Sabbath and the Early Church

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The Sabbath in the Early Church andAbroad

ByCOGwriter

What day of worship was practiced by early Christians? Was sabbath-keeping onlya Jewishpractice? Does history showthat the Sabbath was kept by Gentile peoples throughout history?

This article will look to the Bible, the practices of Jesus and Paul, and early writings to answer thesequestions.

Sabbath or Sunday?

Which daydoes the New Testament emphasize the seventh day Sabbath or the first day of theweek, Sunday?

In the NKJV of the New Testament, the term Sabbath, seventh day, or Sabbaths is used a total of 63times. The term first day of the week is used 8 times.Later in this article, all 8 references tothe first day of the week will be discussed. There are too many on the Sabbath terms to listthem in one briefarticle, plus there are an additional 161 references to them in the Old Testament(Note:Although there are references to a holy convocation on a "first day" in the Old Testament,this has to do with the annual Holy Days, and never a weekly Sunday worship service).

Which Day Did Jesus Keep?

The New Testament does tell us which day Jesus kept.

Jesus kept the Sabbath and repeatedly taught on the Sabbath:

And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue (Mark 6:2, NKJV

throughout except where indicated).

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.And as His custom was, Hewent into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read (Luke 4:16).

Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that He entered the synagogue and taught(Luke 6:6).

Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath (Luke 13:10).

Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the

Sabbaths (Luke 4:31).

What was different about Jesus, as far as the Pharisees were concerned, was that Jesus emphasizedthat the Sabbath was not just for rest, it was a time to do good.

Here are a few statements from Jesus on that:

Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath (Matt 12:12).

"I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save lifeor to destroy?" (Luke 6:9).

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"Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediatelypull him out on the Sabbath day?" (Luke 14:5).

Ifa man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not bebroken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment (John7:23-24).

Which Day Did Jesus Teach He Was Lord of?

Which day was the Lord's day?

Which day did Jesus teach He was Lord of?

Lookat what Jesus said,

And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27-28).

For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8).

The verses in Markand Mattheware also consistent with the Old Testament which showthat theSabbath was God's day:

Then God blessed the seventh dayand sanctified it, because in it He rested from allHis work which God had created and made (Genesis 2:3)

For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is inthem, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath dayand hallowed it (Exodus 20:11).

If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holyday,And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable (Isaiah 58:13).

So, if we look into the verses of the entire Bible, it is clear that the Bible supports the idea that theLords Day would be the seventh day of the week, or Saturday, and never Sunday (moreinformation is also in the article Is Revelation 1:10 talking about Sunday or the Day of the Lord?).

Was The Sabbath Commandment Still In PlaceAfter the Cross?

Some have alleged that the Sabbath was nailed to the cross (a related article of interest may beWere the Ten Commandments Nailed to the Cross?). But was this so?

Apparently not, for according to Luke as he recorded this after Jesus' death:

Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils.And they rested on theSabbath according to the commandment (Luke 23:56).

Some mayargue that "they" did not know that the Sabbath commandment was done away thatquickly--but certainly Luke would have known as he penned this account decades after Jesus died.If Luke, a long-time companion of theApostle Paul, thought that the Sabbath was a formercommandment, he would clarified that if thought it was necessary. But instead, God inspired him


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to write that there still was a Sabbath commandment after the crucifixion.

Was the Sabbath done away?

No.

For if it was done away Jesus would not have prophesied that Christians were to pray that they didnot have to flee before the great tribulation on the Sabbath day.

Notice Jesus' own words on that:

And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will begreat tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time,no, nor ever shall be (Matthew 24:20-21).

Jesus is clearly warning His future disciples to pray thus.

Now some "theologians" have claimed that this passage in Matthew is intended for Jews, but is thatreasonable? Jesus was speaking to His disciples, those that intended to follow Him and look for His

return.

It makes no sense to conclude that He was speaking to Jews in the future, because those who rejectChrist, such as modern Jews, would have no reason to wish heed any such warning from Jesus.

Jesus spoke what He did because He knew that His true followers would always keep theseventh-day Sabbath.

Which Day Did Paul Keep?

What about theApostle Paul? What did he keep? Did he give any hint in the New Testament aboutwhat day?

TheApostle Paul kept the seventh-day Sabbath and taught that the Sabbath-rest remained for thepeople of God.

Notice that theApostle Paul was inspired to write (note: one Protestant and two Catholictranslations are shown):

3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oathin myanger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'"And yet his work has been finished sincethe creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day inthese words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work." 5And again in thepassage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest." 6 It still remains that some willenter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in,because of their disobedience...9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people ofGod; 10 for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God didfrom his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fallby following their example of disobedience (Hebrews 4:3-6,9-11, NIV).

3 We, however, who have faith, are entering a place of rest, as in the text:And then inmyanger I swore that they would never enter my place of rest. Now God's work was allfinished at the beginning of the world; 4 as one text says, referring to the seventh day:


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And God rested on the seventh dayafter all the work he had been doing. 5And, again,the passage above says: They will never reach my place of rest. 6 It remains the case,then, that there would be some people who would reach it, and since those who firstheard the good news were prevented from entering by their refusal to believe9 Theremust still be, therefore, a seventh-day rest reserved for God's people, 10 since to enterthe place of rest is to rest after your work, as God did after his. 11 Let us, then, pressforward to enter this place of rest, or some of you might copy this example of refusal tobelieve and be lost. (Hebrews 4:3-6,9-11, NJB)

3 For we, that have believed, shall enter into their rest; as he said:As I sware in mywrath, if they shall enter into my rest: and truly the works from the foundation of theworld being perfected. 4 For he said in a certain place of the seventh day thus:And Godrested the seventh day from all his works9 Therefore there is left a sabbatisme for thepeople of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, the same also hath rested from hisworks, as God did from his. 11 Let us hasten therefore to enter into that rest; lest anyman fall into the same example of incredulity. (Hebrews 4:3-6,9-11, The Original andTrue Rheims New Testament ofAnno Domini 1582)

Thus, the New Testament clearly shows that the command to keep the seventh day Sabbath is in theNew Testament. It also shows that only those who will not observe it because of their disobedienceargue otherwise.And that is why Paul observed it.

Even Origen understood some of what Paul wrote above as he wrote:

But what is the feast of the Sabbath except that which the apostle speaks, "Thereremaineth therefore a Sabbatism," that is, the observance of the Sabbath, by the peopleof God...let us see howthe Sabbath ought to be observed bya Christian. On theSabbath-dayall worldly labors ought to be abstained from...give yourselves up tospiritual exercises, repairing to church, attending to sacred reading and instruction...this

is the observance of the Christian Sabbath (Translated from Origen's Opera 2, Paris,1733,Andrews J.N. in History of the Sabbath, 3rd editon, 1887. Reprint Teach Services,Brushton (NY), 1998, pp. 324-325).

Although the Sabbath is refreshing rest, many ignore that and consider it a burden. Notice thefollowing prophecy that seems to apply to those who do not keep the Sabbath:

11 For with stammering lips and another tongueHe will speak to this people,12 To whom He said, "This is the rest with whichYou may cause the weary to rest,"

And, "This is the refreshing";Yet they would not hear. (Isaiah 28:11-12)

Will you hear?

While some have argued about Paul,Acts 13:42-44 shows what Paul did keep the Sabbath:

...the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytesfollowed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in thegrace of God. On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word


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of God.

Notice that teaching on the Sabbath was Paul's custom:

1 Now when they had passed throughAmphipolis andApollonia, they came toThessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 Then Paul, as his custom was,went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead,

and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." 4And some of them werepersuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leadingwomen, joined Paul and Silas. (Acts 17:1-4)

AlsoActs 18:4 states,

And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.

Hence the New Testament is clear that Paul kept the Sabbath, regularly preached on the Sabbath,he spoke to Jews and Greeks on the Sabbath, and that he wrote that there remains "a Sabbath-restfor the people of God".

Hopefully, that includes you.

Notice also that Paul wrote:

Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1)

Since it was Jesus' custom to keep the Sabbath and Paul's as well, true Christians should imitatePaul in this regard. There is never any indication in the Bible that Jesus somehowkept Sunday.

It should be noted that there is additional evidence that many Christians kept attending synagogue

services, which were always on Saturday, for decades after the death of Paul. One way this can bedemonstrated is that some Jews developed a test in the form ofa curse contained within a prayer(called theShemoneh Esreh) around 80-90A.D. to detect presence of Christians. James Parkesnoted:

The purpose of the malediction is to detect the presence of Minim, for if they wereinvited to pronounce the Eighteen Benedictions, they would inevitably omit thatparticular paragraph from them. The fact that the test was a statement made in thesynagogue service shows that at the time of making it the Judeo-Christians stillfrequented the synagogue. There would be no point otherwise in trying to prevent themfrom leading prayers (Parkes JW. The conflict of the church and the synagogue: a study

in the origins ofantisemitism. Volume 1 of History ofantisemitism. The Soncino press,1934, p. 78).

