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The Therapeutae (male, pl.) and Therapeutrides (female, pl.), according to the account in De vita contemplativa by the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE - 50 CE) who appears to have been personally acquainted with them, were "philosophers" (cf. I.2) that lived on a low hill by the Lake Mareotis close to Alexandria in circumstances resembling lavrite life (cf. III.22), and were "the best" of a kind given to "perfect goodness" that "exists in many places in the inhabited world" (cf. III.21). Philo derives the name Therapeutae/Therapeutides from Greek θεραπεύω in the sense of "cure" or "worship" (cf. I.2), whilst Pseudo-Dionysius favours the meaning "servants".

Philo's account

Philo described the Therapeutae in the beginning of the 1st century CE in De vita contemplativa ("On the contemplative life"), written ca. 10 CE. By that time, the origins of the Therapeutae were already lost in the past, and Philo was even unsure about the etymology of their name, which he explained as meaning either physicians of souls or servants of God. The opening phrases of his essay establish that it followed one that has been lost, on the active life. Philo was employing the familiar polarity in Hellenic philosophy between the active and the contemplative life, exemplifying the active life by the Essenes, another severely ascetic sect, and the contemplative life by the desert-dwelling Therapeutae.

Forerunners of early Christian monastic orders

According to Philo, the Therapeutae were widely distributed in the Ancient world, among the Greeks and beyond in the non-Greek world of the "Barbarians", with one of ther major gathering point being in Alexandria, in the area of the Lake Mareotis:

They lived chastely with utter simplicity; they "first of all laid down temperance as a sort of foundation for the soul to rest upon, proceed to build up other virtues on this foundation" (Philo). They were dedicated to the contemplative life, and their activities for six days of the week consisted of ascetic practices, fasting, solitary prayers and the study of the scriptures in their isolated cells, each with its separate holy sanctuary, and enclosed courtyard:

In addition to the Pentateuch, the Prophets and Psalms they possessed arcane writings of their own tradition, including formulae for numerological and allegorical interpretations.

They renounced property and followed severe discipline:

They "professed an art of healing superior to that practiced in the cities" Philo notes, and the reader must be reminded of the reputation as a healer Saint Anthony possessed among his 4th-century contemporaries, who flocked out from Alexandria to reach him.

On the seventh day the Therapeutae met in a meeting house, the men on one side of an open partition, the women modestly on the other, to hear discourses. Once in seven weeks they meet for a night-long vigil after a banquet where they served one another, for "they are not waited on by slaves, because they deem any possession of servants whatever to be contrary to nature. For she has begotten all men alike free" (Philo, para.70) and sing antiphonal hymns until dawn.

Eusebius of Caesarea

The 4th century Christian writer Eusebius of Caesarea, in his "Ecclesiastical History", describes Philo's Therapeutae as the first Christian monks, identifying their renunciation of property, chastity, fasting, solitary lives with the cenobitic ideal of the Christian monks.[1]

Eusebius was so sure of his identification of Therapeutae with Christians that he deduced that Philo, who admired them so, must have been Christian himself, not knowing the date of Philo's essay, and Christian readers still believed that this must have been so until the end of the 18th century. Like the first Christian hermits of the Egyptian desert, they were hermits, or anchorites, rather than living communally, as later Christian monastic communities would do.

Pseudo-Dionysius

Secondary reference to the Therapeutae is know through the 5th century Pseudo-Dionysius, which mentions that "Some people gave to the ascetics the name Therapeutae or servants while some others gave them the name monks". The Pseudo-Dionysius however already describes a highly organized Christian ascetic order.[2]

Formative influences

Hebrew tradition

Various formative influences on the Therapeutae have been conjectured. The Book of Enoch and Jubilees exemplify the Hebrew tradition for the mystic values of numbers and for allegorical interpretations, without having to reach to Zoroaster or Pythagoreans.

