Therapeutae

The Therapeutae were an ancient Jewish group in Alexandria, Greece, that "rejected all forms of property." They resembled the Essenes.

Philo writes that the Therapeutae especially considered but looked on slavery “to be a thing absolutely and wholly contrary to nature, for nature has created all men free” (De Vita Contemplativa 70).

According to Ross Arctor on Libcom:

"They lived in Alexandria, each member in a separate hut, with a tiny chapel for prayer, something like the arrangement of the medieval Carthusians, and met at sunrise and sunset for community prayer, and once a day for a common meal. The most ascetic members ate only every other day, and a few only once a week. On the Sabbath, they met for more extended religious service, which included a sermon. On the major Jewish holidays, especially Pentecost, they began at sunset on the eve of the Holy Days with an ascetic but ceremonial feast, a sermon, prayers, and the antiphonal chanting of psalms and singing of hymns (between the separated men and women), and choral dancing in imitation of Moses and Miriam at the Red Sea. Facing the sunrise they prayed that the Light of Truth might illumine their minds and then returned to their solitary cells for study and contemplation."

The movement's name comes from a name for traditionalist Buddhists, according to an argument summarized on Wikipedia:

"Linguist Zacharias P. Thundy suggests that the word "Therapeutae" is only a Hellenistic corruption of "Theravada", the Indian Pali word for traditional Buddhists.[10] Others suggest it would come more specifically from "Theraputta", the name applied to those of the Theravada school.[18]"

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