So, not only Paul, but manyafter him (called theMinim above) attended synagogue services on theSabbath. Part of the reason for that was not that they were trying to be Jews, but that they wished toobserve Paul's admonition:

25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some(Hebrews 10:25).

And often, Jewish synagogues were the only local locations that Sabbath services were being held as


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there were not many professing to be Christians in the early days.

Now some have been misled by what seems to be an intentional mistranslation of one of Paul'swritings, Colossians 2:16 to do away with the Sabbath--but when properly translated it endorses,and does not condemn Sabbath observances (this is explained in more detail in the article Is There"AnAnnual Worship Calendar" In the Bible?).

Gentiles Were Prophesied to Keep the Sabbath

Notice what Isaiah 56:1-2 teaches:

1. Thus says the LORD:

"Keep justice, and do righteousness,For My salvation is about to come,And My righteousness to be revealed.2 Blessed is the man who does this,And the son of man who lays hold on it;Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,

And keeps his hand from doing any evil."

Protestant commentators tend to believe that verse 1 is referring to Jesus coming. Notice onebelow:

I. God here tells us what are his intentions of mercy to us (v. 1): My salvation is near tocome-the great salvation wrought out by Jesus Christ (for that was the salvation ofwhich the prophets enquired and searched diligently, 1 Peter 1:10), typified by thesalvation of the Jews from Sennacherib or out of Babylon. Observe,

1. The gospel salvation is the salvation of the Lord. It was contrived and brought about

by him; he glories in it as his.

2. In that salvation God's righteousness is revealed, which is so much the beauty of thegospel that St. Paul makes this the ground of his glorying in it. (Rom 1:17), becausetherein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. The law revealed thatrighteousness of God by which all sinners stand condemned, but the gospel reveals thatby which all believers stand acquitted (from Matthew Henry's Commentary on theWhole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 byHendrickson Publishers, Inc.).

But verse 2 is talking about the Sabbath.

Does this include foreigners, like Gentiles? Notice the next several verses in Isaiah:

Do not let the son of the foreigner Who has joined himself to the LORD Speak, saying,"The LORD has utterly separated me from His people"; Nor let the eunuch say, "Here Iam, a dry tree." For thus says the LORD: "To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,Andchoose what pleases Me,And hold fast My covenant, Even to them I will give in MyhouseAnd within My walls a place and a name Better than that of sons and daughters; Iwill give them an everlasting name That shall not be cut off. "Also the sons of theforeigner Who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him,And to love the name of the


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LORD, to be His servants-- Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,And holdsfast My covenant-- Even them I will bring to My holy mountain,And make them joyfulin My house of prayer (Isaiah 56:3-7).

And while we in the Churches of God believe that this has a future application, it also shows thatforeign converts are also blessed who keep the Sabbath.

Also, notice the following:

23And it shall come to passThat from one New Moon to another,And from one Sabbath to another,All flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the LORD. (Isaiah 66:23)

WhatAbout Sunday in the New Testament?

Most Sundayobservers have pointed to John's statement about the day of the Lord, which they callthe Lord's Day in Revelation 1:10, as proof that Sunday was the day for Christian worship. Suffice itto say that that is the only place in the Bible where that specific expression is used and it makes to

reference to any day of the week (more information can be found in the article Is Revelation 1:10Referring to the Lord's Day or the Day of the Lord?).

There is, however, one verse that shows a first day of the week convocation (other than Pentecost)in the New Testament.Acts 20:7 states,

Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul,ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.

WhileActs 20:7 does mention the first day of the week, it does not mention the term Lord much orthe expression Lords Day. And it is talking about a Saturday night, and not a Sunday morning.

Essentially, after a Sabbath dinner, Paul preached to the Christians because he was going to travelon Sunday.Actually, the term Lord ( in the Greek) is not even mentioned until verse 19 ofActs 20, which the context shows occurs several days later (either on Wednesday or Thursdayandno one has claimed that either of these is the Lords Day).

Of the seven remaining verses in the New Testament that mention the first day of the week, six ofthem are referring to the time after Jesus was resurrected.And theyare Matthew 28:1, Mark16:2,9;Luke 24:1, John 20:1,19. None of them discuss any worship service.

The eighth place were the term "first day of the week" is mentioned in the New Testament is as

follows:

On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as hemay prosper, that there be no collections when I come (1 Corinthians 16:2).

Essentially, Paul wants people to put together a collection for him, before he comes, so it won't begoing on while he is there. Thus, this is not an authorization to take up a collection at a Sundayworship service, instead it is a time Paul felt would be more convenient for people (plus being thedayafter the Sabbath, they would have been more likely to remember to do it if they were toldabout in on the Sabbath).


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That is it.

That is all the verses in the New Testament about the first day of the week, which we now callSunday. It should be noted that Sunday occurred because ofantisemitism and from Romanchanges, as Jesus' resurrection was not on Sunday (this is all documented in the articleWhatHappened in the Crucifixion Week?).

WhatAbout SundayAfter the New Testament?

It may be of interest to note that the first known reference to not observing the seventh day Sabbathby one associated with Christianity was byMarcion in Rome. Nearlyall Protestant, Orthodox, orRoman Catholic researchers consider that Marcion was a major Gnostic heretic.

Should any rely on major heretics be the basis of the true Christian faith?

The first true and clear reference to Sun-day worship was around 150A.D. byJustin Martyr (over a

centuryafter Jesus' death and about 1/2 centuryafter John died). Justin used the expression

which literally means "Helios said (called) day" (Helios was a Greek sun god).Most of the Protestant, Orthodox, or Roman Catholic faiths, if they studied Justin, would conclude

that Justin made many statements that are heretical and that he admitted he did not care toassociate with Christians who he felt retained Jewish practices (for documented proof, please seethe article Justin Martyr: Saint, Heretic, orApostate?).

Some have claimed that theDidacheand Ignatius both enjoined Sunday, but this is not true. Theoriginal Greek simplydoes not support this conclusion. This is documented and discussed in thearticle The Didache, Ignatius, and the Sabbath.

Actually, it appears that Sunday became observed because antisemitic persecution.

Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi noted that the change to Easter-Sundayand to a weekly Sunday was due

to persecution (note: the new Gentile hierarchy he is referring to beloware Greek bishops inJerusalem, which took over after the rebellion was crushed):

The actual introduction of Easter-Sundayappears to have occurred earlier in Palestineafter Emperor Hadrian ruthlessly crushed the Barkokeba revolt (A.D. 132-135)...

The fact that the Passover controversyarose when Emperor Hadrian adopted newrepressive measures against Jewish religious practices suggests that such measuresinfluenced the new Gentile hierarchy to change the date of Passover from Nisan 14 tothe following Sunday (Easter-Sunday) in order to showseparation and differentiationfrom the Jews and the Jewish Christians...

Awhole body ofAgainst the Jews literature was produced by leading Fathers whodefamed the Jews as a people and emptied their religious beliefs and practices ofanyhistorical value. Two major causalities of the anti-Jewish campaign were Sabbath andPassover. The Sabbath was changed to Sundayand Passover was transferred to Easter-Sunday.

Scholars usually recognize the anti-Judaic motivation for the repudiation of the Jewishreckoning of Passover and adoption of Easter-Sunday instead. Joachim Jeremiasattributes such a development to "the inclination to breakaway from Judaism." In a


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similar vein, J.B. Lightfoot explains that Rome andAlexandriaadopted Easter-Sundayto avoid "even the semblance of Judaism" (Bacchiocchi S. God's Festival in Scriptureand History. Biblical Perspectives. Befriend Springs (MI), 1995, pp. 101,102,103).

There is more information concerning this in the articles Sundayand Christianityand Passover andthe Early Church.

