• Origin/Background

• Teachings/Beliefs
• Practice &
Traditions

Essenes
• Encounters

GROUP 4
The Essenes
 ESSENES
– Greek name Essenoi or Essainoi is related
to the Aramaic hasya, "pious"
– Greek hosiotas, "piety" of "holiness"
ORIGIN / BACKGROUND

– a Jewish mystical sect somewhat resembling the

Pharisees
– A sect of Second Temple Judaism
– They lived lives of ritual purity and separation
– They originated about 100 B.C.
– They disappeared from history after the
destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
‫תורתו‬
TEACHINGS / BELIEF

– Believed that God was coming, but only

through a catastrophic event
– Believed in reincarnation
– Believed in non-violence to all living
creatures
– Held very deep religious convictions
PRACTICE / TRADITION

– Lived strict, pure lives away from

civilization
– Had their writings in seaside caves – the
Dead Sea Scrolls
– Lived austere lives, avoiding luxuries,
sharing communal meals, acts of ritualistic
purification, e.g.: a vow of silence
PRACTICE / TRADITION

– They practiced the seventh day Sabbath

– Sharing of material possessions
– Uninvolved in politics of the Sadduccees
and Pharisees
– Shunned publicity
– Lived a communal life
PRACTICE / TRADITION

– ritually immersed in morning every morning

– ate together after prayer
– forbade expression of anger and dishonesty
– preserved secrets
– mindful of names of the angels kept in their
sacred writings
Dead Sea Scrolls
 ENCOUNTERS

– Relationship with Jesus and the Essenes

– Since they are mysterious of nature, there
were only minimal records of their
existence.
– They were said to be implied in the
scriptures.
 ENCOUNTERS

– Matthew 19:11
– Matthew 19:12
– Colossian 2:8
– Colossians 2:18
– Colossian 2:23
 DEAD SEA SCROLLS

– hidden in the caves of Qumram

– The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1945, yet it
took 50 years for the information to leak out
about these extraordinary people.
– a community of people practicing Christianity, or
something very close to it, for at least 200 years
before the time of Christ.