The Essenes were an ascetic Jewish sect that lived in Palestine from the second century B.C. to the second century A.D.
[The Essenes] practice a more devotional life, being filled with mutual love and being temperate. They turn away from every act of inordinate desire, being unwilling even to hear things of this sort. They also renounce marriage. However, they take in the boys of others and thus have an offspring begotten for them. And they lead these boys into an observance of their own peculiar customs. . . . However, they do not admit women, even though some women may be disposed to adhere to the same course of life. . . . They disdain wealth and do not turn away from sharing with those who are destitute. No one among them has a greater amount of riches than another. A rule with them is that an individual coming forward to join the sect must sell his possessions and present [the price] to the community. . . . And they continue in an orderly manner. With perseverance, they pray from early dawn. And they do not speak a word unless they have praised God in a hymn. And in this way, they each go forth and engage in whatever employment they please. And after having worked up to the fifth hour, they leave off. They come together once again into one place. They gird themselves with linen girdles, for the purpose of concealing their private parts. And in this manner they perform washings in cold water. Hippolytus (c. 225, W), 5.134
With oaths . . . the Essenes bind those who come forward. If, however, anyone is condemned for any sin, he is expelled from the order. One who has been excommunicated sometimes perishes by an awful death. For, since he is bound by the oaths and rites, he is not able to partake of the food in use among other people. . . . Over the course of time, the Essenes have undergone divisions, and they do not preserve their system of training after a similar manner. For they have been split up into four parties. Some of them discipline themselves above what is necessary. Those ones will not even handle a current coin of the country, saying that they should neither carry, look at, nor make an image. For that reason, none of them goes into a city, lest he should enter through a gate at which there are statues. For they regard it as a violation of the Law to pass beneath images. . . .
If anyone would even torture persons of this description—in order to induce any among them to either speak evil of the Law or eat what is offered in sacrifice to an idol—it will be to no effect. For they submit to death and endure torment rather than to violate their consciences. Now the doctrine of the resurrection has also found support among them. For they acknowledge both that the flesh will rise again and that it will be immortal. Hippolytus (c. 225, W), 5.136
There is another order of the Essenes who use the same customs . . . but make an alteration from these others in one respect: marriage. . . . However, they make a trial of their betrothed women for a period of three years. . . . And the women likewise undergo washings in a similar manner, and are themselves also arrayed in linen garments. Hippolytus (c. 225, W), 5.137
There are also those who separate themselves from all of these [i.e., the Pharisees and Sadducees] and observe the laws of their fathers. These people are the Essenes. Apostolic Constitutions (compiled c. 390, E), 7.452