- Assidean
The Assideans (the Anglicized form, derived through the Greek, of the Hebrew "Hasidim", "the pious"), were a party or sect which stood out against the
Hellenization of theJews in the2nd century B.C. After the massacre of those who fled from the forces ofAntiochus Epiphanes and would not resist and fight on the day of theShabbat ,Mattathias (orJudas , his son) decided to set aside the law and was joined by a company of Assideans, brave men ofIsrael every one, who offered themselves willingly for the law (1 Macc. ii. 42, cf. 2 Macc. viii. I).On the appointment ofAlcimus , "a descendant of Aaron" as high-priest, "the Assideans were the first who sought peace" (1 Macc. vii. 13 f.); but the treacherous murder of sixty of them (ib. 16) by Bacchides threw them back into the arms of Judas. According to 2 Macc. xiv., Alcimus identified them with the whole party of the rebels, of which they were only one, though the most important, section.References
*
Emil Schürer , "Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes", i. 203
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01800b.htm Assideans] -Catholic Encyclopedia article
*1911
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