They believed in angels and adored them. Novices were required to promise to preserve the names of the angels as part of their terrible oaths . They believed that the body is perishable, but the soul immortal. Souls lived originally in the eternal ether , but being corrupted by sensual pleasures united with bodies as if going to prison. The good souls will be rewarded with a life beyond the ocean, where there is no rain, snow or heat, but only a gentle breeze.
Bad souls go to a dark, cold region full of eternal suffering.
The Essene custom of ritual washing in water for purification may have been the source of John the Baptist s ministry of baptizing for the remission of sin. There is no baptism to be found in the Old Testament. Many of the Essene writings, especially the Manual of Discipline, contain statements, which are strikingly similar to the teachings of Jesus and early Christianity. This has led to speculation that Christianity may have had its beginnings with the Essene movement. Some even suggest that Jesus and John the Baptist were Essenes, or at least well acquainted with their teaching.