Philo of Alexandria held that the Essenes were the exemplar of the Active Philosophical Life among ancient Jews. And with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls we now know much more about that ancient sect. However, Philo held there was a mystical group superior to even them in their piety and rigor. The Egyptian Therapeutae were held up as paragons of the Contemplative Life, even giving mystical teachings while dreaming. What do we know about the Therapeutae? Let’s explore how these ancient Jewish mystics not only led lives of exceptional purity and mystical contemplation but also inspired the rise of Monasticism in early Christianity. Also….they might have been Buddhists, so….
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Recommended readings:
The Contemplative Life, Giants and Selections – 978-0809123339
Daniélou – Philo of Alexandria – 978-1625644299
Kleinhempel – Traces of Buddhist Presence in Alexandria: Philo and the “Therapeutae” – https://www.academia.edu/39841429/Traces_of_Buddhist_Presence_in_Alexandria_Philo_and_the_Therapeutae_
On the Contemplative Life – https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book34.html
The Testament of Job – http://wesley.nnu.edu/sermons-essays-books/noncanonical-literature/noncanonical-literature-ot-pseudepigrapha/testament-of-job/
Eusebius on the Therapeutae – https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250102.htm