John's and His Followers' Practices inAsia Minor--They Kept the Sabbath

The 17th century historian William Cave reported that the early Christians, both Jews and those inAsia Minor, kept the Sabbath. Notice his report:

...the Sabbath or Saturday (for so the word sabbatum is constantly used in the writingsof the fathers, when speaking of it as it relates to Christians) was held by them in greatveneration, and especially in the Eastern parts honoured with all the public solemnitiesof religion. For which we are to know, that the gospel in those parts mainly prevailingamongst the Jews, they being generally the first converts to the Christian faith, they stillretained a mighty reverence for the Mosaic institutions, and especially for the sabbath,as that which had been appointed by God himself, (as the memorial of his rest from the

week of creation,) settled by their great master Moses, and celebrated by their ancestorsfor so manyages, as the solemn day of their public worship, and were therefore veryloth that it should be whollyantiquated and laid aside. For this reason it seemed good tothe prudence of those times, (as in others of the Jewish rites, so in this,) to indulge thehumour of that people, and to keep the sabbath as a day for religious offices. Hence theyusually had most parts of the divine service performed upon that day; they met togetherfor public prayers, for reading the scriptures, celebration of the sacraments, and suchlike duties. This is plain, not only from some passages in Ignatius and Clemens'sConstitutions, but from writers of more unquestionable credit and authority.Athanasius, bishop ofAlexandria, tells us, that theyassembled on Saturdays, not that

they were infected with Judaism, but only to worship Jesus Christ, the Lord of thesabbath (Cave William, D.D. Primitive Christianity: or the Religion of theAncientChristians in the FirstAges of the Gospel. 1840 edition revised by H. Cary. Oxford,London, pp. 84-85).

While I disagree that Jewish converts were allowed to keep the Sabbath to "humour" them as Dr.Cave wrote (since nearlyall the original Christians were Jews, all the original Christians did keepthe Sabbath--Sunday was a later development), he at least does realize that early Jewish convertsand those inAsia Minor ("Eastern parts") kept the Saturday Sabbath.

Of course, the New Testament shows that Paul kept the Sabbath inAsia Minor:

Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia;and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed fromPerga, they came toAntioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath dayand sat down ... So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged thatthese words might be preached to them the next Sabbath (Acts 13:13-14, 42).

Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, andso spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed (Acts 14:1).

It should be pointed out thatAntioch in Pisidia is in the middle ofAsia Minor and thatIconium is


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also inAsia Minor. Hence Gentiles were keeping the Sabbath inAsia Minor from an early time.

TheApostle John ended up being the leader of the Church inAsia Minor, specifically, Ephesus.John, and a claimed follower of his named Polycarp, kept the Saturday Sabbath. There is no direct,nor indirect, historical evidence that John and other true Christians ever observed Sunday.

According to an old, but probably modified in the 4th century document, Polycarp kept theSabbath:

I will give the narration in order, thus coming down to the history of the blessedPolycarp...

And on the sabbath, when prayer had been made long time on bended knee, he, as washis custom, got up to read; and every eye was fixed upon him...

And on the following sabbath he said; 'Hear ye my exhortation, beloved children of God.I adjured you when the bishops were present, and nowagain I exhort you all to walkdecorouslyand worthily in the way of the Lord, knowing that, when I was in theministry of the presbyters, I applied so great diligence according to my power, and shall

do this the more now when the greatest peril awaits me if I am negligent. For after thefear of the judgment, it were shameful to abate and relax anything having regard tomen, and not rather to build up higher the zeal which has reached thus far. It pertainethto you therefore to hold back from all unruliness, both men and women; and let no oneimagine that I exact punishment from offenders not from conscientiousness but fromhuman pride. For it has happened that some of those who were put into offices, whenthey ought all the more, as one might say, to strain every nerve in the race, just thenrelax their efforts, forgetting that, the greater honour a man appeareth to receive, thegreater the loyalty which he ought to pay towards the Master, and to remember thewords of the LordhowHe himself said, On whom I conferred the more, from him letthem demand the more abundantly in return; and the parable of those who had thetalents committed to them, and the blessing pronounced upon the servant that watches,and the reproof of those who refused to come to the marriage feast, and thecondemnation of him whose garment was not befitting the marriage festivity, and theentering in of the wise virgins, the saying Watch ye, and againBe ye ready, Let not yourhearts be weighed down, the new commandment concerning love one towards another,His advent suddenly manifest as of rapid lightning, the great judgment by fire, theeternal life, His immortal kingdom.And all things whatsoever being taught of God yeknow, when ye search the inspired Scriptures, engrave with the pen of the Holy Spiriton your hearts, that the commandments mayabide in you indelible.'

Thus speaking in this way from time to time, and being persistent in his teaching, heedified and saved both himselfand his hearers. (Pionius, Life of Polycarp (1889) fromJ. B. Lightfoot, TheApostolic Fathers, vol. 3.2, pp.488-506)

Thus, Polycarp regularly kept the Sabbath and preached on it.

Even the Protestant scholars Roberts and Donaldson admitted that John's practices could beconsidered supportive of the idea that the Sabbatarians were correct. They mentioned the followingin a dispute about Passover which John kept,

...on the fourteenth day of the moon...The long survival of St. John among Jewish


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Christians led them to prolong this usage, no doubt, as sanctioned by hisexample...Those who in our own times have revived the observance of theJewish Sabbath, showus howmuch may be said on their side, and elucidatethe tenacity of the Easterns in resisting the abolition of the Mosaicordinance as to the Paschal, although theyagreed to keep it "not with theold leaven." (Introduction to Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus. ByAlexander Robertsand James Donaldson. Excerpted from TheAnte-Nicene Fathers (Alexander Robertsand James Donaldson, editors);American Edition copyright 1885. Copyright 2001Peter Kirby).

Roberts and Donaldson immediately continued with,

Our author belonged to a family in which he was the eighth Christian bishop; and hepresided over the church of Ephesus, in which the traditions of St. John were yet freshin men's minds at the date of his birth. He had doubtless known Polycarp, and Irenaeusalso. He seems to have presided over a synod ofAsiatic bishops (A.D. 196) which cametogether to consider this matter of the Paschal feast. It is surely noteworthy that nobodydoubted that it was kept bya Christian andApostolic ordinance. So St. Paul argues from

its Christian observance, in his rebuke of the Corinthians. They were keeping it"unleavened" ceremonially, and he urges a spiritual unleavening as more important.The Christian hallowing of Pentecost connects with the Paschal argument.The Christian Sabbath hinges on these points (Ibid).

The "author" theyare referring to is Polycrates, who claimed to continue what most Catholics,Protestants, and Orthodox would consider to be Jewish practices. The points theyare referring to isthat if the Passover should be kept on the exact dayand John did that as Polycrates wrote, then theSabbath should also be kept on the exact day, the seventh day.

The Catholic writer Lopes noted this about the Roman bishop who attempted to enforce a Sunday

Passover (which Catholics now call Easter):

14. VICTOR I, ST. (189-199)AnAfrican...Victor tended not to advise other churchesbut to impose Rome's ideas on them, thus arousing resentment at times in bishops notinclined to accept such impositions. This was the case of Polycratus, the Bishop ofEphesus, who felt offended at this interference. The question was again that of Easter.Victor reaffirmed the decisions of Soter and Eleutherius both with regard to the date,which had to be a Sunday, and with regard to several customs of Jewish origin whichwere still practiced in some Christian communities...Polycratus justified himself beforethe pope with a letter containing the phrase "...it is more important to obey God ratherthan men" (LopesA. The Popes: The lives of the pontiffs through 2000 ye ars of history.

Futura Edizoni, Roma, 1997, p. 5).

Polycrates wrote this to the Roman Bishop Victor,

We observe the exact day; neither adding, nor taking away. For inAsiaalso great lightshave fallen asleep, which shall rise again on the day of the Lord's coming, when he shallcome with glory from heaven, and shall seek out all the saints.Among these are Philip,one of the twelve apostles, who fell asleep in Hierapolis; and his two aged virgindaughters, and another daughter, who lived in the Holy Spirit and now rests atEphesus; and, moreover, John, who was both a witness and a teacher, who reclined


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upon the bosom of the Lord, and, being a priest, wore the sacerdotal plate. He fellasleep at Ephesus.And Polycarp in Smyrna, who was a bishop and martyr; andThraseas, bishop and martyr from Eumenia, who fell asleep in Smyrna. Why need Imention the bishop and martyr Sagaris who fell asleep in Laodicea, or the blessedPapirius, or Melito, the Eunuch who lived altogether in the Holy Spirit, and who lies inSardis, awaiting the episcopate from heaven, when he shall rise from the dead ?Allthese observed the fourteenth day of the passover according to the Gospel, deviating inno respect, but following the rule of faith.And I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, doaccording to the tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have closely followed. Forseven of my relatives were bishops; and I am the eighth.And my relatives alwaysobserved the day when the people put away the leaven. I, therefore, brethren, who havelived sixty-five years in the Lord, and have met with the brethren throughout the world,and have gone through every Holy Scripture, am not affrighted by terrifying words. Forthose greater than I have said ' We ought to obey God rather than man'...I could mentionthe bishops who were present, whom I summoned at your desire; whose names, shouldI write them, would constitute a great multitude.And they, beholding my littleness, gavetheir consent to the letter, knowing that I did not bear my gray hairs in vain, but hadalways governed my life by the Lord Jesus (Eusebius. Church History. Book V, Chapter

25).

