Excerpt from,

ARYAN SUN-MYTHS:
THE ORIGIN OF RELIGION

by

Charles Morris
(1899)

The Essenes were a sect of unusual and singular
piety, their exemplary virtues eliciting the unbounded
admiration of even the Greeks and Romans. Severe
asceticism, a rare benevolence to one another and
to mankind in general, were their most striking
characteristics.

Their fundamental laws were, to
love God and their neighbor, and do to others as
they would have others do to them. They lived in
communities or monasteries, and had all things in
common, merely appointing a steward to manage the
common bag.

They advocated celibacy, but had no law prohibiting
marriage; though if any among them wedded,
they were obliged to enter another class of the
brotherhood. Their numbers were continually being
augmented by addition, from outside.

When a person wished to enter the community, he
was taken upon trial; and, if approved, be was obliged
to take an oath that he would fear God and be just
towards all men. He sold all that be possessed,
and gave the proceeds to the brotherhood. They
resembled, in their habits and customs, a fraternity
at monks of a working, rather than a mendicant order.

They were all upon the same level, the exercise
of authority one over another being prohibited.
They abhorred slavery, and called no man
on earth Master, yet they served one another.

When going upon missions of mercy, they provided
neither silver nor gold, but depended entirely upon
the hospitality of other members of the brotherhood.
When going upon perilous journeys, they took no
weapons of defense, and repudiated offensive war.

They abjured swearing. They conversed on such
bits of philosophy only as concerned God and
man, and conversed not at all on secular subjects
before the rising of the Sun, but prayed devoutly,
with their faces turned to the east.

They did not
lay up treasures on earth, and despised money,
fame, and pleasures, as they thought these things
had a tendency to enchain men to earthly enjoyments,
a peculiarly Buddhist tenet. They considered the use
of ointment as defiling, which was certainly
not a Hebraic doctrine.

They gave thanks before
and after eating; and before entering the
refectory they bathed in pure water and put on
white garments. They ate only enough to sustain
life. They put the greatest stress upon being
meek and lowly in heart, and commended the poor
in spirit, those who hunger and thirst after
righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart,
and the peacemaker.

The Essenes combined the healing of the body
with that of the soul; and the Greek name by
which they were known. Therapeutic (Essene is the
Assyrian word for Therapeolae), signifies healer, or
doctor, and designated the sect as professing to be
endowed with the miraculous gift of healing, more
especially with respect to diseases of the mind.

They did not offer animal sacrifices, but strove to
present their bodies " a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable unto God." It was their great aim to
become so pure and holy as to be temples of the
Holy Spirit, and to be able to prophesy.

They reverenced Moses and had respect for the
Sabbath. They practiced endurance as a duty, and
bore all tortures with equanimity. They fully believed in
a future state of existence in which the soul, liberated
from the body, mounts upwards to a Paradise where
there are no storms, no cold, no intense heat, and
where all are constantly refreshed
by gentle ocean breezes.

Pliny tells us that the passages of the
Essenes differed from those of all other nations.
It will be evident to those familiar with the Gospels
that the tenets of the Essenes and the teachings of
Jesus are almost identical.

Jesus differed from them, however, in some respects,
as any man is apt to differ from others. He repudiated
the extremes of the Essenes. They were ascetics,
but he ate and drank [and enjoyed] the good things of life.
They considered themselves denied by contact with those
less holy than themselves; but he associated with
publicans and sinners.

Every Jew was obliged to be a member of one of
the three sects, and it is but natural
to suppose that Jesus would have been more in
sympathy with the Essence than with the other two
Jewish sects. It is a significant fact that he
frequently rebuked the Sadducees and Pharisees
but never denounced the Essenes.

As we have seen, the Essenes were ascetics and
celibates, while the purely Mosaic of Jews were
neither. It is true that fasting is occasionally
mentioned in the Old Testament, as a sign of grief
or of abasement, but never as a means of gaining
salvation in a future life for immortality was
unknown to Moses and the Jews, while celibacy is
everywhere spoken of in the Old Testament as a
misfortune, and an abundance of wives is regarded
as a proof of divine favor.

The Jews were encouraged in having & plurality
of wives, but they were nowhere directed or
recommended to live on charity. The Priests and
Levities4 were not ordered to go about the country
expounding or teaching the Law.

Consequently, when
asceticism, preaching, and celibacy began to be
advocated, between the time of Antiochus and Jesus,
the inference is that they were introduced from without,
and by those of the only religion which inculcated them
as articles of faith and practice.

It appears singular that there should be no mention
of the Essenes in the New Testament, considering
the fact that the other two Jewish sects were so
frequently spoken of. This can only be accounted
for on the ground that the multitude of references
in, the New Testament to a class called the Brethren,
refer to the Essenes.

If the Essenes were a brotherhood,
and knew each other as brethren, as the Free
Masons, who claim descent from the Easenes, do at
the present day. We are told that the disciples were
first called Christians at Antioch. They must have
had a name previous to that, and we know they
addressed each other as brethren.

As De Quincey says: " If the Essenes were not the
early Christians in disguise, then was Christianity,
as a knowledge, taught independently of Christ, nay
to opposition to Christ." This would explain the
very singular fact that Josephus has not mentioned
Christ or the early Christians.

The Essenes disappeared
from history shortly after the time assigned
as the crucifixion of Christ, and it is supposed that
they have come down in history as Christians. Eusebius,
Bishop of Cssarea, the celebrated ecclesiastical
historian, considered them Christians. He says :

"It is very likely that the commentaries [Scriptures]
which were among them [the Essencs] were the
Gospels, and the works of the apostles, and certain
expositions of the ancient prophets, such as partly
that Epistle unto the Hebrews and also the other
Epistles of Paul do contain."

Eusebius, in quoting from Philo concerning the
Essenes, seems to take it for granted that they and
the Christians were one and the same; and from the
manner in which he writes, it would appear that it
was generally understood so.

He says that Philo called them
"worshippers," and concludes by saying:
"But whether be himself gave them this name,
or whether at the beginning they were so called,
when as yet the name of Christians was not every-
where published, I think it not needful curiosity to
sift out."'

