Did the Essenes have any part in Catholic Tradition?

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The Essenes were a religious sect during the time of Jesus. The Essenes were extrememly moral and lived a religiously disciplined life. They believed that sex was practiced only for procreation. Did the Essenes have a role in the Church Traditions, eventhough they were a small sect?

rod.. ... .. .

-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), July 14, 2003

Answers

The Essenes were also waiting for "Essa" or the Messaiah, but I'm not sure if "Messaiah" had the same meaning that Jesus has.

rod.. .. . ...

-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), July 14, 2003.


Jmj
Hello, Rod.

Maybe it would help you to read the brief article about the Essenes in the old Catholic Encyclopedia. It was written about 40 years before the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, so I believe that many more facts are now known.
Click here.

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), July 15, 2003.


Hi John.

I read the information found in the link you provided. After reading, I suppose that the following statement from the Essenes website is based on speculation. Because, Jesus and his Apostles had nothing to do with the Essenes and the word "coincidental" would describe the doctrine practiced today in the Church.

The following is the statement I am referring to:

'Since the archaeological discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1946, the word "Essene" has made its way around the world--often raising a lot of questions. Many people were astonished to discover that, two thousand years ago, a brotherhood of holy men and women, living together in a community, carried within themselves all of the seeds of Christianity and of future western civilization. This brotherhood--more or less persecuted and ostracized--would bring forth people who would change the face of the world and the course of history. Indeed, almost all of the principal founders of what would later be called Christianity were Essenes--St. Ann, Joseph and Mary, John the Baptist, Jesus, John the Evangelist, etc.'

Rodrigo



-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), July 15, 2003.


Yes, Rod.
To the best of my knowledge, that comment is mainly speculation.

In my reading through the years, I can recall only one of the people listed there -- St. John the Baptist -- being mentioned in Catholic articles (or on Catholic TV programs) as one who may well have been spent some time with the Essenes. It is not an unreasonable conjecture, given their location and the fact that he lived in the desert.

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), July 15, 2003.


here is the text in the essene documents which matches Luke's version of Isaiah 61, Rod. The coming of Melchizedek.

Melchizedek

-- Elpidio Gonzalez (egonzalez@srla.org), July 15, 2003.



Here Rod, is also the food of john The baptist, an Essene,

Carobs.

-- Elpidio Gonzalez (egonzalez@srla.org), July 15, 2003.


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