Essenes

— the name of a Jewish sect that existed around the time of the Savior’s earthly life, but which is not mentioned in Holy Scripture. Information about it is found in Josephus, in his work “The Jewish War,” book 2, chapter 8, in Philo, and partly in Pliny. According to Philo and Josephus, the number of the sect’s adherents reached as many as 4,000 persons. Their chief concern was the preservation and cultivation of purity of morals and piety; they believed in one God, in the immortality of the soul, but also in the transmigration of souls after death.

They were highly religious and led a strict, moral life. They prayed at the rising and setting of the sun; they avoided the use of oaths; they strictly observed the Sabbath day, and so on. Among earthly pursuits they occupied themselves chiefly with agriculture, and especially with the knowledge of the medicinal power of plants and the healing of the sick (hence they were called Therapeutae). According to the testimony of Pliny, the chief dwelling place of the Essenes was the western shore of the Dead Sea, above the wilderness of En-gedi.