Epiphanius, a Christian bishop and writer of the
fourth century, in speaking of the Essenes, says:"
They who believed on Christ were called Jeasaei [or
Essenes] before they were called Christians. They
derived their constitution from the signification of
the name 'Jesus,' which in Hebrew signifies the same
as Therapeutes, that is, a savior or physician."

Godfrey Higgins says :
The Essenes were called physicians of the soul,
or Therapeutae; being resident both in Judea and
Egypt, they probably spoke or had their sacred
books in Chaldee. They were Pythagoreans, as is
proved by all their forms, ceremonies, and doctrines,
and they called themselves sons of Jess... If the
Pythagoreans, or Conenobitae, as they were called
by Jamblicus, were Buddhists,
the Essenes were Buddhists.

The Essenes called Koinobii lived in
Egypt, on the lake of Parembole or Maria, in
monasteries. These are the very places in which we
formerly found the Gymnosophists or Samaneans, or
Buddhist priests, to have lived, which Gymnosophists
are placed also by Ptolemy in northeastern India.

Their [the Essenes] parishes, churches, bishops,
priests, deacons, festivals are all identically the
same as the Christians. They had apostolic founders,
the manners which distinguished the immediate apostles
of Christ, scriptures divinely inspired, the same
allegorical mode of interpreting them which has
since obtained among Christians, and the same order
of performing public worship.

They had missionary stations or colonies of their
community established in Rome, Corinth, Galatia,
Ephesus, Philippi, Colosse, and Thessalouica, precisely
such and in the same circumstances, as were those to
whom Saint Paul addressed his letters in those
places. All the fine moral doctrines which are
attributed to the Samaritan Nazaritt, [Paul] and I doubt
not justly attributed to him, are to be found among
the doctrines of the ascetics.

In reference to this subject, Arthur Lillie says:
"It is asserted by calm thinkers like Dean Mansel,
that within two generations of the time of Alexander
the Great, the missionaries of Buddha made their
appearance at Alexandria. This theory is confirmed
in the East by the Asoka monuments, in the West
by Philo. He expressly maintains the identity in
creed of the higher Judaism and that of the
Gymnosophists of India who abstained from the
'sacrifice of living animals,' in a word, the Buddhists."

It would follow from this that the priestly religions of
Babylonia, Palestine, Egypt, and Greece were undermined
by certain kindred mystical societies organized by
Buddha's missionaries under the various
names of Therapeutes, Essenes, Neo-Pythagoreans,
Neo-Zoroastrians, etc. Thus Buddhism prepared
the way for Christianity.

We find Saint Paul, the first Apostle of the Gentles,
avowing that he was made a minister of the
Gospel which had already been preached to every
creature under heaven, and preaching a God manifest
in the flesh, who had been believed on in the
world, therefore before the commencement of his
ministry, and who could not have been Jesus of
Nazareth, who had certainly not been preached at
that time, nor generally believed on in the world till
ages after.

Saint Paul owns himself a deacon, which.
is the lowest ecclesiastical grade of the Therapeutan
church. "The Gospel of which Paul's Epistles speak
had been extensively preached and fully established
before the time of Jesus by the Therapeutae or
Essenes, who believed in the doctrine of the Angel-
Messiah, the AEoa from heaven; the doctrine of
the 'Anointed Angel,' of the man from heaven, the
Creator of the world; the doctrine of the atoning
sacrificial death of Jesus by the blood of his cross;
the doctrine of the Messianic antitype of the Paschal
lamb and of the Paschal omer, and thus of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ the third day according
to the Scriptures, these doctrines of Paul can
with more or less certainty be connected with the
Essenes.

It becomes almost a certainty that
Eusebius was right in surmising that Essenic
writings have been used by Paul and the evangelists.
Not Jesus, but Paul, is the cause of the separation
of the Jews from the Christians."

The very ancient and Eastern doctrine of an Angel-
Messiah had been applied to Gautama-Buddha, who
predicted that another Avatar would come upon earth
in six hundred years after his death. This time had
nearly expired; so Jesus of Nazareth was proclaimed
as the expected Messiah by these Buddhist Jews,
and the sun-myths were interwoven with his real history.

Jesus unquestionably possessed a nature
as divine as it is possible for a human being to
possess, or he would not otherwise have been received
as the Angel-Messiah by a sect so pure and holy as
were the Essenes.

THE ESSENES

By

Josephus and his Contemporaries

Translated from the original Latin and Greek

BY

EDMOND BORDEAUX SZEKELY

PREFACE

Among all the beautiful teachings known to man, none has
had a more profound influence for good than that of the
Essenes, and none has been so little understood.

Historically the communities and sect of the Essenes belong
to the last two or three centuries B. C. and the first century
of our era. Their teachings and their way of life were
recorded by contemporary writers, including Flavius Josephus,
he Jewish historian and statesman, Philo the Alexandrian
philosopher, and Pliny the Elder, the great naturalist.

By way of introduction to the values of the ancient Essenes
the following Rages present the testimony of Josephus
concerning them, as well as a summary of the account
of Philo, Pliny and other authors of antiquity.

The Essene Brotherhoods of the first century A. D. are
particularly notable for the simplicity and harmony of their
life. Moreover, they gave to mankind three of Its greatest
figures: John the Baptist, Jesus and John, the Beloved
Disciple.

The sublime teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on
the Mount is only fully comprehensible in the light of the
Essene teaching of the Sevenfold Peace.

In a wider sense the Essenes do not belong to any one
region or period of time, for their teachings are universal in
their application and ageless in their wisdom. Traces of the
Essene traditions appear In almost every country and religion
of antiquity. In Sumerian archeologlcal excavations tiles and
stones have been found which show fragments of the teaching
recorded some 8000 years ago.

And these fragments in turn appear to stem
from an even earlier period.The same fundamental principles
are discoverable in the Zend Avesta of Zoroaster, in the teachings
of Buddha, In the Tibetan Wheel of Life and in the Law of Moses,
whom the Essenes claimed as their founder. The Essene traditions
were known in ancient Egypt and among the Greek Pythagoreans.

Echoes of the Essene teachings persist at the present day:
In the rituals of the Masons, In the seven-branched
candle stick; In the ancient greeting "Peace Be With You!"
However, their importance to us lies in the fact that they
show modern man the way out of his dilemma.

