as they did in companies (Oiáσois),1 they threw open their doors to any of their sect who came their way. They had a storehouse, common expenditure, common raiment, common food eaten in Syssitia or common meals. This was made possible by their putting what they had into a common fund, out of which the sick also were supported, when they could not work."

Eusebius in a fragment of Philo, which he quotes, gives a similar description: 2 "They have no private property, but put all they have into a common fund, and live as members of a liaσos or philosophic company, having common meals.”

Josephus has frequent references to the Essenes ; and after mention of their sun-worship, describes their common meals in terms that recall those of the Therapeutas "After this they assemble together to one place, and when they have clothed themselves in white veils they bathe their bodies in cold water. And after this purification is over they meet together in an apartment of their own into which it is not permitted to anyone of another 1 The Hellenic technical term is noteworthy. Cf. Liebenam, p. 164 ff.

2 Fragm. ap. Euseb. Præpar. Evangel. de Vita Contempl. Cf. also Pliny, H. N., v. 17.

2 B. J., ii., viii., 5.

persuasion to enter; and they themselves being pure enter the dining-room as if it were some holy temple, and quietly sit down. Upon which the baker lays them loaves in order, and the cook also brings a single plate of one sort of food, and sets it before everyone of them. But the priest says grace before meat, and it is unlawful to taste of the food before prayer is offered."

"And when they have made their breakfast, he again prays over them. And when they begin, and when they end, they praise God as Him that bestoweth life."

"After which they lay aside their white garments as holy, and betake themselves to their labours again till the evening. Then they return home to supper after the same manner."

When these descriptions are compared with that of the Agapé by Tertullian at the close of the second century A.D., the points of contrast and likeness will become clear.

"Our1 supper shows its explanation in its name. It is called by the Greek name for love. Whatever outlay it costs, all is gain that is laid out in doing good (pietatis nomine), for it is the needy that we benefit by that entertainment (refrigerio

1 Apologet. chap. xxxix.

isto). . . . We taste first of prayer to God before we sit down to meat; we eat only what suffices hunger, and drink only what befits such as are chaste. We satisfy appetite (saturantur) as those who remember that even during the night they have to worship God. We converse as those who know that they are in the hearing of their Lord. After water for washing the hands, and the lights have been brought in, every one is called forward to sing praises to God, either from the Holy Scriptures or of his own composing (proprio ingenio). And this is a proof of the measure of the drinking. As we began, so the feast is concluded with prayer. We depart not like a pack of ruffians (casionum), nor in gangs of street-walkers (classes discursationum), nor to break out into licentiousness, but with as much regard for our modesty and chastity as if we had been taking in a moral lesson rather than a supper (ut qui non tam cœnam cænaverint quam disciplinam).”

The points in common1 between these Therapeutic and Essene banquets and the Christian Agapé are obvious at a glance. There is the

1 Mr F. C. Conybeare draws out the general points of comparison between Essenism and Christianity in Hasting's Dict. Bibl. s.v. Essenes.

same sacred and ceremonial character in all three; the same studious moderation in food, the same idea of accompanying prayer, and blessing and thanksgiving, and hymn-singing. The Therapeutæ seem to have allowed more ceremonial enthusiasm in singing and dancing. The Essenes had a president,1 to whom the same name is applied as to the president of the Christian feast by Justin Martyr, and by Tertullian in one or two passages (e.g. de Cor. iii.). But the Jewish elements in the Therapeutic and Essene meals are strongly marked. They seemed to have dined together because of their anxiety to eat no food but what was ceremonially pure; whereas the Christians, according to Tertullian, were actuated by charitable and communistic motives. Again, the Therapeutic meals have special features due partly to the monastic character of the society, and partly to their resemblance to the Jewish festivals, features which have, of course, counterpart in Tertullian's account. And in certain respects there is perhaps more resemblance

2

no

1 1 Cf. Hippolytus, Refut. Hæres. bk. ix. chap. xv., etc., who apparently borrows from Josephus.

2 Mr Conybeare in his comparison seems to assume the identity of the Eucharist and Agapé. See Dict. Bible (Hastings), s.v.

Essenes.

between these Jewish meals, and those described in the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,1 which is now generally believed to be a strongly Judaising document.2

JEWISH ANALOGUES.

III

I PASS next to the consideration of the ordinary Jewish common meals as established in Palestine in the time of our Lord.

Those of the Sadducees seem to have been chiefly, if not exclusively, held among the priests

1 Where it is difficult to disentangle the Agapé from the Eucharist. Cf. infra, p. 53.

2 Cf. e.g. Didaché, chaps. ix. and x. with Josephus loc. cit. and Mishna Beracoth, chap. vi., where for wine the blessing is "who createst the fruit of the vine"; and Matt. xxvi. 29, тoû yevvýμaтOS TOỮ ȧμπÉλoν; and Grotius (de Cana Dom. p. 22), "Mos erat Hebrais, qui et nunc manet, festis diebus quos bonos vocant vocare ad cœnam propinquos, vicinos aut amicos, supra decem, infra viginti, quæ erat justâ sodalitas sive opaтpiá, exponente Josepho (B. J. vi. 9, 3). Cœnæ fine panis melior ac frangi facilis ad ferebatur: de eo particulas convivator dividebat convivis : adferebatur et calix, qui et ipse a convivatore libatus ibat in orbem. Addebantur verba Deo gratias agentia quod creasset panem ex terra ac fructum vitis." This is evidently founded on Buxtorf's Synagoga Judaicæ, pp. 308-9 (of Sabbath observances). Cf. Luke xiv. 1, of a Sabbath feast; and Rabbinic Tracts, Orach chajim, No. 273, Minhagim, p. 9. For the thanksgiving cf. also Justin M., Apol. i. 65. Also cf. Agapé in Egyptian Church Ordinances infra, p. 119.