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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pharisees</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11789b.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="A politico-religious sect or faction among the adherents of later Judaism, that came into existence as a class about the third century B.C. . . ."> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="11789b.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/p.htm">P</a> > Pharisees</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Pharisees</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>A politico-religious <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a> or faction among the adherents of later <a href="../cathen/08537a.htm">Judaism</a>, that came into existence as a class about the third century <font size=-2>B.C.</font> After the exile, <a href="../cathen/08193a.htm">Israel's</a> monarchial form of government had become a thing of the past; in its place the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a> created a community which was half State, half Church. A growing sense of superiority to the <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">heathen</a> and <a href="../cathen/07636a.htm">idolatrous</a> nations among whom their lot was cast came to be one of their main characteristics. They were taught insistently to separate themselves from their neighbours. "And now make confession to the Lord the <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> of your fathers, and do his pleasure, and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from your strange wives" (<a href="../bible/ezr010.htm#vrs11">Ezra 10:11</a>). Intermarriage with the <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">heathen</a> was strictly forbidden and many such marriages previously contracted, even of <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, were dissolved in consequence of the legislation <a href="../cathen/12454b.htm">promulgated</a> by Esdras. Such was the state of things in the third century when the newly introduced Hellenism threatened <a href="../cathen/08537a.htm">Judaism</a> with destruction. The more <a href="../cathen/15753a.htm">zealous</a> among the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a> drew apart calling themselves <em>Chasidim</em> or "pious ones", i.e., they dedicated themselves to the realization of the <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">ideas</a> inculcated by Esdras, the <a href="../cathen/07386a.htm">holy</a> <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a> and doctor of the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>. In the violent conditions incidental to the <a href="../cathen/09493b.htm">Machabean</a> <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">wars</a> these "pious men", sometimes called the Jewish <a href="../cathen/12581a.htm">Puritans</a>, became a distinct class. They were called Pharisees, meaning those who separated themselves from the <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">heathen</a>, and from the <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">heathenizing</a> forces and tendencies which constantly invaded the precincts of <a href="../cathen/08537a.htm">Judaism</a> (<a href="../bible/1ma001.htm#vrs11">1 Maccabees 1:11</a>; <a href="../bible/2ma004.htm#vrs14">2 Maccabees 4:14 sq.</a>; cf. <a href="../cathen/08522a.htm">Josephus</a>, Antiq., XII, 5:1).</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>During these persecutions of Antiochus the Pharisees became the most rigid defenders of the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jewish religion</a> and traditions. In this cause many suffered <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a> (<a href="../bible/1ma001.htm#vrs41">1 Maccabees 1:41 sq.</a>), and so devoted were they to the prescriptions of the Law that on one occasion when attacked by the Syrians on the <a href="../cathen/13287b.htm">Sabbath</a> they refused to defend themselves (<a href="../bible/1ma002.htm#vrs42">1 Maccabees 2:42</a>; ibid., 5:3 sq.). They considered it an abomination to even eat at the same board with the <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">heathens</a> or have any social relations with them whatsoever. Owing to their heroic devotedness their influence over the people became great and far-reaching, and in the course of <a href="../cathen/14726a.htm">time</a> they, instead of the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, became the sources of authority. In the time of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Our Lord</a> such was their power and prestige that they sat and taught in "Moses' seat". This prestige naturally engendered arrogance and conceit, and led to a perversion in many respects of the conservative ideals of which they had been such staunch supporters. In many passages of the Gospels, Christ is quoted as warning the multitude against them in scathing terms. "The scribes and the Pharisees have sitten in the chair of Moses. All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not; for they say and do not. For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men's shoulders; but with a finger of their own they will not move them. And all their works they do for to be seen of men. For they make their <a href="../cathen/12046a.htm">phylacteries</a> broad, and enlarge their fringes. And they <a href="../cathen/09397a.htm">love</a> the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the <a href="../cathen/14379b.htm">synagogues</a>. And salutations in the market place, and to be called by men, Rabbi" (<a href="../bible/mat023.htm#vrs1">Matthew 23:1-8</a>). Then follows the terrible arraignment of the scribes and Pharisees for their <a href="../cathen/07610a.htm">hypocrisy</a>, their rapacity, and their blindness (ibid., 13-36).</p> <p>After the conflicts with <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> (<font size=-2>A.D.