Sabbath to Sunday

6 SABBATH AND SUNDAY Christians continued to observe the Sabbath, or some aspects of it, for several centuries despite opposition from the church authorities. A struggle ensued. As Christianity tended to see itself as the continuation or fulfilment of Judaism, it had to solve the problem of its obligations towards Judaism and its acceptance of the Hebrew Bible. Thus, the question of the Sabbath presented another dilemma, for as such, it was not considered to have been abolished by Christ’s advent. However, Jesus’ Sabbath controversies were understood as having abolished the legal aspects of the Sabbath. The Sabbath only became forbidden for Christians when Sunday became the substitute for the Jewish Sabbath. The process was gradual and took several centuries, being aided by imperial decrees. In the wake of Constantine’s decree that made Sunday a day of rest, the focus of the Christian week moved to a weekly celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, with some themes belonging to the Sabbath being subsumed in the themes attached to the resurrection of Jesus. The book of Acts, in speaking of the primitive Jerusalem Church in the middle of the first century, records that Christians continued to worship in the temple: And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts. (Acts 2:46)1 At the same time, they met together in groups for meals after prayer in the temple which was a continuation of the celebration. Though the earliest patristic texts support the view that the Lord’s Day was Sunday, this does not give clear indications of what occurred in the developing Christian communities in the first century, 2 but it is likely that both Sabbath and Sunday were celebrated. Samuele Bacchiocchi argues that the three New Testament passages usually cited as evidence for Sunday observance in apostolic times (1 Cor 16:1–2; Acts 20:7–11 and Rev 1:10) do not in fact provide any hint that a new cult was celebrated in honour of the risen Christ, or that it was celebrated on the first day of the week.3 On the other hand, the same texts have been used as proof that Sunday was celebrated in apostolic times.4 Thus, the evidence is inconclusive, since both cases can be ‘proved’ from the texts.5 Paul does not discuss whether the Sabbath commandment is still binding for Christians, but says that the only law to be obeyed is that of love. ‘For he who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law’ (Rom 13:9).6 Paul, in fact, continued to worship on the Sabbath with Jews and Greeks.7 What of Christians of non-Jewish origin in apostolic times? In the absence of direct evidence is it to be inferred that Diaspora Christians also continued to worship in synagogues with Jews, meeting on occasions to celebrate the Lord’s Supper? In attempting to answer this question, it has been noted that this See also Acts 3:1; 5:12, 20. The question of whether the Eucharist and the agape were separate is not the concern of this chapter. 2 Didache 14; Ignatius Magnesians 9; Barn. 15; Gospel of Peter 9; Justin 1 Apol. 67. 3 Samuele Bacchiocchi, From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity (Rome: The Pontifical Gregorian University Press, 1977), 90ff. See, for example, G. G. Willis, A History of Early Roman Liturgy to the Death of Pope Gregory the Great (London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1994), 78ff. See also Roger T. Beckwith and Wilfrid Stott, This is the Day: The Biblical Doctrine of the Christian Sunday in Its Jewish and Early Church Setting (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1978). See Bacchiocchi, From Sabbath to Sunday, 74ff. 5 Bacchiocchi, From Sabbath to Sunday, 76. 6 Rom 13:8–10; Gal 5:14. 7 Acts 18:4, 19; 17:1, 10, 17. 1 process was uneven, since there were different developments in both the east and the west. Though the fall of Jerusalem would have been decisive in weakening the influence of the Jerusalem Church with its strict adherence to the ritual precepts of Judaism, the abandonment of Sabbath observance among Christians was evidently a gradual occurrence, the time of the break with the Sabbath observance varying in different localities in the west and east. Robert Kraft attests, for example, on the basis of his investigations, that in the fourth century, and as late as the fifth, both Hellenistic Egypt and the rest of the Hellenistic Christian East practised the observance of both the Sabbath and Sunday. However, Sunday observance was being advocated instead of Sabbath rest as early as the beginning of the second century.8 Jesus and the Sabbath in the Synoptics The controversies portrayed by the synoptics concerning Christ and the Sabbath occurred in the context of his worship and teaching that took place in both the synagogue and the temple. In four clear contexts, the Gospels show Christ teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath.9 In Luke 4:16– 27, he is shown taking an active part in the normal Sabbath service by reading the prophetic text and expounding it. It is said that his custom was to enter the synagogue on the Sabbath day. 10 Flusser has pointed out that in the synoptic Gospels, Jesus’ actions conform with the current practice of Sabbath, with the exception of the plucking of heads of grain on the Sabbath, itself open to interpretation.11 Again, the washing of hands before meals was not part of the oral or written tradition, but belonged to custom,12 and cures performed on the Sabbath were used as part of a pedagogic message. 