they do not appear; but toward the end of the 4th century, St. Epiphanius still notes them alive in the East among the Ebionite and Essene circles.
Noteworthy are the relations between the doctrine of the Elcesaites and the elementary apocrypha (cf. the comparisons made by Bareille, loc. cit., cols. 2233 and the bibliography of F. Nau, *Clementis Apocryphes. L. Homélies, Recognitions et leurs abrégés*, in *DThC*, III, cols. 216).