‖ Therapeutæ, n. pl.
(θɛrəˈpjuːtiː)
Also 9 in anglicized form therapeuts.
[eccl. L., a. Gr. θεραπευταί servants, attendants, ministers.]
A sect of Jewish mystics residing in Egypt in the first century a.d., described in a book attributed to Philo.
| 1681 S. Parker Demonstr. Law Nat. ii. xviii. 247 These Therapeutæ read the ancient Writings of the Authours of their Sect. 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 53 The Therapeutæ, a sect similar to the Essenes, number many among them whose lives are truly exemplary. 1865 tr. Strauss's New Life Jesus I. i. xxix. 235 He took the Egyptian branch of the Essenes, the so-called Therapeuts, for regular Christians. |