The truths they teach are as applicable today as 2000 or
8000 years ago, for the laws of life and the universe are
unchanged. The Essene teachings show how man's deviations
from the Law are the cause of all his troubles, and they
give the method by which he can solve both his Individual
problems and the problems of the modern world.

ESSENE HOLY COMMUNIONS

 

THE ESSENES

BY JOSEPHUS AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES

I. LIFE AND WORKS OF JOSEPHUS

Even considering the Gentile authors, none give more
authentic and minute information on the Essenes than the
Jewish historian, Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews
and The Jewish War.

Josephua Flavius, the celebrated Jewish historian, was
born at Jerusalem, 37 A. D.

He was of both royal and sacerdotal lineage, being
descended, on the mother's side, from the line of Asmonean
princes, while his father, Matthias, officiated as a priest
in the first of the twenty-four courses.

The careful education he received developed his brilliant
faculties at an unusually early period, and his acquirements
both in Hebrew and Greek literature... the two principal
branches of his studies... soon drew public attention upon him.

Having successively attended the lectures at the paramount
religious schools of his time—"sects," as he inaccurately
terms them—he withdrew into the desert, to a man whom he
calls Banus, an Essene and a follower of John the Baptist.

Three years later he returned to Jerusalem. So great
was the regard for his abilities that at the age of only
twenty-six he was chosen delegate to Nero.

When the Jews rose in their last and fatal insurrection
against the Romans, Josephus was appointed governor of
Galilee.

Here he displayed the greatest valor and prudence but
the advance of the Roman general Vespasian (67 A. D.)
made resistance hopeless.

The city of Jotapata, into which Josephus had thrown
himself, was taken after a desperate resistance of
forty seven days.

Along with some others he concealed himself in a cavern,
but his hiding place was discovered.

Being brought before Vespasian, he would have been
sent to Nero, had he not, according to his own account...
for Josephus is his own and his sole biographer...
prophesied that his captor would yet become emperor of Rome.

Nevertheless, he was kept in a sort of easy imprisonment
for about three years.

Josephus was present in the Roman Army at the siege
of Jerusalem by Titus.

After the fall of Jerusalem (70 A. D.), Josephus was
instrumental in saving the lives of some of his relatives.

After this he appears to have resided at Rome and to
have devoted himself to literary studies.

The exact period of his death is not ascertained. All we
know is that he survived Agrippa II, who died 97 A. D.

He was thrice married, and had children by his second
and third wives.

His works are as follows: The Jewish War, in 7 books,
written both in Hebrew and Greek (the Hebrew version
is no longer extant);

The Jewish Antiquities, in 20 books, containing the history
of his countrymen from the earliest times down to the
end of the reign of Nero.

(The fictitious Hebrew Josippon, which for a long time
was identified with Josephus'Antiquities, dates from the
tenth century A. D.).

A treatise on the antiquity of the Jews, Against Apion,
in two volumes, valuable chiefly for its extracts from old
historical writers.

An autobiography (37-90 A. D.) in one book, which
may be considered supplementary to the Antiquities.

The other works attributed to him are not believed to be
genuine.

The peculiar character of Josephus is not difficult to
describe. He was, in the main, honest and veracious.

He had a sincere liking for his countrymen, and pride
and enthusiasm in the old national history.

But the hopelessness of attempting to withstand the
enormous power of the Romans, and an aversion to
martyrdom, caused him to side with the enemy in the faint
hope of being thus of some use to the national cause.

The influence of Greek philosophy and learning is
visible in all his writings.

As far as biblical history is concerned, he infused into
it a tone of "rationalism."

He speaks of Moses as a human rather than a divinely
inspired lawgiver.

He doubts the miracle in the crossing of the Red Sea
and the swallowing of Jonah by the whale.

Generally speaking, whatever is calculated to teach that
there is a special miraculous Providence at work on behalf
of the chosen people, he also doubts.

His style is easy and elegant, and Josephus has often
been called the Greek Livy.

II JOSEPHUS AND THE ESSENES

Of his admission into the Essene Order, Josephus writes
in his Life:

"When I had reached my sixteenth year did I undertake to
examine into our different religious sects and their
doctrines, that having come to know them I might choose
the one that to me appeared the best."

"I have already mentioned that there were three sects
of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes."

"Having resolved this, did I at once begin to prepare
myself in different ways that I might be found worthy to
be admitted into the Order of Essenes."

"In order to accomplish this, I turned to a man called
Banus, of whom I was told that he belonged to the
Brotherhood of Essenes, and lived in the wilderness."

"He made his clothes out of the bark and leaves' of
trees, fed upon wild fruits, plants and herbs, and from
holiness bathed several times night and day in cold water."

"In this man's company I spent three entire years,
undergoing all kinds of trials, temptations and privations,
and then returned to the city."

"The doctrine of the Essenes tends to teach all men
that they confidently may trust their fate in the hands of
God, as nothing happens without his will."

"They say that the soul is immortal, and they aspire
to lead a righteous and honest life."

"They are the most honest people in the world, and always
as good as their word."

"They are very industrious and enterprising, and show
great skill and concern in agriculture."

"But most of all are those venerated, esteemed and
admired who live in the wilderness."

"On account of the sense of justice that they ever show
and the courage and intrepidity that they manifest in
ever defending truth and innocence."

"This trait is not found in such a high degree either
with the Grecian or any other people, but it has always
characterized the Essenes from time immemorial."

"They never keep servants."

"They do not think it right that one should be the
slave or servant of the other, as all men are brethren and
God their Father."

"Therefore they serve and assist each other."

"For accountants for the profits of their agricultural
labor and handiwork they choose the most virtuous, honest
and pious of their brethren."

"These also perform the service of priests and provide
for all the wants, as food and clothing."

"They all live the same simple, industrious and frugal
life."

In his work, Do Bello Judaico, 8 Chap. 2-13 vs.,
Josephus further writes:

"The third class of philosophers among the Jews, and
the class that is most esteemed for their just and moral
life, is that of the Essenes."

"Although they are certainly descended from the Jewish
people, they show more amity and love for each other
than other Jews, and live a more moral life."

"They shun and despise sensuality as a great sin, but
consider a moral and temperate life a great virtue."

