Therapeutae - Forerunners of early Christian monastic orders

The Therapeutae (meaning "healers" to Philo, "servants" to the Pseudo-Dionysius) and Therapeutridae (the female members of the sect) were an early pre-Christian coenobitic order that the Hellenized Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria knew from personal experience were established on a low hill by the Lake Mareotis close to Alexandria, the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt. Other communities of Therapeutae were widely established in other regions, Philo understood, for "this class of persons may be met with in many places, for both Greece and barbarian countries want to ...

Including:

• Therapeutae - Forerunners of early Christian monastic orders
• Therapeutae - Formative influences

Read more here: » Therapeutae: Encyclopedia - Therapeutae

They lived chastely with utter simplicity; they "first of all laid down temperance as a sort of foundation for the soul to rest upon, proceed to build up other virtues on this foundation" (Philo). They were dedicated to the contemplative life, and their activities for six days of the week consisted of ascetic practices, fasting, solitary prayers and the study of the scriptures in their isolated cells, each with its separate holy sanctuary, and enclosed courtyard: "the entire interval from dawn to evening is given up by them to spiritual exer ...

See also:

Therapeutae, Therapeutae - Forerunners of early Christian monastic orders, Therapeutae - Formative influences

Read more here: » Therapeutae: Encyclopedia II - Therapeutae - Forerunners of early Christian monastic orders