Buddhism

Enlarge picture
Buddhist proselytism at the time of king Ashoka (260-218 BCE), according to the Edicts of Ashoka.
The similarities between the Therapeutae and Buddhist monasticism, a tradition earlier by several centuries, combined with Indian evidence of Buddhist missionary activity to the Mediterranean around 250 BCE (the Edicts of Ashoka), have been pointed out.[3] The Therapeutae would have been the descendants of Ashoka's emissaries to the West, and would have influenced the early formation of Christianity.[4] The linguist Zacharias P. Thundy also suggests that the word "Therapeutae" is only a Hellenisation of the Indian Pali word for traditional Buddhists, Theravada. In general, Egypt had intense trade and cultural contacts with India during the period, as described in the 1st century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

From the standpoint of comparative religions, ascetism can be seen as a common point between Buddhism and Christianity, and is in contrast to the absence of asceticism in Judaism:

See also

Further reading

  • Taylor, Joan E. Jewish Women Philosophers of First-Century Alexandria: Philo's "Therapeutae" Reconsidered
  • Simon, Marcel and James H. Farley (tr.) (1967) 1980. Jewish Sects at the Time of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress Press)

References

1. ^ Professor Constantine Scouteris, Source
2. ^ Professor Constantine Scouteris Source
3. ^ "Zen living", Robert Linssen
4. ^ "The Original Jesus" (Element Books, Shaftesbury, 1995), Elmar R Gruber, Holger Kersten

External links

Philo (20 BC - 50 AD), known also as Philo of Alexandria and as Philo Judaeus And as Yedidia, was a Hellenized Jewish philosopher born in Alexandria, Egypt.

Philo used allegory to fuse and harmonize Greek philosophy and Judaism.
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Lake type brackish

Basin countries Egypt

Surface area 250 km²

Lake Mariout (Arabic: بحيرة مريوط) (also spelled Maryut or Mariut
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Lavra or Laura (Greek: Λαύρα; Cyrillic: Ла́вра) originally meant a cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the center.
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Philo (20 BC - 50 AD), known also as Philo of Alexandria and as Philo Judaeus And as Yedidia, was a Hellenized Jewish philosopher born in Alexandria, Egypt.

Philo used allegory to fuse and harmonize Greek philosophy and Judaism.
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The 1st century was that century that lasted from 1 to 100 according the Gregorian calendar. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period
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1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century
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The Essenes (sg. Essene, IPA: [ɛˈsin]) were a Judaic religious group that flourished from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD.
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"Barbarian" is a pejorative term for an uncivilized, uncultured person, either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos perceived as having an inferior level of civilization, or in an individual reference to a brutal, cruel, warlike, insensitive person
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Lake type brackish

Basin countries Egypt

Surface area 250 km²

Lake Mariout (Arabic: بحيرة مريوط) (also spelled Maryut or Mariut
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Asceticism describes a life characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures (austerity). Those who practice ascetic lifestyles often perceive their practices as virtuous and pursue them to achieve greater spirituality.
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Tanakh
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Prophets may refer to:
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Saint Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), also known as Saint Anthony Abbot, Saint Anthony of Egypt, Saint Anthony of the Desert, Saint Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius and The Father of All Monks.
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As a means of recording the passage of time, the 4th century (per the Julian/Gregorian calendar and Anno Domini era) was that century which lasted from 301 to 400.

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An Antiphonary, Antiphonal, or Antiphoner (Latin antiphonarium, antiphonarius, antiphonarius liber, antiphonale; Greek ’antíphonon, antiphon, antiphone, anthem) is one of the present liturgical books intended for use in choro (i. e.
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Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 275 – May 30, 339) (often called Eusebius Pamphili, "Eusebius [the friend] of Pamphilus") was a bishop of Caesarea in Palaestina and is often referred to as the father of Church history because of his work in recording the history of the
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Anchorite (male)/anchoress (female), (adj. anchoritic; from the Greek ἀναχωρέω anachōreō, signifying "to withdraw", "to depart into the rural countryside"), denotes someone who, for
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Book of Enoch is any of several pseudepigraphal works that attribute themselves to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah; that is, Enoch son of Jared ( Genesis 5:18 ).
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Book of Jubilees (ספר היובלים), sometimes called the Lesser Genesis (Leptogenesis), is an ancient Jewish religious work. It was well known to Early Christian writers in the East and the West.
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Zoroaster (Greek Ζωροάστρης, Zōroastrēs) or Zarathustra (Avestan: Zaraθuštra), also referred to as Zartosht (Persian:
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Pythagoreanism is a term used for the esoteric and metaphysical beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans, who were much influenced by mathematics and probably a main inspirational source for Plato and platonism.
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