</font> 66-135) Pharisaism became practically synonymous with <a href="../cathen/08537a.htm">Judaism</a>. The great <a href="../cathen/09493b.htm">Machabean</a> <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">wars</a> had defined Pharisaism: another even more terrible conflict gave it a final ascendancy. The result of both <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">wars</a> was to create from the second century onward, in the bosom of a tenacious race, the type of <a href="../cathen/08537a.htm">Judaism</a> known to the western world. A study of the early history of Pharisaism reveals a certain moral dignity and greatness, a marked tenacity of purpose at the service of high, patriotic, and <a href="../cathen/12738a.htm">religious</a> ideals. As contrasted with the <a href="../cathen/13323a.htm">Sadducees</a>, the Pharisees represented the democratic tendency; contrasted with the <a href="../cathen/12409a.htm">priesthood</a>, they stood for both the democratic and the spiritualizing tendency. By virtue of the Law itself the <a href="../cathen/12409a.htm">priesthood</a> was an exclusive class. No man was allowed to exercise a function in the Temple unless he was able to trace his descent from a <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priestly</a> <a href="../cathen/05782a.htm">family</a>. The Pharisees consequently found their main function in teaching and preaching. Their work was chiefly connected with the <a href="../cathen/14379b.htm">synagogues</a>, and embraced the schooling of children and missionary efforts among the <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">heathen</a> tribes. Thus, in a sense, Pharisaism helped to clear the ground and prepare the way for <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a>. It was the Pharisees who made idealized nationalism, based upon the <a href="../cathen/10499a.htm">monotheism</a> of the <a href="../cathen/12477a.htm">prophets</a>, the very essence of <a href="../cathen/08537a.htm">Judaism</a>. To them we are indebted for the great apocalypses, Daniel and Enoch, and it was they who made common the <a href="../cathen/02408b.htm">belief</a> in the <a href="../cathen/12792a.htm">resurrection</a> and future reward. In a word, their pedagogical influence was an important factor in training the national will and purpose for the introduction of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a>. This great work, however, was marred by many defects and limitations. Though standing for the spiritualizing tendency, Pharisaism developed a proud and arrogant <a href="../cathen/11330a.htm">orthodoxy</a> and an exaggerated formalism, which insisted on ceremonial details at the expense of the more important <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precepts</a> of the Law (<a href="../bible/mat023.htm#vrs23">Matthew 23:23-28</a>). The importance attached to descent from Abraham (<a href="../bible/mat003.htm#vrs9">Matthew 3:9</a>) obscured the deeper spiritual issues and created a narrow, exclusive nationalism incapable of understanding a universal Church destined to include <a href="../cathen/06422a.htm">Gentile</a> as well as <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jew</a>. It was only through the revelation received on the road to <a href="../cathen/04611a.htm">Damascus</a>, that Saul the Pharisee was enabled to comprehend a church where all are equally the "seed of <a href="../cathen/01051a.htm">Abraham</a>", all "one in <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ Jesus</a>" (<a href="../bible/gal003.htm#vrs28">Galatians 3:28-9</a>). This exclusivism, together with their over valuation of external levitical observances, caused the Pharisees to be ranged in opposition to what is known as prophetism, which in both the Old and <a href="../cathen/14530a.htm">New Testament</a> places the main emphasis on character and the religious spirit, and thus they incurred not only the vehement reproaches of the <a href="../cathen/08486b.htm">Precursor</a> (<a href="../bible/mat003.htm#vrs7">Matthew 3:7 seq.</a>), but also of the Saviour Himself (<a href="../bible/mat023.htm#vrs25">Matthew 23:25 sqq.</a>).</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>The Pharisees are seen at their best when contrasted with the Zealots on one hand, and with the Herodians on the other. Unlike the Zealots, it was their policy to abstain from the appeal to armed force. It was their <a href="../cathen/02408b.htm">belief</a> that the <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> of the nation controlled all historic destinies, and that in His own good time He would satisfy the long frustrated desires of His chosen people. Meanwhile the <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duty</a> of all <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> <a href="../cathen/08193a.htm">Israelites</a> consisted in whole-hearted devotion to the Law, and to the manifold observances which their numerous traditions had engrafted upon it, joined to a patient waiting for the expected manifestation of the Divine Will. The Zealots on the contrary bitterly resented the Roman domination and would have hastened with the sword the fulfilment of the <a href="../cathen/10212c.htm">Messianic</a> hope. It is well known that during the great rebellion and the siege of <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a>, which ended in the destruction (<font size=-2>A.D.</font> 70), the fanaticism of the Zealots made them terrible opponents not only to the Romans, but also to the other factions among their own countrymen. On the other hand, the extreme faction of the <a href="../cathen/13323a.htm">Sadducees</a>, known as the Herodians, was in sympathy with the foreign rulers and <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagan</a> culture, and even looked forward to a restoration of the national kingdom under one of the descendants of <a href="../cathen/07289c.htm">King Herod</a>. Yet we find the Pharisees making common cause with the Herodians in their opposition to the Saviour (<a href="../bible/mar003.htm#vrs6">Mark 3:6</a>; <a href="../bible/mar012.htm#vrs13">12:13</a>, etc.).</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">     GIGOT, <em>Outlines of New Testament History</em> (New York, 1902), 74 sqq.; LE CAMUS, <em>L'&OElig;uvre des Apôtres,</em> I (Paris, 1905), 133; FARRAR, <em>The Life and Work of St. Paul</em> (New York, 1880), 26-39; EATON in HAST INGS, <em>Dict. of the Bible,</em> s.v.; EDERSHEIM, <em>The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, passim.</em></p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Driscoll, J.F.</span> <span id="apayear">(1911).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Pharisees.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11789b.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Driscoll, James F.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Pharisees."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 11.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1911.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11789b.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by WGKofron.</span> <span id="dedication">With thanks to St. Mary's Church, Akron, Ohio.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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