Mesjanizm w poglądach esseńczyków

Abstract

The discovery of written documents in Qumran made it possible for us to find the first traces of awaiting an individual Messiah in the Essene writings; an idea which helped to read many Biblical texts anew. This heritage of Israel – the views of the Essenes on the matter considered were not only theirs, but thanks to their writings we can learn about them – will be a stepping-stone to the Christian understanding of Messianism and will develop further in Judaism. We therefore survey the Qumran texts, which testify to the awaiting an individual Messiah in the Essene community; the one who will come in the last times and will sit together with the gathering at an eschatological feast. The Messiah of Israel will be subjected to the Messiah of Aaron. Messianic views of the Essenes are not uniform, and we must remember that we know them only fragmentarily. However, what we can say is very important for learning about the development of the Messianic idea in the post-Biblical Jewish thought. Messianism of the Essenes is introduced into the whole system of their theological views and because of that these views will be briefly characterised in order to proceed to the Messianic thought. At the close of history the good will conquer the evil, and it is with this victory that the functions of the Messiah are connected; the Messiah, however, is presented in various ways. F. Manns divides the evolution of Messianic notions of the Essenes into four stages and in such a chronological pattern the picture of the Essene Messianism is surveyed.