The same writer also records the ancient heresies which arose among the Jews, in the following words: “There were, moreover, various opinions in the circumcision, among the children of Israel. The following were those that were opposed to the tribe of Judah and the Christ: Essenes, Galileans, Hemerobaptists, Masbothæans, Samaritans, Sadducees, Pharisees.” (E.H. 4.22.6)
(2) A similar report occurs in the Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 80.
And Trypho to this replied, "I remarked to you sir, that you are very anxious to be safe in all respects, since you cling to the Scriptures. But tell me, do you really admit that this place, Jerusalem, shall be rebuilt; and do you expect your people to be gathered together, and made joyful with Christ and the patriarchs, and the prophets, both the men of our nation, and other proselytes who joined them before your Christ came? or have you given way, and admitted this in order to have the appearance of worsting us in the controversies?"
Then I answered, "I am not so miserable a fellow, Trypho, as to say one thing and think another. I admitted to you formerly, that I and many others are of this opinion, and[believe] that such will take place, as you assuredly are aware; but, on the other hand, I signified to you that many who belong to the pure and pious faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise. Moreover, I pointed out to you that some who are called Christians, but are godless, impious heretics, teach doctrines that are in every way blasphemous, atheistical, and foolish. But that you may know that I do not say this before you alone, I shall draw up a statement, so far as I can, of all the arguments which have passed between us; in which I shall record myself as admitting the very same things which I admit to you. For I choose to follow not men or men's doctrines, but God and the doctrines[delivered] by Him. For if you have fallen in with some who are called Christians, but who do not admit this[truth], and venture to blaspheme the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; who say there is no resurrection of the dead, and that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven; do not imagine that they are Christians, even as one, if he would rightly consider it, would not admit that the Sadducees, or similar sects of Genist , Meristae,Gelilaeans, Hellenists, Pharisees, Baptists, are Jews(do not hear me impatiently when I tell you what I think), but are[only] called Jews and children of Abraham, worshipping God with the lips, as God Himself declared, but the heart was far from Him. But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare.
(3) It's possible to read the Apostolic Constitutions, vi. 6-7 in the same way.
For even the Jewish nation had wicked heresies: for of them were the Sadducees, who do not confess the resurrection of the dead; and the Pharisees, who ascribe the practice of sinners to fortune and fate; and the Basmotheans, who deny providence, and say that the world is made by spontaneous motion, and take away the immortality of the soul; and the Hemerobaptists, who every day, unless they wash, do not eat—nay, and unless they cleanse their beds and tables, or platters and cups and seats, do not make use of any of them; and those who are newly risen among us, the Ebionites, who will have the Son of God to be a mere man, begotten by human pleasure, and the conjunction of Joseph and Mary. There are also those that separate themselves from all these, and observe the laws of their fathers, and these are the Essenes. These, therefore, arose among the former people. And now the evil one, who is wise to do mischief, and as for goodness, knows no such good thing, has cast out some from among us, and has wrought by them heresies and schisms.
Now the original of the new heresies began this way: the devil entered into one Simon, of a village called Gitthæ, a Samaritan, by profession a magician, and made him the minister of his wicked design.
Found here: https://books.google.com/books?id=aM0UAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA13
We thus derive the following table.
| Hegesippus | Justin | Apostolic Constitutions |
| Essenes | Sadducees | Sadducees |
| Galileans | Genistae | Pharisees |
| Hemerobaptists | Meristae | Basmotheans |
| Masbothæans | Galilaeans | Hemerobaptists |
| Samaritans | Hellenists | Ebionites |
| Sadducees | Pharisees | Essenes |
| Pharisees | Baptists | Samaritans |
We can also set this side-by-side with Josephus' four philosophies (Wars 2.119-166 and Antiquities 18.11-25) of Sadducee, Pharisee, Essene, and Zealot to produce a table that looks like this.
| Josephus | Hegesippus | Justin | Apostolic Constitutions |
| Pharisees | Pharisees | Pharisees | Pharisees |
| Sadducees | Sadducees | Sadducees | Sadducees |
| Essenes | Essenes | Essenes | |
| Zealots | Galileans | Galilaeans | |
| Samaritans | Samaritans | ||
| Hemerobaptists | Baptists | Hemerobaptists | |
| Masbothæans | Basmotheans | ||
| Genistae | |||
| Meristae | |||
| Hellenists | |||
| Ebionites |
This table is made simply with the identification of Zealots and Galileans, Hemerobaptists with Baptists, and Masbothæans with Basmotheans. On the question of the Galileans and Zealots in second century references, see this page: http://peterkirby.com/zealots-aka-galileans.html
Several of these groups are obscure, and it is important to remember that the Christian traditions may be less than completely accurate.
Of the three Christian lists, Hegesippus (a) names all the four mentioned by Josephus, (b) includes no names not also mentioned in another list, (c) includes only one group that is relatively obscure outside of these lists [Masbothaeans], (d) includes no groups that are found as names of Christian groups [Hellenists, Ebionites] in other traditions, and (e) is chronologically the earliest [Chasing Hegesippus]. While none of that ensures accuracy, it is interesting nonetheless. The "Masbothaeans" may just be based on the Aramaic for "baptizers," making it essentially a repetition intended to drag the list out to seven (daily-baptists and baptists, in Greek and Aramaic, respectively). The list in the Apostolic Constitutions appears to derive somehow from the list also found in Hegesippus, with the replacement of "Galileans" with "Ebionites" (possibly because the early second century understanding of the term "Galileans" had been lost by this time and because "Ebionites" came to be viewed as a Judaizing heresy).