In other words, Polycrates is insisting that he and other leaders always kept such 'Jewish' practicesas the Passover on the exact day (the 14th of Nisan) and the days of unleavened bread and that theylearned this from Holy Scripture and from John. Those who did not do that, he implies, would beobeying men rather than God.And actually, Protestants and Orthodox like to cite this passage fromPolycrates to showthat many in the 2nd Century did not accept the authority of the Romanbishops.

But what do they do about keeping Passover or the days of unleavened bread?

Polycrates also mentioned Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. Polycarp is considered to be a true saint byCatholics, Orthodox, and others.According to the letter The Martyrdom of Polycarp by theSmyrnaeans, "on the day of the preparation, at the hour of dinner, there came out pursuers andhorsemen" and the Polycarp was killed "on the day of the great Sabbath" (The Martyrdom ofPolycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Verses 7.1 & 8.1. Charles H. Hoole's 1885 translation. 2001Peter Kirby) . The use of these two expressions ("day of the preparation" and "the day of the greatSabbath" showthat those in Smyrna (a Gentile filled area) were still keeping the Sabbath around156A.D. (the approximate date of Polycarp's martyrdom) (otherwise other terms would have beenmore appropriate--non-Sabbath observers do not call the day before Saturday that "day ofpreparation", nor would they have any reason to do so).

Regarding the second century church inAsia Minor, the German historian W. Bauer wrote:

Asian Jewish Christianity received in turn the knowledge that henceforth the "church"would be open without hesitation to the Jewish influence mediated by Christians,coming not only from the apocalyptic traditions, but also from the synagogue with itspractices concerning worship, which led to the appropriation of the Jewish passoverobservance. Even the observance of the sabbath by Christians appears to have foundsome favor inAsia (Bauer W. Kraft RA, Krodel G, editors. Orthodoxyand Heresy inEarliest Christianity, 2nd edition. Sigler Press, Mifflintown (PA), 1996, pp.87-88).


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Although true Christians do not consider the Gospel of Thomas to be scripture, the followingpassage from it shows that the sabbath was being observed in the 2nd Century, and that theobservance of the Sabbath was considered to be of great importance:

...If you do not observe the sabbath as a sabbath you will not see the Father (Patterson S,Meyer M. The "Scholars' Translation" of the Gospel of Thomas. Verse 27. ScholarsVersion translation of the Gospel of Thomas taken from *The Complete Gospels:Annotated Scholars Version.* Copyright 1992, 1994 by Polebridge Press).

The simple reality is that since John and those truly in the Church were diligent to keep Passoveron the 14th of Nisan (more information is in the article on Polycrates), as well as the Sabbath, andnon-Jewish professors of Christ also did, it should be obvious that Sunday was not an originalpractice of the true church. (More information on church history can be found in the articleLocation of the Early Church:Another Lookat Rome, Ephesus & Smyrna.)

Furthermore, even the word for the seventh-day of the week in Greek (the language of the NewTestament as well as the language ofancientAsia Minor) is , which would betransliterated as sabbaton in English. The modern Greek word for Saturday is essentially the sameword--spelled in Greek with a captial letter at the beginning as ; or as transliterated intoEnglish asSabbato.

Additional References for Sabbath-Keeping inAsia Minor and Elsewhere

The Sabbath was not just kept by Christians inAsia Minor and many scholars know this.

J. F. Coltheart put the following citations together which shows that scholars do understand thatearly Christians and others did in fact keep the seventh-day sabbath:

EARLY CHRISTIANS

"The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day indevotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted but they derived this practice from

theApostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to that purpose." Dialogues

on the Lords Day, p. 189. London: 1701, by Dr. T.H. Morer.

EARLY CHRISTIANS

". . . The Sabbath was a strong tie which united them with the life of the whole people,and in keeping the Sabbath holy they followed not only the example but also the

command of Jesus." Geschichte des Sonntags, pp. 13, 14.

2ND CENTURY CHRISTIANS

The Gentile Christians observed also the Sabbath. Gieselers Church History, Vol. 1,ch. 2, par. 30, p. 93.

EARLY CHRISTIANS

"The primitive Christians did keep the Sabbath of the Jews . . . therefore the Christians,fora long time together, did keep their conventions upon the Sabbath, in which someportions of the law were read: and this continued till the time of the Laodicean council."

The Whole Works of Jeremy Taylor, Vol. IX, p. 416 (R. Hebers Edition, Vol. XII, p.


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416)...

EGYPT (OXYRHYNCHUS PAPYRUS 200-250 A.D.)

"Except ye make the Sabbath a real Sabbath [sabbatize the Sabbath, Greek], ye shall

not see the father." The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, pt. L, p. 3, Logion 2, verse 4-11 (London:

Offices of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1898)...

EARLY CHRISTIANS

"The seventh-day Sabbath was . . . solemnised by Christ, the Apostles, and theprimitive Christians, till the Laodicean Council did in a manner quite abolish the

observations of it." Dissertation on the Lords Day, pp. 33, 34, 44...

SPAIN Council Elvira (A.D. 305)

Canon 26 of the Council of Elvira reveals that the Church of Spain at that time keptSaturday, the seventh day. "As to fasting every Sabbath: Resolved, that the error becorrected of fasting every Sabbath." This resolution of the council is in direct opposition

to the policy the church at Rome had inaugurated, that of commanding Sabbath as afast day in order to humiliate it and make it repugnant to the people...

PERSIA A.D. 335-375

"They despise our sun god. Did not Zoroaster, the sainted founder of our divine beliefs,institute Sunday one thousand years ago in honour of the sun and supplant theSabbath of the Old Testament. Yet these Christians have divine services on Saturday."

OLeary, The Syriac Church and Fathers, pp. 83, 84. (Coltheart JF. The Sabbath of God

Through the Centuries. Leaves-of-Autumn Books, Inc. Payson, Arizona, 1954.

http://www.giveshare.org/churchhistory/sabbaththrucenturies.html 6/24/06).

Sabbath-keeping inAsia Minor was publicly still going on to at least 364 A.D. or else the EasternChurch would not have convened a Council in Laodicea to excommunicate any who rested on theseventh day. Notice what the Council of Laodicea declared in English and Latin,

CANON XXIX. CHRISTIANS must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must workon that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians.But ifany shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ (THECOMPLETE CANONS OF THE SYNOD OF LAODICEAIN PHRYGIAPACATIANA).

Quod non oportet Christianos Judaizere et otiare in Sabbato, sed operari in eodem die.

Preferentes autem in veneratione Dominicum diem si vacare voluerint, ut Christiani hocfaciat ; quod si reperti fuerint JudaizareAnathema sin a Christo (Cited inAndrews, p.362).

But although that Council tried to abolish the Sabbath, sabbath-keeping continued among thefaithful.Around 404A.D. Jerome noted,

...the believing Jews do well in observing the precepts of the law, i.e....keeping theJewish Sabbaththere exists a sect among the synagogues of the East, which is calledthe sect of the Minei, and is even now condemned by the Pharisees. The adherents tothis sect are known commonlyas Nazarenes; they believe in Christ the Son of God, born


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of , the Virgin Mary; and they say that He who suffered under Pontius Pilate and roseagain, is the same as the one in whom we believeyet, Jerome considered them to bepart of a most pestilential heresy (Jerome. Translated by J.G. Cunningham, M.A. FromJerome toAugustine (A.D. 404); LETTER 75 (AUGUSTINE) OR 112 (JEROME).Excerpted from Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series One, Volume 1. Edited by PhilipSchaff, D.D., LL.D.American Edition, 1887. Online Edition Copyright 2004 by K.Knight).

But it was not just Jewish Christians keeping the Sabbath.

There were Semi-Arians inArmenia who also kept the seventh-day Sabbath in the late fourthcentury:

Eustathius was succeeded by Erius, a...semi-Arian...he urged a purer moralityand astricter observance of the Sabbath (Davis, Tamar.AGeneral History of the SabbatarianChurches. 1851; Reprinted 1995 by Commonwealth Publishing, Salt Lake City, p. 20).

Also in the fourth century, but in Ethiopia, Frumentius reported:

"And we assemble on Saturday," he continues ; "not that we are infected with Judaism,but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath" (Davis, Tamar.AGeneral History of theSabbatarian Churches. 1851; Reprinted 1995 by Commonwealth Publishing, Salt LakeCity, pp. 41-42).

