The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-07-24

which since December 25. 168 B. @.
Antiochus had established in the
Temple of Jerusalem. Then with the
cry: Everyone, who hath zeal for
the Law, and maintaineth the tesla
ment, let him follow me" (Mac. II, 27),
Mathathias began his revolt. His sons
John, Simon, Judas (called Maccabeus,
the hammeD, Eleazar, and Jonathan,
ranged by his side. The text con-
tinues: Then was assembled to them
the congregation of the Assideans, the
stoutest of Israel" This congrega-
ton "of the pious," praised by the
inspired writer, was very probably
composed of the fathers of the Phari-
sees. When the Maccabean wars
were ended, and the Hasmonean fam
lily had received not only the throne
but the high-priesthood as well, it was
probably the remnants of the ASST
deans who formed a brotherhood"
for the strict observance of the Law.
1t was said that the Great Synagogue
had left the injunction ito put fence
around the Law and they proceeded
to put one. They pledged themselves
to pay the tithes and other imposts,
to maintain vows, to respect other
peoples property, but especially to
keep the Law as interpreted by tradi-
ton and by it's keepers, the Scribes.
Finally, they pledged themselves to
hold aloof from the ignorant and
vulgar, whence their name Pharisees
| (Perushim, separatists), If they kept
aloof from a careless Israelite, an ''un-
clean" Gentle they abhorred. Their
characteristic was to boast of God and
to hate, with a black hate, anything
remotely connected with idols.
1t was pointed out in previous
| lecture that a succession of prophets
was the divine agency for keeping
alive the Law. The great Synagogue,
to which the Pharisees appealed, had
this agency in the prophets Aggeus,
Malachias and Zacharias. 1t did eX-
cellent work notably in establishing
the canon of Scripture. But this
brotherhood" was formed of it's own
initiative. To become a Pharisee, all
one had to do was to pledge oneself in
the presence of three friends to the
purposes mentioned. Prophecy had
ceased; study and fanatic zeal now
took it's place. This brotherhood was
human therefore, and doomed to go
down, as non-Catholic universities drift
into rationalism, State universities
lapse into materialism and everything
human decays. Tradition, which for
us is the font of life, because poisoned
by human passion became for the
Pharisees potion of death. 1t was
for this that our Savior, who guar
anteed us life-giving tradition by the
indwelling of the Holy Ghost in His
Church, again and again reproached
the Pharisees with having corrupted
the Word of God by their traditions.
Activities of the Pharisees.
The first division of the brother
hood took place about the time that
John Hyrcanus assembled the throne.
The more rigid Of the Pharisees were
opposed to his election as king and
lhigh-priest for two reasons. A
descendant of the older line of the
high-priesthood was in exile in
Alexandria In fact on this account
the Alexandrians esteemed themselves
to be more orthodox Jews than those
of Palestine. Furthermore, these
zealots considered that the union of
the throne and the ephod secularized
too much the latter This group
1 formed the party of the Essences (out-
siders). They accordingly after some
conflict withdrew entirely from public
life, and consequently from the wor-
ship of the Temple, giving themselves
up to ascetic practices of extreme
rigor. They lived on to the fourth
century, when they either became
/ Christians, or reentered the main body
of the Pharisees. The great majority,
on the other hand, acknowledged that
the Hasmonean family had had zeal
for the Law, and they considered that
this zeal validated it's title to the
high-priesthood. Therefore they event
ually gave their allegiance to the ex-
listing priesthood, although the tumult
raised by the Essences had caused the
Punishment of all the Pharisaic men,
bers of the Sanhedrin save one,
Simeon, the brother of the daughter
in-law of the king. At this time the
lpriestly party received the name of
Sadducees, either from some unknown
Sadoc or by some sort of descent from
Sadoc, appointed high-priest by Solo
mon, or again from the Hebrew word
meaning righteous" AS the priest
hood was the exclusive right OF the
family of Aaron, the priests formed
an exclusive caste; as they were nu-
merous and had far-reaching aristo-
cratic connections, they formed a
powerful party. The office Of high
priest, held by so many sovereigns,
gradually became more political than
religious. The Ab-beth-din, or second
in the priesthood, with the college over
which he presided, attended exclu-
sively to religious duties. There is
some question, however, as to the ex-
istence of this office and court. In the
ensuing reign of Alexander Jannaeus,
Simeon, the brother of the queen, had
Influence enough to fill the Sanhedrin
Iagain with Pharisees. But again there
was a falling out and for six years
the Pharisees, in the civil war that
ensued, held their ground against the
king, great conqueror though he was
lof many towns. At the death of Alex
lander. Queen Alexandra assembled the