I have to disagree with RCAUTELA and Kingofshadows. While the idea of “sub-human monsters who revel in debauchery and have given themselves over to the beast” sounds like a great boogey-man, the reality is that any large organization such as the Sabbat have to temper their mustache-twirling evil. Moreover, to truly revel in the monster you inherently cannot behave like a sect, instead following one of a few paths; a collection of debauched monsters who work together (which would inherently be limited to a few groups and keep such groups small due to the Venn relationship between being social while being a sociopath), be a lone monster who hunts in the night (by nature of being solitary you are harder target to track and catch), or be a large group of beastly monsters that hunt together in a hive a mind or social consciousness (which would allow for large groups, but not complex social regulation - more like the group from 30 days of night or I am Legend).
The last could definitely work as a concept of what the Sabbat is now, but that isn’t how they described the Sabbat. How they did describe the Sabbat fits far closer to the idea of the Anarchs - as evidenced by the current Anarchs, the Russian experiment, and the McNiel movement all being connected back to the Convention of Thorns and the original Anarch Revolt. In oWoD, the Anarch Revolt was far more a Sabbat origin story, not an Anarch one, and the Anarchs were a second revolt all their own; fall outs from a younger generation who didn’t have the chance to make the choice to join the Camarilla. Due in large part to this narrative choice in oWoD, the Tzimisce and Lasombra were given their regal Dark Age format and that narrative was sent through to the later modern day representations as well, and the idea that the Sabbat was founded on the idea that not all of the 13 clans agreed with rule by Elder (the two without Antediluvians to be specific) and refused to sign the pact to form the Camarilla. This made the Sabbat an ideologically disparate Sect, who had been demonized by the Camarilla.
In V5, the Anarchs are given this agency, but they are kind of trapped by the backstory at this point. The Convention of Thorns (and three years later the Treaty of Tyre) was the end of the Anarch Revolt officially, and specifically led to the creation of the Sabbat by those clans and individuals (who then became antitribu) who refused to sign either document, and so extricating the Anarchs from the Sabbat immediately becomes a difficult thing, simply because the very creation of the Sabbat was done by those Anarchs who refused to bend the knee. The very fact that the Sabbat had the “Silence of the Blood” leads to definitively refute the idea that the Sabbat “revel in their beasts” as the beast cares very little for discretion. Much of the Sabbat of the oWoD was written the same as the Anarchs of V5 are designed to be; wanting to find a way free of Elder rule, live their unlives by their own designs, and screw rules and regulations. The difference laid in the idea that in place of rules and regulations, the Sabbat had a religious practice and belief in Caine and Gahenna that held them together.
This, though, provides a very real way of mending the problems in the narrative between Anarch and Sabbat. I think there’s real opportunity in merging the Anarchs and social aspects of the Sabbat in the current narrative. The Lasombra and Tzimisce were always at odds, two ruler clans vying for the soul of the Sabbat, it was one of the big role-playing aspects of Sabbat storylines. The Lasombra moved further and further from their religious roles as Christianity (and thus their powerbase within it) fell out of favor and power, and the clan pivoted towards industry, taking all the lessons they learned in the Dark Ages as advisers to Ventrue regents into practice. Meanwhile, the Tzimisce roots in Slavic magic only strengthened, and the religious roots of the Sabbat led them towards ascendancy within the sect. It was almost inevitable that when war between the Lasombra and Tzimisce heated up that the Lasombra would exit for the Camarilla, where their finesse and sensibilities would be appreciated instead of curtailed. The Tzimisce, on the other hand, was a clan of two minds (and many faces), one side of them always pushing the boundaries towards becoming something inhuman and new, the other so steeped in tradition and the past that they were stagnant and forever seemingly trying to get back to “the good old days.” While the exit of the Lasombra may have given the Tzimisce power, the presence of the Lasombra kept these two parts of the clan from tearing themselves apart. This dichotomy among the remaining clan of leadership in the Sabbat provides a great opportunity to unite the concepts of Anarch and Sabbat, with the traditional and nostalgic Tzimisce and those Sabbat looking for ‘freedom and a way to survive the arrival of the Antediluvians’ joining the Anarchs, while the inhuman monsters among the clan lead the remaining monsters into the depths of their madness.
This would allow the Tzimisce and antitribu to be introduced in a “religious Anarch” motif that would smooth the history of the Anarchs and unite the movement again (giving them the kick in the behind they need in McNiel’s absence) while allowing the remaining Sabbat to be truly evil and horrific. Moreover, it makes sense the Anarchs would be happy for the strength of the Tzimisce and Salubri antitribu in light of the Lasombra bolstering the Camarilla, and it’s even alluded to be starting to happen with the stories of packs going into hiding and laying low cities. Moving a group of Gangel and Brujah antitrbu into the city to get reputation, then using that reputation to vouch for Tzimisce and Salubri antitribu later on.
As for the idea of paths of enlightment and conviction ratings, the existing Conviction system already covers what you need. Hell, even Dark Ages removed “humanity” and started calling it a “Via” rating, and by the 20th anniversary edition Path Rating and Humanity were covered under the title “Morality.” There’s no reason why the mechanic of “humanity” needs to change - I already tell my players that if they have a hard time deciding on Convictions to use the Ethics of the Path as guideposts.
Want a vampire who effectively is on Path of Caine? Take a Conviction that states “Always seek information about Caine and learn from his actions.” The touchstone can be a College professor or biblical scholar who seeks information about the Second City or speaks Aramaic. Their loss would remove the ability to study new findings or translate old documents, making your connection to keeping the beast controlled that much harder.
Want a vampire effectively on Path of Night? Okay, we’ll skip the easy-peasy Conviction of “Experience every sensation imaginable” and take the tougher to do “Kindred, as souls damned by God, fulfill their purpose by preying upon mortals.” Basically, you don’t miss a chance to feed - and the Touchstone for it is a specific human who you hunt repeatedly - maybe its a member of your Herd, or just someone who gets a strange kink in being chased.
The Paths of Honorable Accord, Feral Heart and Blood are even easier than that!
In the end, the idea of the “Sabbat” being truly horrendous monsters no longer on a leash or accepting pretext would be great. The true “Sabbat” being NPC antagonists that cause chaos and disrupt order, creating the need for the PCs to help fix the problem and remove terrors that threaten everything they hold dear is exactly what the Camarilla and Anarchs claim they are, and what they should be, but at the same time, allowing the social and religious story opportunity of the old Sabbat to move to the Anarchs would be a great way to move the narrative forward while fixing and reorienting the existing lore to a more functional storytelling.