Maintainers of the Mosaic Law against the invasion of Greek
customs Assideans (Hebr., CHSYDYM, chasidim, saints; Gr.,
Asidaioi), men endowed with grace (Ps., xxxix, 5; 'cxlviii, 14).
They were the maintainers of the Mosaic Law against the invasion
of Greek customs. When the Machabees struggled against Antiochus
IV (Epiphanes), the Assideans naturally joined their cause (I
Mach., ii, 42, 43). However, not all the adherents of the
Machabees were Assideans; according to I Mach., vii, 13, the
Scribes and the Assideans sought to make peace with the Syrians,
while the other followers of the Machabees suspected deceit.
That this suspicion was well founded may be inferred from the
fact that Alcimus, who had been made High Priest by Demetrius I
(I Mach., vii, 9), slew sixty Assideans in one day (I Mach.,
vii, 16). According to II Mach., xiv, 3, the same Alcimus
"willfully defiled himself", and later on he testified before
Demetrius: "They among the Jews that are called Assideans, of
whom Judas Machabeus is captain, no