Hemerobaptists (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: 'day bathers') were a Jewish sect mentioned by some

early Christian writers Various History of Christianity#Early_Christianity_(c._27_–_fourth_century), early Christian writers wrote gospels and other books, some of which were canonized as the Development of the New Testament canon, New Testament canon developed. The A ...

. They were known for their daily ritual baptisms for purification, distinct from mainstream Jewish practices of ritual immersion. They are considered one of several minor Jewish sects, including the

Bana'im Bana'im were a minor Jewish sect and an offshoot of the Essenes during the second century in Palestine. Other minor sects of Judaism include Hypsistarians, Hemerobaptists and the Maghāriya The Magharians (, 'people of the caves') or Maghāri ...

and the

Maghāriya The Magharians (, 'people of the caves') or Maghāriya were, according to Jacob Qirqisani, a Judaism, Jewish sect founded in the 1st century BC, 1st century BCE. The group apparently earned its name because it stored its books in caves, including ...

Historical references

Hegesippus mentions seven sects of the Jews, one of them was the Hemerobaptists. The sect was also mentioned by

Justin Martyr Justin, known posthumously as Justin Martyr (; ), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and Philosophy, philosopher. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and a dialogue did survive. The ''First Apolog ...

referring to them as "baptizers". In his work "''

Panarion In early Christianity, early Christian heresiology, the ''Panarion'' (, derived from Latin , meaning "bread basket"), to which 16th-century Latin translations gave the name ''Adversus Haereses'' (Latin: "Against Heresies"), is the most important o ...

''" (also known as "Against Heresies"), 4th century heresiologist

Epiphanius of Salamis Epiphanius of Salamis (; – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the Christianity in the 4th century, 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic Churche ...

described the Hemerobaptists as Jews in every sense, but unlike other sects, they believed that eternal life could only be attained if a person was baptized every day. In the ''Clementine Homilies'' (ii. 23),

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

and his disciples are mentioned as Hemerobaptists.

Scholarly analysis

Scholars have suggested a potential identification of the Hemerobaptists with the ''Tovelei Shaharit'' () mentioned in the

Tosefta The Tosefta ( "supplement, addition") is a compilation of Jewish Oral Law from the late second century, the period of the Mishnah and the Jewish sages known as the '' Tannaim''. Background Jewish teachings of the Tannaitic period were cha ...

, though this connection is unclear, and the latter group might have been an extreme faction within the Pharisaic tradition. Multiple scholars highlight the similarity between the Hemerobaptists and the

Essenes The Essenes (; Hebrew: , ''ʾĪssīyīm''; Greek: Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι, or Ὀσσαῖοι, ''Essenoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi'') or Essenians were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd cent ...

, a Jewish sect that flourished during the late

Second Temple period The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years (516 BCE – 70 CE) during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstructio ...

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

wrote that the Essenes insisted on daily immersion for purification, likely just before noon (''

Antiquities Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean such as the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt, and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures such as Ancient Persia (Iran). Artifact ...

'' 2.129), and the concepts of purity and sanctity of water are also mentioned in the "

Community Rule The ''Community Rule'' (), which is designated 1QS and was previously referred to as the ''Manual of Discipline'', is one of the first scrolls to be discovered near the ruins of Qumran, the scrolls found in the eleven caves between 1947 and 1954 ...

" (1QS) iii.4-9, iv.21, v.13-14 and other texts, while another similarity arises from the description in the "

Apostolic Constitutions The ''Apostolic Constitutions'' or ''Constitutions of the Holy Apostles'' (Latin: ''Constitutiones Apostolorum'') is a Christian collection divided into eight books which is classified among the Church Orders, a genre of early Christian litera ...

": the communal meal of the

Qumran Qumran (; ; ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, about south of the historic city of Jericho, and adjac ...

community is referred to as "Taharah" in the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...

. Although the association of the Hemerobaptists with John the Baptist is not widely accepted, the Hemerobaptists have been linked to the

Mandaeans Mandaeans (Mandaic language, Mandaic: ࡌࡀࡍࡃࡀࡉࡉࡀ) ( ), also known as Mandaean Sabians ( ) or simply as Sabians ( ), are an ethnoreligious group who are followers of Mandaeism. They believe that John the Baptist was the final and ...

due to their shared practice of frequent baptism, and Mandaeans believing they are disciples of John the Baptist. John's followers may later have been absorbed into the

early Christian church Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and bey ...

, although according to one theory, some may have gone to the Mandaeans in

Lower Mesopotamia Lower Mesopotamia is a historical region of Mesopotamia. It is located in the alluvial plain of Iraq from the Hamrin Mountains to the Faw Peninsula near the Persian Gulf. In the Middle Ages it was also known as the '' Sawad'' and al-Jazira al-s ...

References

{{Reflist Apocalyptic groups Jewish asceticism Jewish religious movements Judaism-related controversies Messianism Mandaeism Mandaeans Israelites Extinct Jewish sects

Historical references

Scholarly analysis

See also

References