Even though Syria had apostasized by the mid-third century (see The Smyrna Church Era), thosethere understood that there were to keep the Sabbath, though theyalso kept Sunday (there is noevidence that Sunday was observed there in the second century).

Notice what the so-calledApostolic Constituitions, written in Syriaaround 250A.D. states:

XXIII...But keep the Sabbath, and the Lord's day festival; because the former is thememorial of the creation, and the latter of the resurrection (Apostolic Constitutions -DidascaliaApostolorum Book VII, Section II.As cited inAndrews J.N. in History of theSabbath, 3rd editon, 1887. Reprint Teach Services, Brushton (NY), 1998, p. 329 andConstitutions of the HolyApostles, Bk. 7, Sec. 2, Ch. 23, trans. inANF, Vol. 7, 1885.Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody (MA), printing 1999, p. 469)...

XXXIII...Let the slaves work five days; but on the Sabbath-dayand the Lord's day letthem have leisure to go to church for instruction in piety. We have said that the Sabbathis on account of the creation, and the Lord's day of the resurrection (ApostolicConstitutions - DidascaliaApostolorum Book VIII, Section IV).

XXXVI. O LordAlmighty Thou hast created the world by Christ, and hast appointed theSabbath in memory thereof, because that on that day Thou hast made us rest from ourworks, for the meditation upon Thy laws...Thou didst give them the law or decalogue,which was pronounced by Thy voice and written with Thy hand. Thou didst enjoin theobservation of the Sabbath, not affording them an occasion of idleness, but anopportunity of piety, for their knowledge of Thy power, and the prohibition of evils;having limited them as within an holy circuit for the sake of doctrine, for the rejoicingupon the seventh period...On this account He permitted men every Sabbath to rest, thatso no one might be willing to send one word out of his mouth in anger on the day of the


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Sabbath. For the Sabbath is the ceasing of the creation, the completion of the world, theinquiryafter laws, and the grateful praise to God for the blessings He has bestowedupon men (Apostolic Constitutions - DidascaliaApostolorum Book VII, Section II).

About a centuryago, it the following was reported about those who professed Christ during theseearly times:

OF THE OBSERVATION OF THE SABBATH, OR SATURDAY,ASAWEEKLY

FESTIVAL...

Christians were very careful in the observationof Saturday,or the seventh day, whichwas the ancient Jewish sabbath... In the Eastern church it was ever observed as afestival...From hence it is plain, that all the Oriental churches, and the greatest part ofthe world, observed the sabbath as a festival.And the Greek writers are unanimous intheir testimony. The author of the Constitutions, who describes the customs chiefly ofthe Oriental church, frequently speaks of it...Athanasius likewise tells us, that they heldreligious assemblies on the sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but toworship Jesus the Lord of the sabbath. Epiphanius says the same, That it was a day ofpublic assembly in many churches, meaning the Oriental churches, where it was kept afestival (Bingham J. Origines Ecclesiastic: TheAntiquities of the Christian Church.With Two Sermons and Two Letters on the Nature and Necessity ofAbsolution. H. G.Bohn, 1856. Original from Harvard University Digitized Oct 19, 2006, pp. 1137-1138).

Sozomen reported in the mid-5th Century,

The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on theSabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Romeor atAlexandria (Sozomen. THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF SOZOMEN.Comprising a History of the Church, from a.d. 323 to a.d. 425. Book VII, Chapter XIX.Translated from the Greek. Revised by Chester D. Hartranft, Hartford TheologicalSeminary UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LL.D.,AND HENRY WACE, D.D., Professor of Church History in the Union TheologicalSeminary, New York. Principal of King's College, London. T&T CLARK,EDINBURGH, circa 1846).

Speaking of Rome, perhaps I should mention that as late as the third century, some type ofSabbath-observance still occurred as the following from the Catholic theologian Hippolytus attests,as well as Sunday:

20:7 Those who are to receive baptism shall fast on the Preparation of the Sabbath b.

On theSabbath c, those who are to receive baptism shall all gather together in one place...

b Fridayc Saturday

22:1 On the first day of the week the bishop, if possible, shall deliver the oblation to allthe people with his own hand, while the deacons break the bread.

(Hippolytus. TheApostolic Tradition of Hippolytus of Rome. From the work of BernardBotte (La TraditionApostolique. Sources Chretiennes, 11 bis. Paris, Editions du Cerf,


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1984) and of Gregory Dix (The Treatise on theApostolic Tradition of St. Hippolytus ofRome, Bishop and Martyr. London:Alban Press, 1992) as translated by Kevin P.Edgecomb http://www.bombaxo.com/hippolytus.html viewed 08/06/09)

In the fourth century, Sabbath-keeping was still going on in Jerusalem:

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, or as some believe, his successor John IIthe saintadds Keepaway from all sabbathical observances, and do not call some foods clean and unclean

because theyare all indifferent. (Bagatti, Bellarmino. Translated by Eugene Hoade.The Church from the Circumcision. Nihil obstat: MarcusAdinolfi, 13 Maii 1970. Imprimipotest: Herminius Roncari, 14 Junii 1970. Imprimatur: +Albertus Gori, die 26 Junii1970. Franciscan Printing Press, Jerusalem, 1971, p. 89).

However, the truly faithful in Jerusalem still ignored the anti-Sabbatarian Greco-Roman leaders.

Also in the fifth century, the historian Socrates noted:

For although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysterieson the sabbath of every week, yet the Christians ofAlexandriaand at Rome, on account

of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this. The Egyptians in the neighborhood ofAlexandria, and the inhabitants of Thebais, hold their religious assemblies on thesabbath, but do not participate of the mysteries in the manner usual among Christians ingeneral (Socrates Scholasticus. Ecclesiastical History, Book V, Chapter XXII. Excerptedfrom Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume 2. Edited by Philip Schaffand Henry Wace.American Edition, 1890. Online Edition Copyright 2005 by K.Knight).

Apparently, however, Sabbath-observance came back to Rome as the Catholic pope they call"Gregory the Great" wrote the following:

Gregory, servant of the servants of God, to his most beloved sons the Roman citizens.

It has come to my ears that certain men of perverse spirit have sown among you somethings that are wrong and opposed to the holy faith, so as to forbid any work being doneon the Sabbath day. What else can I call these but preachers ofAntichrist (Gregory I.Registrum Epistolarum, Book XIII, Letter 1).

Hence, even within the area of Rome, some people were keeping the Sabbath in the late sixth/earlyseventh century.

The British Isles and China

Sabbath-keeping also had a long history in the British Isles. Some claim that theApostle Paulbrought in there--while that is hard to prove, Sabbath-keeping was clearly occuring in the Celticregions until at least 886:

1. EARLY CIVILIZATION OF THE BRITISH ISLES...

Gildas the earliest British writer of history, bornA. D. 520, says of the introduction ofChristianity into the islands: "Meanwhile these islands, stiff with cold and frost, and in adistant region of the world, remote from the visible sun, received the beams of light,


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that is, the holy precepts of Christ - who is the true Sun, and who shows tothe wholeworld his splendor, nor only from the temporal firmament, but from the height ofheaven, which surpasses everything temporal - at the latter part, as we know, of thereign of Tiberius Caesar, by whom his religion was propagated without impediment."Comparing this with the previous passage, the events mentioned appear to be limited bythe 'meanwhile' to a period between the defeat of Boadicea,A.D. 61, on the one hand,and on the other to events not far distant - such as the defeat of Caractacus,A.D. 51.Therefore the testimony of Gildas is to the effect that the gospel was preached in Britainbefore the year 61. (Yeowell, p. 22.)

TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS.

Irenaeus,A.D. 178, says that the church in his time was spread throughout the World;and especially mentions the churches in Germany, Spain, Gaul, and Britain. He adds:"There is no difference of faith or tradition in any of these countries."...

The credit of introducing Christianity into this region has been claimed not only forPaul, but also for Peter, Philip, John, Simon Zelotes, and Joseph ofArimathea...

Venantius Fortunatus,A.D. 560, says: "St. Paul passed over the ocean to the Island ofBritain, and to Thule, the extremity of the earth." (Ireland)

...In the biography ofAugustine who came from RomeA.D. 596, to convert the heathenSaxons, we are told that he found the people of Britain in the most grievous andintolerable heresies, "being given to Judaizing, but ignorant of the holy sacraments andfestivals of the church." That is to say, they kept the Bible Sabbath and were ignorant ofthe Roman "Sunday-festival." (Mrs. Tamar Davis : "History of Sabbatarian Churches," p.108. Phila 1851.) ...