"They pride highly the strength of mind and the power
to overcome the passions and desires of their nature."

"They willingly adopt the children of other people and
especially while these are very young as they then are
most susceptible to teaching and impressions."

"They show great kindness to such children, hold them
dear, and teach them all kinds of knowledge and science,
morals and religion."

"They do not reject wedlock, but, to the contrary, consider
it necessary for the propagation of mankind."

"They despise riches and worldly gain, and the equality
of property among them must be admired."

"Therefore none of them are seen to live in abundance
or in need."

"The laws of the Order regulate that everyone that
enters into the Brotherhood gives up to this all his
property and wealth."

"Therefore among them are seen neither haughtiness
nor slavish subjection; but all live together as brethren,
sharing good and evil."

"They do not live in any particular town, but in every
town the Order has its respective 'house'."

"In this 'house' the members take their abode when
they arrive on their travels, and they are there supplied
with all they want."

"Everything is here at their disposition, as if in their
own houses."

"Here they are received as the best friends and near
relations by persons they never before saw."

"In every town there is an Elder who has in his care
clothes and other necessary things that he graciously
distributes to them who need such."

"The Essenes use their clothes until they are worn out
and cannot be used any longer."

"They neither buy nor sell among themselves."

"Every member willingly gives his brother what he
needs of his, and" is again supplied by others with what
is needful.''

"Even if he thinks he never can repay it, he may with-out
bashfulness receive it, as this is a rule with them."

"The Essene worship of God is grand, sacred and majestic."

"Before the sun rises and greets the earth with its
beams, they do not speak on earthly matters, but read and
send forth their sacred, humble prayers that they have
learned from their fathers."

"The Elder points out the work in which each one is
the most skilled."

"Having thus worked for five hours, do they again
gather, bathe themselves in cold water, and don a white
linen garb."

"Having washed themselves they proceed to the special
halls of the Order, where no one dare come who does not
belong to their Order."

"Having gone through the ceremonies that the law prescribes,
they proceed, perfectly cleansed, to their eating rooms
with the same reverence as if they entered the holy
temple."

"Everybody having taken his place in supreme silence
and stillness, the bakers of the Brotherhood enter,
distributing a bread to each person after a certain order."

"The cook sets before each one a plate of vegetables
and other eatables."

"This being performed, one of the priests steps forth
and holds a prayer."

"They consider it a grave sin to rest or touch food
before praying."

"The meal over, the priest reads another prayer, and
then the hymn of praise is sung."

"In this way .they praise and thank God, the giver of
all good, both before and after the meal."

"They then take off their white aprons, which they
consider sacred clothes."

"They return to their work, which they pursue till the
twilight spreads over the earth."

"Then they go to their frugal evening meal again, during
which they observe the same ceremonies as at their dinner."

"If members from foreign parts have arrived, they are
put in the chief places at the table."

"The meal is taken with the most solemn silence and
stillness."

"No noise or dispute disturbs the peace of the house,"

"They talk by turns, and in a low tone, which will
appear strange to those not used to it."

"They observe great temperance in their way of living."

"They eat and drink only what is necessary for their
wants."

"In general do they not act without the knowledge and
consent of their elders."

"But it is always left to their own free will to exercise
benevolence and compassion to all in want, of all classes
of society."

"To feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless."

"To comfort the sick, visit, assist and comfort the prisoner."

"To comfort, aid and protect the widows and fatherless."

"They never let themselves be overcome by anger,
hatred, vengeance or ill-will."

"Indeed, they are the champions of faith, truth and honesty."

"As the servants and arbitrators of peace."

"Their 'Yea' and 'Nay' were with them as binding as
the most sacred oath."

"Except the oath they take at their admittance into
the Order, they never bind themselves through an oath,
neither in their public nor private life."

"Oaths and profanity are with them as much shunned
as perjury itself."

"They consider that the man loses his esteem among his
fellow citizens whose word is not sufficient without
swearing."

"They study with perseverance and interest ancient writings."

"They especially prefer such that are intended to indurate
and strengthen the body and ennoble and sanctify the spirit."

"They have profound knowledge of the art of healing,
and study it arduously."

"They examine and are acquainted with the medicinal
herbs and plants, which they prepare as medicine for man
and beasts."

"They also know the use and worth of minerals as
medicine, and do a great deal of good by applying these
for healing the sick."

"Anybody that wishes to belong to the Brotherhood is
not at once admitted."

"Before admittance to the Brotherhood one has first to
pass a whole year of trials outside the same."

"One has to live according to certain rules and regulations."

"During this time he has to prove himself worthy through
a strictly moral and virtuous life and temperance."

"He is provided with a spade, an apron, and a white
garb."

"Now he is again subjected to new trials."

"Having passed through these, he is sprinkled with
water, or 'baptized' as a sign of his spiritual purity and
liberation from material things."

"Having thus proved his chastity, and being further
tried in his strength of character and other qualities, and
found to be worthy, he is at last admitted an actual member
of the Brotherhood."

"But before he touches any food in the presence of the
Brotherhood, does he take this sacred vow:

"Above all things to fear [Love?] God."

"He must, of a true and pure heart, exercise justice
and honesty to all men."

"Neither of impulse nor influence by others must he
harm or hurt any man."

"During all his life to shun injustice."

"Ever undaunted, to further truth and justice."

"Further, he vows sacredly ever to obey his worldly
rulers, as nobody has the rule without the will of God."

"If he become a ruler, does he vow not to misuse power."

"To set an example for his subjects by a virtuous life,
frugality and plain clothing."

"He shall always love truth and shun falsehood."

"To preserve his mind from impure thought or impulse."

"Never to stain his hands with unjust gain."

"He vows never to interpret or explain anything of the
laws of the Order in any other spirit than he himself hag
received it from the holy fathers."

"To faithfully hide and take care of the books and
archives of the Order."

"According to special regulation to keep secret the
names of the angels with whom the fathers formerly
stood in communion." '

"This was the vow that every member must take and
which they consider so sacred that they would rather
suffer the most violent death than to break it."

"The member who broke this vow, or was caught in the
act of any crime or vice, or could be proved to have
committed the act, was expelled from the Brotherhood."

