ESSENES. - A Jewish religious association that existed in Palestine from 1500 B.C. to A.D. 70.
They are mentioned by Pliny, Philo, and Flavius Josephus (especially in Bell. Jud., II, 8, 2–13), who, quite rightly, is preferred by critics. There is no mention of them in the New Testament or in the Talmud; the Fathers depend on the three aforementioned authors. The etymology of the name is uncertain; it is interpreted as “silent” by M.-J. Lagrange and others, but commonly as “pious” (from the Aramaic Hasajja, whence the two Greek forms ‘Essaioi’ [Pliny, Josephus] and ‘Essaioi’ [Philo and more often Josephus]).
The Essenes were ascetics who, around 150 B.C. (cf. Ant. Jud., XVIII, 1, 2; XIII, 11, 2), to realize their strictly religious program, separated from the Pharisees, withdrawing into actual communities. Their main characteristics were: communal life (housing, goods, all earnings, meals, clothing, etc.); unconditional obedience to the superior of the monastery, who directed everything and everyone and was the administrator of the community; celibacy (“a people in which no one is born”: Pliny); manual labor, assigned daily by the superior—ordinarily agriculture, but also other trades, for all the community’s needs. Commerce was forbidden, as it was a source of greed.
The sick and the elderly were carefully supported by the community. Members could withdraw money from the common fund to assist the needy; but if it concerned relatives, they had to have the superior’s permission. They took great care with legal purity, going far beyond the Pharisees. They wore white garments; their frugal food was prepared by priests, who before and after the meal (taken in silence) recited prayers and gave the blessing. Any other food was considered impure; likewise, any contact not only with outsiders but even with novices was deemed impure. Hence, there were numerous washings—baths taken with a belt around the loins before eating and after contracting any impurity. Their horror of impurity could explain their celibacy (cf. Lev. 16:16–18), although Josephus gives as the reason their contempt for women, whom they considered unfaithful spouses (Bell. Jud., II, 8, 2; 12 ff.). They took special precautions in satisfying their bodily needs (Bell. Jud., II, 8, 2; 12 ff.; 13–15); they exaggerated the observance of the Sabbath, on which it was forbidden to satisfy the aforementioned needs (ibid., 8, 2; 14). All this explains why the monasteries were scattered along the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley, far from inhabited areas. In some cities and even in Jerusalem (next to the gate called the Essene Gate), they had houses to accommodate traveling members.
They had a particular veneration for the Mosaic Law. Scholars of ancient traditions, they seem to have written many of the apocryphal books. Various critics attribute to them the Book of Enoch and the Assumption of Moses; others add: the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs and the Assumption of Isaiah. Among the manuscripts discovered in the Judean Desert (1947), there is a manual of discipline or ritual of initiation of a Jewish sect that E. L. Sukenik identifies with the Essenes (cf. Revue biblique, 56 [1949], pp. 204, 583–85, 593 ff., 609).
On the Sabbath, they devoted themselves to reading and explaining sacred books. Practical people, they placed morality first. “The Essenes are guided by the rules of piety, justice, private and social law... They submit to three rules...: love of God, love of virtue, and love of men, in benevolence, impartiality, and community of goods” (Philo). They had absolute trust in divine Providence and complete submission to its designs (Ant. Jud., XIII, 5, 9). They cultivated and developed angelology (Bell. Jud., II, 8, 2; 7).
Admission to the organization was only after a probationary period of three years; only then, if found trustworthy, was one incorporated into it after a solemn oath to be faithful to the norms of the community and not to reveal its secrets, even if threatened with death (Bell. Jud., II, 8, 2; 7). They accepted children whom they educated according to the sect’s ideal (loc. cit., 8, 2). At the time of Jesus, they numbered about 4,000. Characteristics contrary to any commonly accepted mentality were: the exclusion of bloody sacrifice (perhaps because of Is. 1:11; Hos. 6:5); the prohibition of any oath; turning to the sun when praying, instead of toward Jerusalem (cf. Ezek. 3:16); the belief in the preexistence of souls and, if righteous, in their return, immediately after leaving the prison of the body, to the stars from which they had descended.
Therefore, the origin of Essenism cannot be traced solely to post-exilic Judaism (E. Stapfer, Z. Frankel, H. Grätz, H. Derenbourg, A. Geiger, W. Bacher, etc.); an external influence seems evident. This has been sought in vain in Parsism (A. Hilgenfeld, J. Lightfoot, E. L. de Grandmaison), and with even less likelihood in remote Buddhism; more commonly, and rightly so, in the Greek world, specifically Pythagoreanism (already noted by Josephus, Bell. Jud., II, 8, 11; Ant. Jud., XV, 10, 4; E. Schürer, E. Zeller, M.-J. Lagrange, L. Marchal). Thus, a combination of the predominant Jewish element with Pythagoreanism: “in the care of bodily purity and holiness and of purifications; in simple, austere life, free from all sensual pleasure; in the high esteem (if not the absolute requirement) of celibacy; in the use of white garments; in the rejection of oaths and bloody sacrifices; in the orientation of the one praying; in the precaution of hiding what is impure; in the dualist conception of the relationship between soul and body” (L. Marchal, cols. 1127–28).
The influence of the Essenes on Judaism and even more on Christianity is undeniable (cf. L. de Grandmaison, I, p. 253; L. Marchal, cols. 1128–31).
Studies: H. Leclercq, “Essénisme,” in Dictionnaire d’archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, III, Monachisme juif, cols. 3058–75; W. Bauer, s.V. in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie, Suppl. IV, cols. 386–430; L. Marchal, s.V. in Dictionnaire de la Bible, Suppl. II, cols. 1109–12; E. Schürer, Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes, II, 3rd ed., Leipzig, 1886, pp. 556–84; E. Zeller, Die Philosophie der Griechen, III, 14th ed., Tübingen, 1903, pp. 307–77; I. Lévy, La légende de Pythagore, de Grèce en Palestine, Paris, 1927, pp. 264–88; M. Lagrange, La gnose mandéenne et la tradition évangélique, in Revue biblique, 34 (1927), pp. 321–49, 481–515; id., Le Judéisme avant l’Église, Paris, 1931, pp. 307–30, 385, 428 sq.; J. de Grandmaison, Histoire des saints de l’Ancien Testament, Rome, 1934, pp. 211–25; J. Bonsirven, Le Judéisme palestinien, I, 2nd ed., Paris, 1935, pp. 63–67.