Adjacent Words

Essenes definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ESSE'NES, n. Among the Jews, a sect remarkable for their strictness and abstinence.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Essene Es*sene", n.; pl. Essenes. [Gr. ?, lit., physicians, because they practiced medicine, fr. Chald [=a]say[=a] to heal, cf. Heb. as[=a].] One of a sect among the Jews in the time of our Savior, remarkable for their strictness and abstinence.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

a Jewish mystical sect somewhat resembling the Pharisees. They affected great purity. They originated about B.C. 100, and disappeared from history after the destruction of Jerusalem. They are not directly mentioned in Scripture, although they may be referred to in Matt. 19:11, 12, Col. 2:8, 18, 23.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

es-senz', (Essenoi, Essaioi):

Contents I. THE NAME

Forms It Assumes--Etymology, Origin

II. AUTHORITIES FOR THE TENETS OF THE ESSENES

1. Philo (1) Description from Quod Omnis Probus Liber (2) Description from Quotation in Eusebius, Preposition Evang. (3) Description of Therapeutae from De Vita Contemplativa

2. Josephus (1) Description from Antiquities of the Jews, XVIII, i, 5 (2) Description from Wars of the Jews, II, viii, 2-13 (3) Incidental Notices

3. Pliny 4. Hegesippus 5. Porphyry 6. Hippolytus--Uses Josephus, but to Some Extent Independent 7. Epiphanius--Confused Account

III. DEDUCTIONS AND COMBINATIONS

1. Government 2. Doctrines

IV. HISTORY AND ORIGIN

1. Essenes and Chasidhim 2. Position of Essenes in Josephus 3. Doctrinal Affinities 4. Essenes and Pythagoras 5. Buddhism and Essenism 6. Parseeism and Essenism 7. Essenism Mainly Jewish

V. RELATION TO APOCALYPTIC BOOKS

1. Reasons for Holding the Essenes to Be the Writers of the Apocalypses 2. Objections Answered

VI. THE ESSENES AND CHRISTIANITY

1. Resemblances between Essenism and Christianity 2. Points of Difference 3. Disappearance of Essenism in Christianity 4. Monachism LITERATURE