John Price, in "TheAncient British Church," (pp 90, 94. Note), says: "The originaldifference (about Easter) was that the Western church, followed herein by the churchesof Jerusalem andAntioch andAlexandria, observed Good Friday either on the 14th ofthe month Nisan, if it fell on Friday, or, if not, on the next Friday; and Easter on thefollowing Sunday. The Eastern church did not do that way." and then he adds, "There is,however, an unfair insinuation that the British Christians were Judaic in theirobservance of Easter day, in a letter of Pope elect, John (A.D. 634), to the Scoti; and inAldhelm's Epistle to Geruntius." This "insinuation," far from being unfair, is rather themore a true statement of the Sabbath observance of the Celtic church, which evencelebrated its Easter or resurrection festival on the day which the Scriptures point outas the one on which the Saviour rose from the grave, (which was "late on the Sabbath."

Matt. 28:1-4) (Seventh Day Baptists in Europe andAmerica" Volume 1, 1910 pp 21-39).

The Celtic Church which occupied Ireland, Scotland, and Britain, had the Syriac(Byzantine) scriptures instead of the Latin vulgate of Rome. The Celtic Church, with theWaldenses and the Eastern empire, kept the seventh-day Sabbath...

Adomnans use ofsabbatum for Saturday, the seventh day of the week, is clearindication from Columbas mouth that Sabbath was not Sunday. Sunday, the first dayof the week is Lords day.Adomnans attitude to Sunday is important, because he wroteat a time when there was controversy over the question whether the ritual of the BiblicalSabbath was to be transferred to the Christians Lords-day. A.O. and M.O.Anderson


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(editors)Adomnans Life of Columba, Thomas Nelsons Medieval Texts, 1961, pages25-26.

The Old Testament required seventh-day Sabbath observance and, reasonAdomnanseditors, since the New Testament nowhere repealed the fourth commandment, theseventh-day was observed byall early Christians. The evidence theyadduce suggeststhat no actual confusion between Sundayand the Sabbath occurred until the early sixthcentury, and then in the writings of the rather obscure Caesarius ofArles. (Ibid., page

26.)...

The Roman movement to supersede the Celtic Sabbath with Sunday culminated in theproduction ofan (apocryphal) Letter of Jesus, or Letter of Lords day, alleged to havebeen found on the altar of Peter in Rome; and is said in the annals to have been broughtto Ireland bya pilgrim (c. 886). Upon this basis laws were promulgated, imposing heavypenalties for those that violated on Sunday certain regulations derived from Jewishprohibitions for Sabbath. . . . There is in fact no historical evidence that Ninian, orPatrick, or Columba, or any of their contemporaries in Ireland, kept Sundayas aSabbath. (Ibid., page 28.) (Celtic Sabbath-Keeping Study No. 264, from Cherith

Chronicle,April-June 1998, pp. 46-47. http://www.giveshare.org/BibleStudy/264.celtic-sabbath-keeping.html 6/24/06).

People in the British Isles, including Ireland, may be shocked to learn this, but the Sabbath waskept in them by many until an English woman married Malcom III king of the Scots, and laterforced Sunday upon her husband's subjects.

Noted theologian James Moffat reported:

It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as wellas Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labor, andSunday, commemorative of the Lord's resurrection, as one of rejoicing, with exercises ofpublic worship. In that case they obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon theseventh day of the week

The queen insisted upon the single and strict observance of the Lord's Day.People and clergyalike submitted, but without entirely giving up their reverence forSaturday, which subsequently sank into a half-holy day preparatory for Sunday (Moffat ,James Clement. The Church in Scotland:AHistory of ItsAntecedents, it Conflicts, andItsAdvocates, from the Earliest Recorded Times to the FirstAssembly of the ReformedChurch. Published by Presbyterian Board of Education, 1882. Original from theUniversity of Wisconsin Madison. Digitized Mar 13, 2008, p. 140).

The queen mentioned above was Margaret who died in 1093. Margaret (who was technically "theQueen consort of Malcolm III") was canonized a Roman Catholic saint in the year 1250 by PopeInnocent IV. Thus, once again political power was used to try to stop people from following thebiblical practices of early Christianity.

Thomas Bampfieldcontended that the seventh day had been kept in England inunbroken succession until the thirteenth century (Ball B. Seventh Day Men:Sabbatarians and Sabbatarianism in England and Wales, 1600-1800, 2nd edition.James Clark & Co., 2009, p. 21).


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It should be noted that because of practices ofa few of the Lollards in the British Isles, someSabbath-keeping would have apparently occurred from the thirteenth through seventeenthcenturies (Ball, pp. 30-31 ), so it would havce been unbroken for even more centuries that ThomasBampfield contended about

Notice a that in 1719 England, John Ozell, a non-Sabbath-keeper wrote the following about some ofthe Sabbath-keepers:

People, whogo by the name Sabbatarian make Profession of expecting a Reign ofaThousand YearsThese Sabbatarians are so calld, because they will not remove the Dayof Rest from Saturday to SundayTheyadminister Baptism only to adult PeopleThemajor part of them will not eat Pork, nor bloodtheir outward conduct is pious andChristian-like (Ozell J. M. Mission Observations in His Travels over England. 1719. Ascited in Ball, p. 9).

There even was Sabbath-keeping in China probably beginning no later than 635, as well as beyond:

"It was in the year 1625; the Jesuits had infiltrated the fabric of the Chinese culturedclasses, when a sensational discovery was made.Alarge monument stone inscribed with

nineteen hundred Chinese characters, and fifty Syrian words, was unearthed justoutside the walls of Chang-An, the ancient capital of the Tang Dynasty. The news of thisdiscovery caused a bustle of excitement in the ancient metropolitan city, and thousandswere anxious to know what information about their cultural heritage was hidden in thewriting.

The Jesuits, who were regarded as the teachers and scholars, were immediatelysummoned to decipher the inscriptions. To the astonishment of these haughty priests,there before their eyes, was a description of the prestigious position, and vast extent ofthe seventh-day Sabbath-keeping Christian Church of the East ofa millennia before!

The ancient Chinese characters were inscribed in 781AD, at the command of EmperorTae-Tsung, to honor the arrival ofanAssyrian missionaryand his companions to thecapitol in the year 635AD from Ta Tsin, or Judea. The stone revealed beliefs andpractices of the primitive Christian church, which were unrelated and out of harmonywith the Roman Catholic beliefs. ...

1837...The Taipings also learned from the Bible that they should observe the Sabbath. Itis amazing that although Monday is called Day One and Saturday is called Day Six bythe Chinese, yet the Taipings were able to recognize Saturdayas the correct SeventhDay Sabbath...The Taiping Christians were asked why theyobserved the seventh day

Sabbath, replied that it was, first, because the Bible taught it, and second, because theirancestors observed it as a day of worship." -ACritical History of the Sabbath andSunday...Due to their resolute stand for biblical truths the Taipings were confronted byopposition on every side. The Manchurian dynasty regarded them as rebels and foughtagainst them. In abolishing idols, the Taipings naturally destroyed the images of Maryand the saints as well as those of the Buddhists. The Jesuits became angryat them. Theypersuaded the French forces in China to support the ruling Manchus to crush them.(Wong P. THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH MOVEMENT IN CHINA. Sabbath Sentinel.September-October 2000 http://www.giveshare.org/churchhistory/sabbathchina.html6/24/06).


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TheAlbigneses in France were condemned by various councils.And one, the Council ofAlbi(sometimes spelledAlby) in 1254 apparently stated:

They savour of Judaism...theyobserve the Jewish sabbath, but say that the holyDominical day is no better than any other day; let them be accursed (Quoted in Davis,Tamar.AGeneral History of the Sabbatarian Churches. 1851; Reprinted 1995 byCommonwealth Publishing, Salt Lake City, p. 64).

Others in France were also later subject to the inquisitors. Notice the following account:

On the 14th of September, 1492, about thirty persons were committed to theinquisitional dungeons of Toulouse upon a charge of Judaism...Of there wasAnthonyFerrar, who had been a pastor or teacher in the Sabbatarian church of that city.Afterremaining in prision ten days, he received a visit from an Italian monk named Gregory...

Greg.--ButAnthony, you must be a liar and a deceiver, for I have been crediblyinformed that yourself, and all of your friends, were of the cursed race of Israel.

An.--It is false, we were honest Frenchmen, and Christians, followers of Jesus...

An.--We say that the ten commandments are still binding.

