• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1304 0

the monkish sect of Palestine and the mystery school at Alexandria. As Philo stated, the Essenic communities in Palestine and Arabia "did not soar to such a lofty height of philosophic and mystic endeavour as the members of the community near Alexandria. .."12 The Essenes of Palestine were much simpler and more contemplative than the worldly Therapeuts, who were profoundly engaged in the mystery religions, initiations and rituals. While both were called "healers," these were two different sects, although they were connected, as is the case with numerous brotherhoods and secret societies. The Therapeuts were, in fact, a major part of the brotherhood network that stretched from Egypt to China and up into Europe. Indeed, many of the aspects in the gospels attributed to "the" Essenes, such as prayer, fasting, celibacy, baptism, contemplation, cleanliness, healing, etc., were in reality practices common to the monkish fraternities around the world for millennia.

Regarding the confusion between the Essenes and Therapeuts, Waite says:

By most writers the Essenes of Palestine and the Therapeuts of Egypt have been confusedly treated as the same people; or if not the same, it has been supposed that one was a branch or colony of the other. Later scholarship has shown, however, that neither of these theories is correct. 13

Eusebius also makes the distinction between the Therapeuts and Essenes when he relates a passage from Hegesippus stating that the Therapeuts were basically Christians but the Essenes were of the "various Groups of the Circumcision, among the Children of Israel, all hostile to the tribe of Judah and the Christ."14 Obviously, then, these Church fathers are acknowledging not only that the Therapeuts were the Christians and that the Essenes were not, but also that the Essenes were actually at odds with the Therapeuts.

Naturally, neither the Therapeuts nor the Essenes could be identified in the gospels, since that would serve to reveal the preexistence of their Christian-like fraternities. Nevertheless, the Therapeutan ideology left its mark on the New Testament. In addition to the white-robed monkishness already discussed, the statements about the mysteries and the "kingdom of heaven" are references to initiation into the Therapeutan mystery school and doctrine. The Therapeutan network also included the Palestinian Nazarenes, which is why they are mentioned and why Jesus was claimed to be one of them, although the meaning was obfuscated to "Jesus of Nazareth" so that, again, the pre-existence of the brotherhood would not be known. As Wells says:

In Acts 24:5 the hostile Jews describe Paul as a "ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes"-which does not here mean "people from Nazareth" but "Christians". In the Talmud too the term is used as a Jewish term of abuse for Christians. . . . It is thus possible to hold that the adjective "Nazarene" originally designated a strict pre-Christian sect out of which Jesus and the Church emerged."15

These Nazarenes were also Mandaeans and Gnostics; thus, they were Syrians and Samaritans, enemies of the Judeans. Furthermore, in addition to being a Nazarene, Paul calls himself a deacon, which was already a low-level office of the Therapeutan brotherhood. The evangelist Luke was also made to be a physician, or Therapeut. In the gospel story, Jesus is also depicted in the temple as making fools of the elders and doctors, i.e., Therapeuts. The early Christians called the Lord himself a "devoted physician," or Therapeut. Christian father Epiphanius confirms the association between Christianity and the Therapeutan brotherhood when he says, "Jesus, in the Hebrew, signifies a healer or physician. However that may be, this is the name by which they were known before they were called Christians."16 He is in fact referring to the "Jesseans" or "Essenes," i.e., "Therapeuts."

Furthermore, as noted, priests were considered "physicians of the soul," and the early Church hierarchy included "doctors," i.e., Therapeuts, who were also wandering drug-peddlers. In fact, the professions of medicine