"Generally these people grew very old, and I myself
know several who have arrived at an extraordinary old
age."

"I presume this fact may be accounted for by their
temperate, laborious life, and strict regularity."

"Their courage and uncommon tranquility cannot be
disturbed by the greatest calamities, adversities or
troubles.''

"They can bear suffering and pains with the greatest
calmness and strength of mind."

"In defense of anything good and just they gladly
prefer death for life."

"During the Roman war they have indeed been subjected
to great calamities and suffering."

"All conceivable forms of suffering have been invented
and used to make them deny their faith, deride their
Lawgiver."

"All these efforts have been in vain."

"Unshaken in their determination, they have suffered
these excruciations in silence and with great endurance."

"Many of them have in the very pain rebuked their
enemies with the sharp sword of the word of truth."

"They have then, to the great amazement of the bystanders,
in a calm mind and joyful mien, given up the spirit in the
firm belief and faith that their bodies shall decay and
become dust, but that the souls are immortal,and shall
live eternally."

"They say that during the worldly life the spirit is
chained to the body like a prisoner in his cell."

"But when these chains burst, by wear and decay, then
the spirit is freed from the bodily prison."

"Already tasting the heavenly bliss, it soars up to the
bright kingdom of joy and peace."

"They agree that the pious spirits, previous to their
admission into the joy of heaven, hover in space over the
waters, without being affected by rain, snow, cold or heat."

"They maintain that by the doctrine of the immortality
of the soul men are promoted and encouraged to a virtuous
life and shun vice."

"Many of the Essenes have often stepped forth among
the people as prophets."

"They informed them of things to happen."

"It is easier for these holy men to prophesy as they
from their earliest infancy study nature and the doctrine
of God."

"They are instructed in goodly books and the writings
of the prophets, and grow in wisdom and purity of heart."

"Their presages often came true, and this increased
their esteem with the people as holy men and prophets."

The Essenes consider that everybody who does marry
hereby contracts the propagation and destination
of mankind, as men would soon cease to exist otherwise."

"But ere they married, they put the one they had
chosen as their wife on a term of trial for three years."

"After this three-fold trial and cleansing, if the woman
was found to be chaste and faithful, and capable of bearing
children, they married her."

"They never had sexual intercourse with the wife in
her pregnancy."

"Thereby to show they had not married from lust, but
to fulfill the command of Jehovah, 'Be fruitful, increase
and fill the earth'."

"When the women bathe or wash themselves they are
clothed in a linen garb."

"The men, similarly, when they bathe, wear an apron
or belt around the waist."

"In whatever they do they exercise great order and
chastity.''

"Rightly do they deserve to be called an example for
the life of other people."

III PHILO AND OTHER FIRST CENTURY
AUTHORS ON THE ESSENES

Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History, describes their
customs: "A race by themselves, more remarkable than
any other in this wide world."

According to Josephus their life and principles were
followed by the Pythagoreans and Stoics.

He regards them as the oldest of the initiates, receiving
the traditions of Central Asia through the Egyptians.

He also mentions their superior capacity for predicting
the future after preparing themselves by prolonged fasts,
and says that their prophecies were always fulfilled.

All the contemporary authors mention that the First
Century Essenes, far from being a sect of metaphysical
speculators, were, on the contrary, men of action who put
into practice their religious, moral, social and scientific
conceptions.

In Palestine and Syria they were called Essenes.

The members of the sect in Egypt, especially those living
by Lake Mareotis near Alexandria, were called Therapeutse
in Latin, Therapeutai in Greek; in other words... healers.

The three most objective sources from which we can
reconstruct the life and teaching of the First Century
Essenes are the Alexandrian philosopher, Philo, Josephus
Plavius the Jewish historian, both of them contemporary;
and Pliny the Elder.

We possess other very valuable passages through Epiphanius,
Eusebius, Hippolytus and Porphyry, to whom should also be
added Strabo and Cheeremon who both give information of value.

In order to practice their daily life which was very different
from that of the rest of the Jews, the Essenes formed a number
of groups, the largest and most important of them being on the
northwest coast of the Dead Sea, near the mouth of the river Jordan.

The second largest and not less important community
was on the shores of Lake Mareotis, close to Alexandria,

The other smaller groups played no very important part
historically.

During the week most of them lived separately, but each
seventh day they gathered to talk, eat, bathe and pray
together.

All the authors are agreed that they never ate meat and
took no other drink than rain water or the juice of fruits.

They also say that they lived chiefly on the fruits of
trees and bushes and on the vegetables and seeds of the
fields.

Most of the other authors mention that the First Century
Essenes were very fond of music and were always happy.
So we can see that they were very far removed from the
austerity of the later Christian monasteries.

In particular, these authors praise the melodic beauty
of their music, the technical capacities of their musicians
and the plasticity of their exercises and dances.

They further add that they were very friendly and generous
to visitors whom they received only on the Sabbath.

The First Century Essenes were without exception opposed
to life in big cities. They always lived in the country
and always by lakes and rivers.

They had a great influence on their neighbors through
their daily life and example.

They were against luxury and sensual pleasures, living
a very simple and natural life.

Each of them had a single white garment, each ate a
single dish at his meal, and all worked till sundown.

They attached great importance to their communal
meals which were always at sunset and were partaken of
in silence, preceded by special prayer.

Their chief collective occupation was agriculture and
arboriculture.

This occupation was followed by all without exception
during half the day.

In addition to this activity they formed three groups,
choosing freely an intellectual occupation from medicine,
astronomy, or education.

Their contemporaries regarded them as the heirs to
Chaldean and Egyptian astronomy and to the medicine
of the ancient Persians.

Their system of education was likewise greatly esteemed
by their contemporaries and is described as "peripatetic,"
walks being taken in common by masters and pupils on
the shores of the lake or in their gardens.

They had a holiday each seventh day in an atmosphere
of joy and contentment.

They always persevered in their simple ways and diet
and neither force nor temptation ever succeeded in turning
them from their characteristic life and principles.

They had four degrees in their society, based on individual
merit, on erudition and on age.

The heads of their communities observed an extraordinarily
strict purity and simplicity in what they ate.

These leaders guided their communities less by regulation
and law than by their personal example and individual
superiority.