Greg.--Yes, and instead of observing the festivals of the Holy Church, and honouring theholy day of the Lord, on which he rose from the dead, you were accustomed to meet forworship upon the old Sabbath, or Saturday.

An.--We did, indeed, rest and attend divine worship upon the seventh day, even as Godcommanded (Quoted in Davis, Tamar.AGeneral History of the Sabbatarian Churches.1851; Reprinted 1995 by Commonwealth Publishing, Salt Lake City, pp. 87-88).

In German-speaking Europe, there were separate groups among those calledAnabaptists that wereSabbath-keepers in the 16th and 17th centuries:

During the years 1526 to 1535, then, eightAnabaptist groups may be identified asexisting in Moravia...Sabbatarians...

Arecent investigation has shown that a few congregations made up of the followers ofMarbeck, the Sabbatarians and of Cornelians also continued to exist after 1550...

Even as late as the early seventeenth centuryAusterlitz was known for its religiousconfusion.According to one report, there were twelve sects in the town, four of which

seemed to have beenAnabaptist: Sabbatarians,fratest flebiles (ejulantes), CorneliansandAnabaptists (Clasen CP.Anabaptist Sects in the Sixteenth Century:AResearchReport. Mennonite Quarterly Review, VOl. XLVI, July 1972, pp. 256-279).

FromAfrica, Ethiopia claims a very long history of Sabbath-keeping.

Notice some of the statements by Ethiopian Emperor Galawdewos (A.D. 1540-1559):

We do celebrate the Sabbath, because God, after He had finished the Creation of theWorld, rested thereon...and that especially, since Christ came not to dissolve the law butto fulfill it. It is therefore not in the imitation of the Jews, but in obedience to Christ, and


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His holyapostles, that we observe that day (Quoted in Bradford C.E. Sabbath Roots, TheAfrican Connection. L. Brown and Sons, Barre (VT), 1999, p. 26).

Interestingly, even to this day, the Orthodox consider Saturdayand Sunday festive days, differentfrom other ones:

In the tradition of our Church, Saturday like Sunday is considered a festal day. Evenduring the Great Lent the rules of fasting are relaxed on Saturdays and Sundays (Calivas

A. The Great and Holy Saturday. Copyright: 2002-2003 Greek OrthodoxArchdiocese ofAmerica).

And the Roman Catholics realize that the seventh day is the Sabbath:

The sabbath...The sacred text says that "on the seventh day God finished his work whichhe had done"...and that God "rested on this dayand sanctified and blessed it"(Catechismof the Catholic Church, 345. Imprimi Potest + Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. Doubleday,New York, 1994, p. 100).

WhatAbout Russiaand the Sabbath?

Russia is a large, primarily Gentile nations. Sabbath-keeping was reported in Russia in the fifteenthand sixteenth centuries.

Notice this nineteenth century report:

The ancient Russian name for this people wasStrigolniks. Dr. Murdock says of them:--

"...The earliest of the schismatics first appeared in Novogorod, early in thefifteenth century, under the name of Strigolniks. "AJew named Horiepreached a mixture of Judaism and Christianity; and proselyted two priests,

Denis andAlexie, who gained a vast amount of followers. This sect was sonumerous that a national council was called, towards the close of thefifteenth century, to oppose it. Soon afterwards one Karp, anexcommunicated deacon, joined the Strigolniks, and accused the higherclergy of selling the office of the priesthood, and of so far corrupting thechurch, that the Holy Ghost was withdrawn from it. He was a very successfulpropagtor for this sect."

...What was the origin of these Russian Sabbath-keepers? Certainly it was not from theReformation of the sixteenth century; for they were in existence for at least one centuryprior to that event. We have seen that the Waldenses, during the DarkAges, were

dispersed through many of the counties of Europe.And also, were the people calledCathari, if indeed, the two were not one people. In particular, we note the fact that theywere scattered through Poland, Lithuania, Sclavonia, Bulgaria, Livonia,Albania, andSarmartia. These countries are now part of the Russian empire. Sabbath-keepers werenumerous in Russia before the time of Luther (Andrews, p. 469).

"There is a sect of Greek Christians in Siberia who keep the Jewish Sabbath(Saturday)..."(Semi-Weekly Tribune, May 4, 1869. Cited inAndrews, p. 505)

What theAdventist scholar failed to mention, however, is that those who kept the Sabbath and


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were called Judaizers did not believe in the invented doctrine of the trinity(see also BinitarianView: One God, Two Beings Before the Beginning):

Judaizers...in Russia in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries...denied the Trinity(Fanning S. Mystics of the Christian Tradition. Routeldge, New York. 2001, reprinted2006, p. 255).

Sadly there was persecution of Sabbath-keepers in Russia back then:

Russia..."The accused [Sabbath-keepers] were summoned; they openlyacknowledged the newfaith, and defended the same. The most eminent of them, the secretary of state,Kuritzyn, Ivan Maximow, Kassian, archimandrite of the Fury Monastery of Novgorod,were condemned to death, and burned publicly in cages, at Moscow; Dec. 17,1503."Geschichte der Juden" (Leipsig, 1873), pp.117-122

However, I believe that knowledge and observance of the Sabbath was in Russia long before that.

Why?

One reason is the Russian language, like many others, essentially uses a term for Sabbath to meanwhat we in English term Saturday:

105 Languages: In over 100 languages the name for the day that we call Saturday is"the Sabbath." For example, Saturday in the Spanish language is "Sabado," whichmeans the Sabbath. In Italian, it is "Sabbato," which also means the Sabbath. InRussian it is, "Subbota." In Polish, "Sobota, etc. Interestingly enough, in Ghana the dayfor Sunday, literally translated, means White man changed this day! (Wohlberg S. CanWe Know What Day is the Sabbath? White Horse Media).

Some believed that Monday is the first day of the week. I showed them from theSpanish, Swahili and Tagalog that Saturday in all those languages can be identified withthe word Sabbath. In Spanish the word for Saturday is Sabado. In Swahilithe word for seven is sabad (though Saturday is called Jumamosi orMoses Day) and in Tagalog the word is the same as in Spanish, Sabado(King, R. United Kingdom Update. Weekly Update, LCG,August 16, 2007)

is howthe word Saturday was translated by two online dictionaries for me--but this isusing Russian characters. Subbota would be the spelling using Latin characters.

There simply is no serious reason to use a term that means Sabbath for Saturday unless there was

knowledge of the Sabbath in Russia.

Notice the following:

The reign of Vasily (1505-1533) was characterized by crueltyand a return to ignorance.His son and successor Ivan IV (1531-1584) turned out to be a bloody ruler whoterrorized all Russia, earning from history the infamous title, Ivan the Terrible. Evenduring his reign, there were people in Russia who were true to the teachings of theBible, especially the Sabbath. The One Hundred Head Church Council, called in 1551during the reign of Ivan IV, adopted a resolution which until today has not been


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annulled by the Russian Orthodox Church. This regulation states that the people,besides worshiping on Sunday, could also worship on Saturday in the confines of theRussian Orthodox Churcha statement which was recognized by the church council asauthorized by theApostles Peter and Paul (D. E. Kozhachnikov, ed., Stoglav [Source:One-Hundred-Head Council] (St. Petersburg: Tipografiia ImperatorskoiAkademyNauk, 1863), pp. 270, 271.As cited by Zhigankov, Oleg.Ahead of their time? The 15thcentury Reformation in Russia. College and University Dialogue Journal).

Notice that the practices of Peter and Paul are mentioned. They kept the Sabbath. But one still maywonder howthe Orthodox Church could possibly condone Saturday. Well, because Saturday hadbeen observed by those inAsia Minor for centuries, and even after the area mainly became part ofthe Greco-Orthodox confederation of Catholics, in Constantinople (the primary see, "first amongequals" in its words of the Orthodox Churches, please see Orthodox Church of Constantinople fordocumentation) the Sabbath was kept.

And since the Russian Orthodox had historical ties with Constantinople, apparently it was felt thatSabbath observance would still be tolerable.

Into The EarlyAmericas: When Was the Sabbath Kept?

It has been reported that:

The first Sabbath-keeper inAmerica was Stephen Mumford...came as a missionary fromLondon...in 1664, and brought the opinion with him that the whole of the tencommandments, as they were delivered from Mount Sinai, were moral and immutable;and that it was the anti-Christian power which thought to change times and laws, thatchanged the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week (Andrews, pp.498-499).

Although it is not commonly taught, some of the Puritans kept the Sabbath.

