ESSENES, es-senz, a sect or society of Hyper-Pharisaic Jews, in existence 150 years n.c., and which existed till the 2d century, the remnant then returning to Pharisaic or orthodox Judaism or entering the Christian communion. They are not mentioned in the Bible or rabbin ical literature. Josephus the historian (1st cen tury) describes their manner of life in some detail; Philo Judaeus has a notice of it, so too has Pliny in his (Historia Naturalis.> Josephus was in his youth a probationer of the society, but lived among them only a short time and was unacquainted with the details of their sys tem, which were strictly withheld from novices; but his narrative has the marks of authenticity. In essentials Josephus and Philo are in accord, and with them agrees Pliny in the one peculiar ity of this society which he notices — their celibate life. The Essenes were stern ascetics and in that respect were the prototype of the Christian Solitaries, who in the 3d and 4th centuries peopled the Nubian deserts; withal, they were both in name and in deed Friends— for such was one of the appellations of the brethren. Among themselves they had all things in common, like the first Christians, and they were open-handed and hospitable to strangers. They are supposed never to have numbered more than 4,000 souls. There were groups of Esscnes in all the towns of Judea, but their institute had opportunity for full de velopment only in their communal settlements on the western shore of the Dead Sea, where they devoted themselves to their peculiar reli gious observances and to agriculture and a few simple handicrafts. Their food was of the simplest, taken at the common board, their only drink, water; their attire was of the plain'est white linen material. None possessed more than one tunic or more than one pair of shoes. They lose at daybreak for prayer; after prayer and a hymn they went about their customary occupations. (Here we arc reminded of what Pliny wrote to Hadrian concerning usages of the Christians in Bithynia : "They met on a stated day before daybreak and chanted a hymn to Christ as God.") At the 5th hour (11 A.m.) they again assembled in one place and bathed their faces in cold water, after which they put on pure white garments and repaired to the common simple meal, which was preceded by a blessing, a prayer and a hymn; and after the repast there was again prayer and a hymn. Then the brethren put off the ceremonial garb of white linen, put on their workday attire, and went back to their employments. No women
were admitted to the order; like some of the modern Shakers they adopted young boys and brought them up in their own simple way of living; on attaining maturity they might, if willing, be admitted to membership after a term of probation; or they were free to return to the world. But they also received accessions of life-weary grown people. "Thus," says Pliny, "here is a people that never dies out (mterna est) yet in which there are no births: so fruitful for them is others'
There were four degrees of membership' re sembling in some respects the castes of the Hin dus. If a person in a higher degree so much as touched one of a lower grade, he was thereby defiled and was bound to make himself clean in cold water. Their severely abstemious life, their contempt for riches and honors, their deep conviction of the immense superiority of their religion gave them all the heroic courage in face of persecution and torture which distinguished the Christians in the ages of martyrdom. So scrupulous were they in avoiding everything like idolatry, that some of them would never enter any city because of the images erected at the gates; nor would they touch a coin that bore the likeness of any ruler.
Bibliography.— Pliny, (Historia Naturalis' ; the writings of Josephus and Philo Judacus; also Philosophumena, or (Refutation of all Heresies,' written in Greek 230 A.D., author un known; Lightfoot, (Colossians and Philemon' (3d ed., London 1879) ; Fairweather, (The Background of the Gospels' (New York 1908); Pfleiderer, (Primitive (Eng. trans., New York 1912) ; and Hastings, (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics.'