All the authors agree that they had secret traditions,
practices and teachings, which were transmissible only by
initiates.

They always stressed that to understand their teachings
it was necessary to live the true life for many years and
to change oneself physically, intellectually and morally.

For this reason they had a three years novitiate before
finally accepting anyone among them.

The results show that this was an excellent system, as
no case of expulsion or disobedience was ever noted in
their history.

After seven years of inner life they began to initiate
candidates into their traditional secrets and during the
subsequent years they continued to reveal their teachings
until these initiates had attained the highest degree of
comprehension.

Generally they all lived to an extremely advanced age:
it was very rare for them to die before their hundredth
or hundred and twentieth year and most of them lived
still longer.

Josephus tells us the oath which they asked of every
candidate after the three years had expired, before being
admitted to the communal meal.

"Before the candidate is allowed to touch the common
food, he is obliged to take an oath."

"He will exercise piety towards the Diety, and justice
towards men."

"He will do no harm to anyone, either of his own accord,
or by the command of others."

"He will always shun the unjust and cleave to the just."

"He will always show a good example to all men."

"He will show himself loyal to his masters since their
power comes from God and His angels."

"He will never force his personal opinion or authority
on others."

"He will at no time wear special or luxurious garments."

"He will love the truth and avoid all that is false."

"He will keep his hands clean from all material impurities
and his soul free from all unclean thoughts."

"He will never have secrets from his brethren and he
will never denounce them even at the cost of his life."

"Moreover he swears that he will transmit the traditions
he has received."

"He will preserve the sacred Scriptures, books and traditions
with the greatest care."

"He will scrupulously keep the names and commands
of the angels, which he has learned to know."

Philo compares the Essenes with the Persian Magi and the
Indian Yogis.

They lived a communal life, and each of them performed
certain agricultural and manual labors.

Lands, houses, tools and books were held in common.

The results of their common labors were distributed
proportionately among them.

They distributed all their surplus possessions among
the poor.

They healed, without reward, all the sick who came to
them.

Besides the poor and sick, they also helped the old and
orphans.

They refrained from expressing political opinions.

They always condemned slavery in no uncertain terms.

They lived on terms of perfect equality between men
and women, contrary to the customs and social structure
of their period.

The elders who educated the young always enjoyed the
greatest respect, but this was not a system of hierarchy.

For administrative purposes they elected certain chiefs.

Above and before all, they had their traditional secrets
based on angelology, the fundamental science of all their
teachings.

Epiphanius mentions, in his Panarion, the Hemerobaptists,
a group of Essenes whose principal rites were baths,
ablutions and daily exercises.

Hegesippus and Justin the Martyr also speak of them
in similar terms.

We know' from other authors that the morning baths
were not only practiced by the group described by
Epiphanius, but by the Essenes of every community
without exception.

The morning baths were followed by special breathing
and gymnastic exercises.

The Hemerobaptists were par excellence the medical
group of the Essenes, who dedicated themselves entirely to
healing and to baptisms.

They had both celibates and married folk among them.

Before entering into marriage men and women alike
followed certain practices of purification and for a whole
year ate special meals prescribed by the elders.

There were yet other prescriptions for women during
the period of pregnancy.

They had a special book called Traditions of the Fathers***
on the Immaculate Conception which they followed very
strictly.

The children, when their first year of life was completed,
were educated by the older pedagogues, but were
fed by their mothers.

The studies, exercises and regimen of the children were
specially supervised by the elders.

But the most peculiar thing in the eyes of the lay authors
was the great solemnity of their communal meal each Sabbath,
that is, on the eve of Saturday.

On this occasion they were all clothed in white.

They began their meal with prayer, ritual and solemn
meditation.

After eating their frugal meal in absolute silence, they
had music.

They discussed their activities of the past week, and
prepared their program for the coming week.

After playing with the children, the evening ended with
a walk all together by the shore of the lake or along the
river's bank.

According to their contemporaries, they regarded the
evening as the beginning of the day.

In the evening they devoted themselves to their studies
and spiritual concentrations.

They divided the day into fourteen parts and arranged
their work and activities in accordance with these periods.

They divided the year into thirteen equal parts.

The elders, following the ancient traditions, prescribed
special regimens and exercises which differed with each
month.

It was not without reason that the writers contemporary
with the Essenes regarded them as a race apart. They were
indeed different from other people both in their principles
and in their daily life and practice.

There are very few points on which the authors disagree.

From their almost unanimous accounts it is possible to
make a virtually complete reconstruction of their life and
moral conceptions.

The chief point on which all the writers, without exception
are agreed is, that the First Century Essenes enjoyed a
high moral reputation among the various Jewish sects and
among all their neighboring people. That they were held
in high regard is incontestable.

We find no unfavorable judgment or opinion recorded
against the Essenes among authors of antiquity.

They were the only sect to be without enemies and to
escape criticism at the hands of even the most ironical
writers.

The First Century Essenes gave humanity the greatest
figures of antiquity: the latter prophets, John the Baptist,
Jesus the Christ, and John the Beloved Disciple.

IV THE ESSENE RENAISSANCE

The first Christians-Essenes had no formal creed. Their
members were convinced that freedom is the indispensable
condition of wholesome spiritual life for men. They insisted
upon being just as free to make new discoveries in religion
a« the scientist is in biology or chemistry.

Precious as is freedom, they did not regard it as an end
in itself but rather as a condition in which alone they could
fulfill their function, which was to enrich the individual
life and to improve the social order.

The only religion that could satisfy them was one that
rose above the ancient divisions' and united men all over
the world in one brotherhood.

The fundamental belief of the modern Essenes ia that
the renaissance of the original purity, simplicity and
harmony of the free creative life of the first Christians-
Essenes is the only way out of the present world chaos of
violence, ignorance, misery and suffering.

On this universal and eternal basis they are trying to
bring about the all-sided realization of the best forms of
the individual and social life.

1. They always and everywhere get rid of what is bad
by strengthening what is good, never by violent attack on
what is bad.

2. They get rid of ignorance simply by extending education
and not by violent attacks on ignorance.

3. They get rid of egoism simply by aiding and extending
altruism and not by violent attacks on egoism.

4. They get rid of violence simply by the progressive
growth and strength of our constructive social activity
and not by destructive attacks on violence.