In a book by Dr. Samuel Kohn, chief Rabbi of Budapest, Hungary, in the late 1800s provided thisinformation:

Alreadyaround the year 1530Sabbatarians emerged in Bohemia...Sabbatarians(Subbotniki), or Judaizers also arose soon thereafter in Silesia, Poland and Russia; inthe latter, where they were frequently confused with the Jews in the second half of thiscentury, remain until today. We meet similar sects around 1545 among the Quakers inEngland. Several leaders and preacher of the Puritans, imbued with the Old Testamentspirit, likewise raised the issue of reinstating the day of rest from Sunday to Saturday(Kohn S. Translated by T. McElwain and B. Rook. Sabbatarians in Transylvania.Christian Churches of God, Wooden (Australia), 1998, p.10-11).

Here is another report which also reports that once inAmerica, there were Sabbatarians among thePuritans (as well as the position against Christmas, which is also a Church of God position):

Strange as it may seem, in the early history ofAmerica there was an attempt atsuppression of Christmas spirit. The stern Puritans at Plymouth, imbued with therigorous fervor of the Old Testament, abhorred the celebration of the orthodox holidays.Their worship was on the Sabbath (Saturday), rather than Sunday, and Christmas inparticular they considered a pagan celebration. Later immigrants attempted to observe


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Christmas as a time of joy, but were suppressed. Governor Bradford, Elder Brewster,Miles Standish and other leaders were firm against the yuletide spirit as we know ittoday (Sprague H. Letter from the editor. St. Joseph, Mo., Daily Gazette, December 1934as cited in DuggerAN, Dodd CO.AHistory of True Religion, 3rd ed. Jerusalem, 1972(Church of God, 7th Day). 1990 reprint, p. 265).

In addition, those Puritans even had the nativeAmericans observe the Sabbath as well:

... adopt the Puritan pace and mode of work, which meant long days ofagriculturallabor. Insisting upon the gendered division of labor favored by the English, themissionaries urged the Indian men to forsake hunting and fishing in favor of farming.The Indian women were supposed to withdraw ... had to rest and worship on theseventh day, the Sabbath. Praying towns did not appeal to those Indians who belongedto the largest and most autonomous bands, principally the Narragansett (TaylorA.American Colonies : The Settling of NorthAmerica; The Penguin History of the UnitedStates, Volume1, Hist of the USA. (Paperback) Penguin, New York; Reprint edition, July30, 2002).

That some of the Puritans kept the seventh-day Sabbath should not be a surprise as the Church ofGod includes in its ancestory (see articles The Churches of Revelation 2 & 3and ThePergamos Church Era), people who were called the Cathari (from the Greek word, katharoi,meaning pure).

The Sabbath was taught in the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (sometimes then called Hayti) in1847 (Andrews, p.503). There are numerous Sabbath-keepers now in the Caribbean. There areChurch of God congregations in the nations of Haiti, Martinique, Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad& Tobago and other other islands as well.

There are Church of God Sabbath-keeping congregations in the United States, Canada, Mexico,CentralAmerica, SouthAmerica, Europe,Asia,Africa,Australia, New Zealand, and in the PacificIslands..

Was the Sabbath Kept Prior to Mount Sinai?

While everyone realizes that the Sabbath was kept by the children of Israel after Moses received theten commandments on Mount Sinai, some have questioned whether or not the Sabbath wasobserved prior to this time.

The Bible does demonstrate that the Sabbath was in effect prior to Mount Sinai. Instead of listingthe verses here, I would simply suggest reading the articleWere the Ten Commandments in EffectBefore Mount Sinai?as it mainly contains biblical verses supporting the concept that all of the tencommandments were in effect prior to Mount Sinai.

But what about outside the Bible?

Remember, it was Jesus who taught that "The Sabbath was made for man" (Mark 2:27). He did notstate that it was only made for a portion of humankind, like the Jews.

Does history indicate that others knewabout the seventh-day?

According to a book by Chinese researchers, the seventh day cycle was known to the Chinese from


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the earliest times:

The week is not an institution based on natural phenomena, such as the day when theearth turns on its axis, the month with its lunar relationship, nor the year marking theearth's excursion about the sun. The week dates exclusively to the original days ofcreation, a period of time observed by the Chinese in spite of their thousands of years ofisolation from the rest of the world and its customs.

An old Chinese saying, the returning seventh day...points up the fact that from veryearly times the Chinese have recognized the recurring seven day cycle which marks theweek...

Even today, the seventh day of the first lunar month of the Chinese year is known as"the birthday of mankind"...Just as it was not the day of man's creation which was to becelebrated, but rather the following day of rest, so the Chinese celebrate the seventh dayas a lingering memorial of God's creative workand the creation of mankind (Kang C.H.,Nelson E.R. The Discovery of Genesis: Howthe Truths of Genesis Were Found Hiddenin the Chinese Language. Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, 1979, p. 55).

Some have claimed that Ethiopia has more people who keep some version of the seventh-daySabbath than any other country on earth. Notice howlong they claim to have been observing it:

W. W. Oliphant, anAfrican church leader in the early years of the twentieth centurysays that the "Sabbath in Ethiopia [has] been kept from the days of Nimrod, about 2140B.C. (read Gen. 10:8, 10), that is 700 years before the birth of Moses. . . .Africans orEthiopians had been Sabbath observers from the days of Nimrod, the son of Cush"(Quoted in Bradford C.E. Sabbath Roots, TheAfrican Connection. L. Brown and Sons,Barre (VT), 1999, p. 26).

Noah's son Ham had a son named Cush. Hence, it is claimed that some of the descendants of Noahkept the Sabbath.

Nimrod founded Babel (Genesis 10:9-10). It should be noted that historians do believe that theancient Babylonians taught that God ceased from His works on the Sabbath--however, they (theancient Babylonians) twisted the reason and said that it was the seventh day that God ceased Hisdestruction of humans through ceasing a six-day flood causing rain. Perhaps it should also bementioned that since the Queen of Sheba in the Bible is claimed to have been from Ethiopia, ifSabbath-keeping originated in that country prior to the time of Christ, it is possible that she broughtback that knowledge after meeting with Solomon (1 Kings 10:2-13) or since she knewaboutSolomon prior to her visit with him (1 Kings 10:1), that others (perhaps from Israel or Ethiopia) had

brought the knowledge of the Sabbath to that part ofAfrica prior. Jesus mentioned that He wasgreater than Solomon and if she listened to Solomon, all should preferentially listen to Him(Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31)--and Jesus Himself kept the Sabbath.

In the second century, even the semi-Gnostic Clement ofAlexandria reported that ancient Greeksand Hebrews knew that the seventh-day was supposed to be sacred:

But the seventh day is recognised as sacred, not by the Hebrews only, but also by theGreeks; according to which the whole world ofall animals and plants revolve. Hesiodsays of it:


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" The first, and fourth, and seventh day were held sacred. "

And again:

"And on the seventh the sun's resplendent orb. "

And Homer:

"And on the seventh then came the sacred day. "

And:

" The seventh was sacred. "

And again:

" It was the seventh day, and all things were accomplished. "

And again:

"And on the seventh morn we leave the stream ofAcheron. "

Callimachus the poet also writes:

" It was the seventh morn, and they had all things done. "

And again:

"Among good days is the seventh day, and the seventh race. "

And:

" The seventh is among the prime, and the seventh is perfect. "

And:

" Nowall the seven were made in starry heaven,In circles shining as the years appear. " (Clement ofAlexandria. Stromata,Book V, Chapter 14).

Be that as it may, it appears that various cultures were familiar with the idea ofa seventh-daySabbath prior to the giving of the ten commandments on Mount Sinai.

This makes total sense as God set-apart the Sabbath the dayafter creating humans.And theChinese, those who became known as Babylonians, and all other humans lived fairly close togetheruntil the confounding of languages in Genesis 11:9. Thus, the idea that they would have knownabout the Sabbath, especially since Noah would have been expected to knowabout it, it certainlylogical from a biblical perspective.

Conclusion

The Bible, Jesus, Paul, and the early church leaders all knew to keep the seventh day Sabbath.Sundayis nowhere enjoined as the Christian Sabbath. Keeping the Sabbath was the


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practice/custom of the early faithful Christians, whether they were Jews or Greeks.

There have long been Sabbath-keepers who professed Christ in many lands--and most of thosewere NOT Jewish. Even the word for Saturday in over 100 languages (including Greek, thelanguage of the New Testament) use a version of the word Sabbath for the seventh day of the week.

The Christian Sabbath was introduced to, and observed, in many lands all over the world.

The Bible shows that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath Day. The New Testament clearly shows thatthe seventh day Sabbath is still to be kept by those who are the people of God. Do you follow theBible and the examples of the apostles?

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Sabbath and the Early Church