a member of an ascetic Jewish sect around the time of Jesus
<noun.person> [ adj ]
said of or relating to the Essenes
<adj.pert>
Essene \Es*sene"\, n.; pl. {Essenes}. [Gr. ?, lit., physicians, because they practiced medicine, fr. Chald [=a]say[=a] to heal, cf. Heb. as[=a].] One of a sect among the Jews in the time of our Savior, remarkable for their strictness and abstinence.
The scrolls, ancient holy writings including the Book of Isaiah, were hidden by the Essene Sect in the 1st century A.D. to avoid plundering by the advancing Romans.