5. They get rid of misery by the progressive elimination
of the chief individual and social causes of misery, by
giving progressively unlimited possibilities to everyone of
winning and extending individual and collective well-being
and not by violent attack on the existing laws of society.

6. They get rid of disease simply by strengthening the
vitality of the organism and not by attacking the disease.

7. They get rid of chaos and darkness by the extensive
organization of order and the progressive organization of
light and not by destruction or violence.

In brief: They create a better future by the constructive
and progressive amelioration of the present and not by the
destruction of the past. They bring about a peaceful inner
revolution, an individual rebirth in each altruistic,
intelligent and active being in order to ensure the unlimited
progressive evolution of mankind towards an ever better future.

END

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Ancient Historians & the Essenes

Ancient writers such as Josephus, Philo, Pliny, Dio Chrysostom and Hippolytus of Rome spoke of the Essenes. Josephus speaks mainly of the Ossaeans of Qumran, while Philo speaks of the Theraputae who were a branch of the Nasaraean Essenes.

First hand reports concerning the Essenes comes to us from the Jewish philosopher of the Egyptian dispersion, Philo of Alexandria, who lived between 30 B.C. and 40 A.D. Philo's writings about the Essenes comes down to us through two works, 'Quod omnis probus Fiber sit' and 'Apologia pro Judais.' The second work has been lost but the information was retained in Eusebius' 'Praeparatio Evangilica.'

Another writer contemporary with the Essenes was Flavius Josephus, the famous Jewish historian and priest-general at the time of the Jewish war. His most elaborate description of this group is contained in 'The Jewish War', followed by an interesting, but far less detailed account in 'Jewish Antiquities.' Josephus wrote his first work sometime between 70 and 75 A.D., and the second somewhat later, but before 100 A.D., the year of his death.

Another first-hand report concerning the Essenes comes from the Roman writer, Pliny the Elder, who, in his work entitled 'Natural History,' incorporated information about the sect , Pliny died in 79 A.D.

A Greek orator and philosopher, Dio Chrysostom, also mentioned in passing the existence of an Essene community near the Dead Sea. His report is dated somewhat later than Pliny.

Writing two centuries later, Hippolytus of Rome detailed a long account of the Essenes that, for the most part, is said to have paralleled Josephus' information, but in a few instances provided unique material, though he was not an eyewitness of this sect.

There is, recorded in both Josephus and in the Talmud, the story of one Onias the Righteous, a man who was stoned to death in about 65 B.C. who was particularly saintly and who is believed to have been able to bring rain through his prayers. He is, according to Millar Burrows, thought to have been an Essene.

"They do not offer animal sacrifice, judging it more fitting to render their minds truly holy. They flee the cities and live in villages where clean air and clean social life abound. They either work in the fields or in crafts that contribute to peace. They do not hoard silver and gold and do not acquire great landholdings; procuring for themselves only what is necessary for life. Thus they live without goods and without property, not by misfortune, but out of preference. They do not make armaments of any kind. They do not keep slaves and detest slavery. They avoid wholesale and retail commerce, believing that such activity excites one to cupidity. With respect to philosophy, they dismiss logic but have an extremely high regard for virtue. They honor the Sabbath with great respect over the other days of the week. They have an internal rule which all learn, together with rules on piety, holiness, justice and the knowledge of good and bad. These they make use of in the form of triple definitions, rules regarding the love of God, the love of virtue, and the love of men. They believe God causes all good but cannot be the cause of any evil. They honor virtue by foregoing all riches, glory and pleasure. Further, they are convinced they must be modest, quiet, obedient to the rule, simple, frugal and without mirth. Their life style is communal. They have a common purse. Their salaries they deposit before them all, in the midst of them, to be put to the common employment of those who wish to make use of it. They do not neglect the sick on the pretext that they can produce nothing. With the common purse there is plenty from which to treat all illnesses. They lavish great respect on the elderly. With them they are very generous and surround them with a thousand attentions. They practice virtue like a gymnastic exercise, seeing the accomplishment of praiseworthy deeds as the means by which a man ensures absolute freedom for himself."

Philo (second account)
"The Essenes live in a number of towns in Judea, and also in many villages and in large groups. They do not enlist by race, but by volunteers who have a zeal for righteousness and an ardent love of men. For this reason there are no young children among the Essenes. Not even adolescents or young men. Instead they are men of old or ripe years who have learned how to control their bodily passions. They possess nothing of their own, not house, field, slave nor flocks, nor anything which feeds and procures wealth. They live together in brotherhoods, and eat in common together. Everything they do is for the common good of the group. They work at many different jobs and attack their work with amazing zeal and dedication, working from before sunrise to almost sunset without complaint, but in obvious exhilaration. Their exercise is their work. Indeed, they believe their own training to be more agreeable to body and soul, and more lasting, than athletic games, since their exercises remain fitted to their age, even when the body no longer possesses its full strength. They are farmers and shepherds and beekeepers and craftsmen in diverse trades. They share the same way of life, the same table, even the same tastes; all of them loving frugality and hating luxury as a plague for both body and soul. Not only do they share a common table, but common clothes as well. What belongs to one belongs to all. Available to all of them are thick coats for winter and inexpensive light tunics for summer. Seeing it as an obstacle to communal life, they have banned marriage. They view women as selfish, excessively jealous, skillful in seduction and armed, like actors with all sorts of masks designed to flatter and ensnare men, bewitching and capturing their attention and finally leading them astray. They believe that where children are involved, women become audacious, arrogant, swollen with pride, shamelessly violent and employ attitudes dangerous to the good of the common life. The husband, bound by his wife's spells, or anxious for his children from natural necessity, is no more the same to the others, but becomes a different man; instead of a freeman, he becomes a slave."

Flavius Josephus
The first reference to the Essenes comes from Josephus, writing about the death of Antigonus in 103 B.C. Josephus relates that the Essenes had an uncanny ability to successfully predict future events, and that the death of Antigonus at the hands of his brother, Aristobulus, ruler of Judea, had been accurately forecast by an Essene named Judas. Josephus states that 'Judas was an Essene born and bred, indicating that he had been born into the movement at least a few decades earlier.

