The history of the Essenes begins to be written  in the so-called "Second Temple Period (approx. 516 BC - 70 AD)" in the area of today's Israel. Information about this important Jewish community was given to us not only by the most famous historian of the time Iosephus Flavius in his work "The Jewish War", but also by Pliny the Elder or, for example, Philo of Alexandria, who describes this religious community in a wider context, as a community that "lives in many the cities of Judah, and also the villages and settlements'.

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Later, Hippolytus (around 170 – 236 AD) also addressed the subject of the Essenes.

The very name of this community "Essayists" will not be discussed in detail here. The Essenes got their name from other Jewish groups of the time and probably comes from the Aramaic term "chasajya" (physicians) or another Aramaic. of the expression "chesiím" (godly), while Greek had no equivalent for the sounds "ch" and "h" and therefore omitted them.

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In recent decades, another important source of information about the Essenes and their life appeared in the form  of the so-called Dead Sea Scrolls discovered by archaeologists in 1947 in the Qumran site. This historical treasure (scrolls of texts) was directly created and preserved in nearby caves for the future by members of one of the Essene communities living near the Dead Sea.

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The large number of scrolls found there brings to our time a completely new view of Judaism in the period of the Second Temple. The time span of the found documents includes the period between approximately 120 BC and 63 AD and therefore also includes the period in which the first Christian communities were formed.

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We also have at our disposal a document undoubtedly also written by the Essenes, which was found in the Cairo Geniza and which provides additional information about the Qumran community and its customs. According to this "Damascus document, it was Qumran that was the place of annual gatherings and ceremonies, where the Essene families from all over Israel gathered.

It is from this Damascus document that the emergence of the Essay movement around 196 BC can be determined

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It can be briefly summarized that in the period of the Second Temple, the Essenes were, together with the Sadducees and Pharisees, one of the three basic, historically documented parts of the Jewish tradition of that time.

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It is indisputable that they were perceived contradictory by those around them, as their customs, ceremonies and traditions were in many ways different from other religious communities.

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It was not only the method of ritual purification that was a visible sign of the Essenes, but also the use of a solar calendar (the same as we use today) that distinguished them from others, which led to frequent problems with other Jewish groups that used a calendar to determine frequent Jewish holidays lunar.

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The Essenes also began each new cycle of the calendar on Wednesday, because it was on Wednesday according to the Torah  that God created the "lights in the sky" (see the first book of Moses Gn1, 14-19) and they called themselves "children of Light ".

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Perhaps the most significant aspect of the difference between the Essenes and other groups was the acceptance of the concept of soul wandering – that is, reincarnation into the Essene belief system. This aspect was so important to the Essenes that  it has survived in the Essenes' religious communities in their creeds to this day.

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It is difficult to trace where this aspect of the Essene belief came from, however, the roots of the doctrine of reincarnation were apparently brought to the area of ancient Israel by Buddhist monks who were invited to the Alexandrian library (university) by the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy I. Soter to translate Buddhist papyri. It should be noted that Buddhism was the fastest growing religion in the world at the time.

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A specific feature of the Essene liturgy was showing great respect to angels, which has remained an integral element of the liturgical life of the Essene religious communities to this day. Date 29.9. is celebrated in the liturgical calendar as the Feast of the Angels, and the prayer "Glorification of the Angels" is included in the liturgy. This prayer is a reference to the pre-Christian roots  of the Essene religious tradition.

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The Qumran Scrolls demonstrate that members of the Essene community considered the world of angels so close that entry into the community was simultaneously associated with entry into communion with the Angels.

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The main task of the angels in the Qumran scrolls was always to glorify God in the heavens, which is also reflected in the current liturgy of the Essene churches, where we confess: "... Before You stand multitudes of Angels and gaze upon Your face", which is a reflection on the text of the prophet Isaiah "Holy , holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isaiah 6:3)

Jan Křtitel - essay master

The tradition of modern Essay communities, which preserve the knowledge of the cultural memory of their predecessors, speak of John the Baptist as the "Master of Essay Learning". This interpretation is increasingly confirmed by contemporary researchers in the fields of archaeology, philology and other modern sciences dealing with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

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It was the Qumran desert that was, and still is, a place where a person seeking the "bosom of God" has more within reach of millions of stars in the night sky than the distractions and temptations of Jerusalem. And it was this desert, where "the word of God came to Zachariah's son John" (Luke 3:2), that the Essenes chose as the place where they decided to walk on their way to the Lord.

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One of the basic documents that guided the Qumran desert community of the Essenes was

  The "Order of Unity", the full text of which is part of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947 at Qumran.

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It is even written twice in this text: "When those things come upon the Community in Israel, let them depart from the company of ignoble people and go to the Desert to forge a way to Him, as it is written: 'In the desert forge a way [ ... ] make straight in the steppe a path for our God.'« (1QS7,12-14).

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The gospels of all four canonized evangelists give an account of John the Baptist, proclaiming that "He is the one about whom it was said through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah : The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight! (Matthew 3:3). John the Baptist worked in the desert  and preached the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Mk1,3-4) and (Lk 3,3-4)

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Even the Gospel of John gives an account of this (Jn2, 23), when he says: "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said."

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It is therefore evident that one of the basic postulates declared in the Essay rules of daily life is common to the canonical Gospels.

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However, there is more evidence of John the Baptist's connection with the Qumran Esse monks. One of them is, for example, the Qumran rule of accepting children from the families of the priests of the Israelite temple. It is here that one can look for the context of Luke's message: "The boy grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until the day he came up before Israel". (Luke 1:80)

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"John the Baptist can be considered an intermediate link between pious Judaism and the New Testament era.

Jesus and the Essenes

According to the New Testament, Jesus had close contacts with John since his life in Mary's womb. His public activity begins with baptism at the hands of John. The first sermon of Jesus also covers the same topic as the sermon of John. It is a sermon about the Kingdom of God" (V. Ventura, Spirituality of Christian Monasticism, Prague 2006).

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We can therefore state a sufficiently indirectly supported assumption that John the Baptist, sufficiently familiar with Qumran spirituality, directly influenced the formation of the views of Jesus of Nazareth. Features of this influence can also be traced directly in Jesus' sermons, for example in the "Sermon on the Mount" (Mt5-7) or (Lk6:17-49)