Therapeutae

One could suggest that this model of an ecstatic joining of the male and the female in a mystical ritual recreates in social practice the image of the purely spiritual masculo-feminine first human of which Philo speaks in his commentary, indeed, that this ritual of the Therapeutae is a return to the originary Adam (Meeks 1973, 179; Macdonald 1988, 289).

Sex. 2009

They were called Therapeutae, which, like Essenes, means Healers.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913

Such communes based around ascetic and celibate ideals had already been known in antiquity such as the Therapeutae at Alexandria or even the Qumran community by the shores of the Dead Sea in the time of the Roman War in 70 C.E.

Norris J. Chumley, Ph.D.: The Compelling Spiritual Discipline Of Asceticism Ph.D. Norris J. Chumley 2011

Such communes based around ascetic and celibate ideals had already been known in antiquity such as the Therapeutae at Alexandria or even the Qumran community by the shores of the Dead Sea in the time of the Roman War in 70 C.E.

Norris J. Chumley, Ph.D.: The Compelling Spiritual Discipline Of Asceticism Ph.D. Norris J. Chumley 2011

In the first century, it was a pluralist faith (although they would never have used that word), with aplethora of Jewish sects – Pharisees, Sadducees, Therapeutae, Essenes and Nazarenes – all practising their own versions of Judaism.

A revolution in Jewish life 2010

In his On the Contemplative Life, Philo describes a Jewish sect, the Therapeutae, living in his time on the shores of Lake Mareotis near Alexandria (Kraemer 1989, 342 – 370).

Sex. 2009

Therapeutae, and retaining that of Christian, they incorporated a thread of real history corresponding to the reign of Augustus, and arbitrarily made the Christian era begin at that time.

Astral Worship J. H. Hill

That the sacred records of the ancient Essenes or Therapeutae constituted the basis of the scriptures of modern Christianity we have the authority of Eusebius, the church historian of the fourth century, from whom we learn nearly all that is reliable of its history during the first three centuries.

Astral Worship J. H. Hill

Essenes, or Therapeutae, the Egyptian and Greek words signifying

Astral Worship J. H. Hill

As further evidence that modern Christianity is but a survival of the Eclectic philosophy of the ancient Therapeutae, we have another important admission by the same historian, who, in quoting from an apology addressed to the Roman Emperor, Marcus Antoninus, in the year 171, by Melito, Bishop of Sardis, in Lydia, a province of Asia

Astral Worship J. H. Hill