On this occasion, according to Josephus, Judas was sitting in or near the Jerusalem temple with a number or his pupils, showing that he was an Essene teacher of the Law and that he was able to speak his views apparently quite freely in Jerusalem at the end of the second century B.C.

"The sect of the Essenes maintain that Fate governs all things, and that nothing can befall man contrary to its determination and will. These men live the same kind of life which among the Greeks has been ordered by Pythagoras."

"The Essenes are Jews by race, but are more closely united among themselves by mutual affection, and by their efforts to cultivate a particularly saintly life. They renounce pleasure as an evil, and regard continence and resistance to passions as a virtue. They disdain marriage for themselves, being content to adopt the children of others at a tender age in order to instruct them. They do not abolish marriage, but are convinced women are all licentious and incapable of fidelity to one man. They despise riches. When they enter the sect, they must surrender all of their money and possessions into the common fund, to be put at the disposal of everyone; one single property for the whole group. Therefore neither the humiliation of poverty nor the pride of possession is to be seen anywhere among them. They regard oil as a defilement, and should any of them be involuntarily anointed, he wipes his body clean. They make a point of having their skin dry and of always being clothed in white garments. In their various communal offices, the administrators are elected and appointed without distinction offices. They are not just in one town only, but in every town several of them form a colony. They welcome members from out of town as coequal brothers, and even though perfect strangers, as though they were intimate friends. For this reason they carry nothing with them ashen they travel: they are, however, armed against brigands. They do not change their garments or shoes until they have completely worn out. They neither buy nor sell anything among themselves. They give to each other freely and feel no need to repay anything in exchange. Before sunrise they recite certain ancestral prayers to the sun as though entreating it to rise. They work until about 11 A.M. when they put on ritual loincloths and bathe for purification. Then they enter a communal hall,where no one else is allowed,and eat only one bowlful of food for each man, ! together with their loaves of bread. They eat in silence. Afterwards they lay aside their sacred garment and go back to work until the evening. At evening they partake dinner in the same manner. During meals they are sober and quiet and their silence seems a great mystery to people outside. Their food and drink are so measured out that they are satisfied but no more. They see bodily pleasure as sinful. On the whole they do nothing unless ordered by their superiors, but two things they are allowed to do on their own discretion: to help those 'worthy of help', and to offer food to the needy. They are not allowed, however, to help members of their own families without permission from superiors. They are very careful not to exhibit their anger, carefully controlling such outbursts. They are very loyal and are peacemakers. They refuse to swear oaths, believing every word they speak to be stronger than an oath. They are scrupulous students of the ancient literature. They are ardent students in the healing of diseases, of the roots offering protection, and of the properties of stones. Those desiring to enter the sect are not allowed immediate entrance. They are made to wait outside for a period of one year. During this time each postulant is given a hatchet, a loincloth and a white garment. The hatchet is used for cleanliness in stooling for digging and covering up the hole. Having proved his continence during the first year he draws closer to the way of life and participates in the purificatory baths at a higher degree, but he is not yet admitted into intimacy. His character is tested another two years and if 'ne proves worthy he is received into the company permanently.

They are sworn to love truth and to pursue liars. They must never steal. They are not allowed to keep any secrets from other members of the sect; but they are warned to reveal nothing to outsiders, even under the pain of death. They are not allowed to alter the 'books of the sect, and must keep all the information secret, especially the names of the angels. The name of the Lawgiver, after God, is a matter of great veneration to them; if anyone blasphemed the name of the Lawgiver he was sentenced to death. Those members convicted of grave faults are expelled from the order. In matters of judgment Essene leaders are very exact and impartial. Their decisions are irrevocable. They are so scrupulous in matters pertaining to the Sabbath day that they refuse even to go to stool on that day, They always give way to the opinion of the majority, and they make it their duty to obey their elders. They are divided into four lots according to the duration of their discipline, and the juniors are so inferior to their elders that if the latter touch them, they wash themselves as though they had been in contact with a stranger. They despise danger: they triumph over pain by the heroism of their convictions, and consider death, if it comes with glory, to be better than the preservation of life. They died in great glory amidst terrible torture in the war against the Romans. They believe that their souls are immortal, but that their bodies are corruptible. They believe the soul is trapped in the body and is freed with death. They believe that there is a place 'across the ocean' where just souls gather, a place reserved for the immortal souls of the just. The souls of the wicked, however, are relegated to a dark pit, shaken by storms and full of unending chastisement. Some of the Essenes became expert in forecasting the future."

Josephus (second account)
"The Essenes declare that souls are immortal and consider it necessary to struggle to obtain the reward of righteousness. They send offerings to the Temple, but offer no sacrifices since the purifications to which they are accustomed are different. For this reason, they refrain from entering into the common enclosure, but offer sacrifice among themselves. They are holy men and completely given up to agricultural labor."

Pliny the Elder
"To the west (of the Dead Sea) the Essenes have put the necessary distance between themselves and the insalubrious shore. They are a people unique of its kind and admirable beyond all others in the whole world; without women and renouncing love entirely, without money and having for company only palm trees. Owing to the throng of newcomers, this people is daily reborn in equal number; indeed, those whom, wearied by the fluctuations of fortune, life leads to adopt their customs, stream in in great numbers. Thus, unbelievable though this may seem, for thousands of centuries a people has existed which is eternal yet into which no one is born: so fruitful for them is the repentance which others feel for their past lives!"

Eusebius
(Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, writing around A.D.300)
"Even in our day, there are still those whose only guide is Deity; ones who live by the true reason of nature, not only themselves free but filling their neighbors with the spirit of freedom. They are not very numerous indeed, but that is not strange, for the highest nobility is ever rare; and then these ones have turned aside from the vulgar herd to devote themselves to a contemplation of nature's verities. They pray, if it were possible, that they may reform our fallen lives; but if they cannot, owing to the tide of evils and wrongs which surge up in cities, they flee away, lest they too be swept off their feet by the force of the current. And we, if we had a true zeal for self-improvement, would have to track them to their places of retreat, and, halting as supplicants before them, would beseech them to come to us and tame our life grown too fierce and wild; preaching instead of war and slavery and untold ills, their Gospel of Peace and freedom, and all the fullness of other blessings."