Sadducees
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Matt. 3:7)—a Jewish sect frequently mentioned in the New Testament. Jewish tradition connected its origin with a Zadok who studied under Antigonus of Socho, a president of the Jewish Sanhedrin said to have lived in the third century BC. The source also associates the name with the priestly line of Zadok. The Sadducees denied eternal blessedness and punishment in the age to come, the existence of angels and evil spirits, and the resurrection of the dead (Matt. 22:23; Acts 23:8).
Their skeptical and materialistic teaching was not widely received, though some adherents were wealthy and prominent. The source says the Pharisees exercised much greater influence among the people.