With all this in mind, with the list in Josephus, and with the other primary sources regarding "Samaritans" and "Baptists," at least six of these are historical Jewish sects (or whatever you want to call them) around the time of the first or second century:
(1) Pharisees
(2) Sadducees
(3) Essenes
(4) Zealots / Galileans / sicarii
(5) Samaritans
(6) Baptists / Hemerobaptists / Masbothæans
There is a legitimate question of whether it is possible to identify the "Essenes" with the "Baptists / Hemerobaptists / Masbothæans."
http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il/orion/prog ... 00-2.shtml
Essenes bathe daily in frigid water (a)polou/ontai to\ sw=ma yuxroi=j u(/dasin) for purification (a(gnei/a) and participate in various trades or crafts (te/xnai) (War 2.129). Elsewhere, Josephus explains, Judeans who experience nocturnal emissions plunge into cold water the next day (Ant. 3.263). He himself was no stranger to the purificatory cold bath. He boasts in Life 11 that when he was with Bannus he "bathed frequently in frigid water, day and night, for purification" (yuxrw=| u(/dati ... pro\j a(gnei/an).
In which case, the list reduces to five [brackets for names omitted by Josephus]:
(1) Pharisees
(2) Sadducees
(3) Essenes [/ Baptists / Hemerobaptists / Masbothæans] (with "John called the Baptist" in Ant. 18.5.2)
(4) Zealots / sicarii [/ Galileans]
(5) Samaritans
And all of these groups are mentioned in the New Testament gospels and Acts (parantheses for names omitted by NT Gospels and Acts):
(1) Pharisees -- Mt 3:7, Mk 2:16, Lk 5:33, Jn 1:24, Acts 15:5, etc.
(2) Sadducees -- Mt 16:1, Mk 12:18, Lk 20:27, Acts 4:1, etc.
(3) (Essenes /) Baptists (/ Hemerobaptists / Masbothæans) -- Mt 3:1, Mk 1:4, Lk 7:20, Jn 1:28 ("John the Baptist")
(4) Zealots / sicarii (/ Galileans) -- Mk 3:19, Lk 6:16 (Iscarioth), Mt 10:4, Lk 22:3, Jn 6:71 (Iscariot), Lk 6:15, Acts 1:13 (Zealot)
(5) Samaritans -- Mt 10:5, Lk 9:52, Jn 4:39, Acts 8:25
While above we suggested that "Baptists" and "Essenes" may have been the same due to similarity of practice (daily washing), we might want to separate them again with the recognition that "Baptists" seem to be uniquely indebted to the person of John the Baptist (so-called by Josephus in Ant. 18.5.2 and titled such in the Gospels). There is no reference to "Baptists" in fact in either the Gospels or Josephus; instead, there we find references to "John called the Baptist" or "John the Baptist." This suggests that the "Baptists" were a separate group, whether split from the Essenes or not, who traced themselves back to "John the Baptist." We should then expand our lists back out again and note where they are each mentioned.
(1) Pharisees -- Josephus, NT Gospels, Patristic lists
(2) Sadducees -- Josephus, NT Gospels, Patristic lists
(3) Essenes -- Josephus, Patristic lists
(4) Zealots / sicarii / Galileans -- Josephus + NT Gospels (Zealots / "sicarii" or "iscariot"), Epictetus + Patristic lists (Galileans)
(5) Samaritans -- Josephus (but not as a Jewish philosophy), NT Gospels, Patristic lists
(6) Baptists / Hemerobaptists / Masbothæans -- Josephus + NT Gospels (in connection with John the Baptist), Patristic lists
The identification of Justin's Genistae and Meristae remains a mystery.
Also a mystery is whether the "poor" (Ebionites??) have any connection with a first century Jewish group, and if so what that is.
Out of all these names, the only one given explicitly by Philo of Alexandria is that of the "Essenes," in three different works (Every Good Man Is Free, Hypothetica, On the Contemplative Life). Philo is writing before the war, while Josephus' historical books and the New Testament Gospels were written after it. The omission of the Essenes by the authors of the New Testament Gospels may be taken simply as an indication of their later date, thus omitting matters that were more important in the first half of the first century, when Philo was writing. Perhaps the "Essenes" were eclipsed by the "Baptists" as a group that could claim actual membership in the late first century (or early second century), in which case the patristic notices regarding the Essenes may simply be relying on Josephus or Philo, both of which were preserved by Christian scribes.
Other signs of anachronism in the NT Gospels would be their emphasis on the synagogues and their association with "Pharisees," which could also be an indication of a post-Jewish-War point of view, when the scattered synagogues began to replace the Temple as the focus of Judaism (and, some say, began to be built at all). Out of all the names mentioned in the NT Gospels, the "Pharisees" are by far the most frequently named.
