On Jan 11, 2010, at 10:11 PM, CeJ wrote: > > Historians point to the emphasis on Zadokites in the Dead Sea > Scrolls as an indication that the Essenes were derived from group > of Jewish Zadokite priests.
What is not being said is that "Zadokite" is the same word as "Sadducee," the Greekish NT term for the established priesthood (the successors of Zadok). And crucial is that in the Scrolls the foremost grievance against the priests is that they have distorted the calendar and are holding their festivals at the wrong time. Clearly, the "Essenes" (if that is what they were) of the Scrolls were essentially *dissident Sadducees*. Calendrical questions in early religion cannot be underemphasized. For a thousand years Christians fought fiercely over the proper date on which to celebrate Easter. For more than three hundred years after the Canopus decree of Ptolemy III Euergetes (and, the Egyptians being expert astronomers who knows for how many years before that?) the Egyptians refused to accept leap years until the Julian calendar was imposed upon them by Augustus. Shane Mage > This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it > always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire, > kindling in measures and going out in measures." > > Herakleitos of Ephesos _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
