Ascetics in the city rest inside (7)

I believe the answer is:

essenes

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'ascetics' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.

'the city rest inside' is the wordplay.
'the city' becomes 'Essen' (Essen is an example).
'rest inside' becomes 'es' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'essen'+'es'='ESSENES'

'in' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for essenes that I've seen is " Members of an ascetic Jewish sect around the time of Jesus".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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