13 In addition, Flusser points out that Jesus’ creative innovation was to apply a common Jewish principle to the attitude towards healing on the Sabbath and towards the day in general.14 Therefore but a single man was created in the world, to teach that if any man has caused a single soul to perish from Israel Scripture imputes it to him as though he had caused a whole world to perish; and if any man saves alive a single soul from Israel Scripture imputes it to him as though he had saved alive a whole world. (m. Sanh. 4:5)15 It has been suggested that the cessation of the observance of the halakhah of Sabbath, and the transfer of the Sabbath concept to Sunday are two separate issues, and pointed out that the Jewish idea concerning a messianic cessation of observance when all of life will be a ‘complete Sabbath’ are sufficiently clear to understand Paul’s attitude towards the Sabbath, observance becoming nonobligatory with the death of Jesus.16 The earliest literature of the Apostolic Fathers does not cite the resurrection as being the primary reason for the celebration for the Lord’s Supper or for the observance of Sunday.17 In the Epistle of Barnabas, the primary meaning for the eighth day is given as being a day of holiness and rest, and the beginning of eternity.18 The idea of the resurrection is added, but is not Robert A. Kraft, ‘Some Notes on Sabbath Observance in Early Christianity’, AUSS 3 (1965): 32. 9 Mark 1:21ff, 6:2; Luke 6:6, 13:10. 10 Geza Vermes, Jesus the Jew: A Historian’s Reading of the Gospels (London: Fontana/Collins, 1976), 35. 11 David Flusser and Stephen Notley, Jesus, 2nd rev. ed. (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1997), 58ff. 12 t. Ber. 5:13. 13 Luke 6:6–11; Matt 12: 9–14; Matt 9:1–8. 14 See Flusser and Notley, Jesus, 63. 15 Herbert Danby, ed., The Mishnah. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), 388. First published 1933. Phillip Sigal, The Emergence of Contemporary Judaism (Pittsburgh, PA: Pickwick Papers, 1980), 1: 448. See also Rom 8:3; 1 Cor 5:7; Eph 5:2; Rom 12:1; 15:16ff; Phil 2:17, 4:18; 2 Tim 4:6. 17 See Bacchiocchi, From Sabbath to Sunday, 78. 18 Athanasius in the fourth century called seven a symbol of the Old Testament and eight a 8 2 central. The celebration of the Sabbath is discouraged, but, as yet, the resurrection is not the primary reason for celebrating Sunday. However, Sunday—or the eighth day—has taken over the Sabbath’s holiness and rest, as well as the eschatological aspects of the eternal Sabbath.19 The epistle’s opposition to Judaism appears to be not so much anti-Judaism as opposition to the Jewish cultus and temple. Ignatius of Antioch Ignatius, also, takes a similar stance to Barnabas, but less extreme.20 It appears that Sabbath and Sunday were both celebrated in the environs of Ignatius of Antioch in the late first century or early second century.21 In this same epistle Ignatius adds polemical comments, clearly indicating that the Sabbath was being celebrated by some Christians. He claims that Christianity has primacy over Judaism: It is absurd to talk of Jesus Christ and practise Judaism. For Christianity did not base its faith on Judaism, but Judaism on Christianity, in which ‘every language’ believing in God was ‘brought together’. (Isa 66:18)22 The Didache The Didache, the most ancient source of church legislation, reveals another situation.23 Now there appear to be signs of the regular celebration of the Lord’s Supper, and that a special day has been set aside for its celebration, reconciliation with one’s neighbour being a precondition of right worship. As in other early Christian texts, the Didache prayers show clear signs of their origin in Jewish prayers, which have been adapted to Christian use.24 In chapter 14 of the Didache there is a description that appears to be that of a Sunday Eucharist, though it has been argued that Easter is meant. The passage again is ambiguous. Again, it is not absolutely sure that the word ‘sacrifice’ indicates the Eucharist, for both prayers and praise were called ‘sacrifices’ in this period.25 This order, where the cup comes first is only to be found in the earliest text of Luke 22:17ff. and is indicated in 1 Cor 10:16.26 And when you gather together each Lord’s Day, break bread and give thanks. But first confess your transgressions so that your ‘sacrifice’ may be pure. 2. And let no one who has a quarrel with his friend join you until they are reconciled, lest your ‘sacrifice’ be profaned [see Matt 5:23]. 3. For this is what the Lord was referring to: In every place symbol of the New Testament. See Athanasius De Sabbatis et circumcisione 1 & 4. Augustine has the same thought. See City of God 16.26. A halakhic text from Qumran, 4QMMT 75–85 (Frag 1 col. IV) reads: ‘Until the sun sets on the eighth day’. See Florentino Garcia Martinez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English, trans. Wilfred G. E. Watson, 2nd ed. (Leiden: Brill, 199682. See also Num 30:35. ‘On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly’. 20 See Grant’s remarks in The Apostolic Fathers, 1:97. 21 According to Eusebius, Ignatius was the second bishop of Antioch in Syria (Hist. eccl. 3.22) and in his Chronicum Eusebius dates his martyrdom in Rome to the tenth year of Trajan (108 CE). His source is Irenaeus (98–117 CE). See Irenaeus Ad. Haer. 5.28.3. See also Eusebius Hist. eccl. 3.36. 22 Magnesians 10.3. 23 Grant suggests it may have been compiled in Syria in the latter half of the first century. See Grant, Augustus to Constantine, 171. The Didache became incorporated in the Didascalia Apostolorum (third century), which was then subsumed in the Apostolic Constitutions (fourth century). The so-called Egyptian Church Order or Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus (third century) was also subsumed in the Apostolical Constitutions. See Robert Kraft, ‘Some Notes on Sabbath Observance in Early Christianity’, 20ff. 24 See Didache 9:1–10. 25 See Barn. 2:10; Justin Dial. 117:2b; 1 Clem. 40–41. See Kraft, Barnabas and the Didache, 173ff. 26 See The Apostolic Fathers, 1:322, n. 1. 3 and at all times offer a pure sacrifice to me (Mal 1:11), for I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is marvellous among the nations. (Mal 1:14b) (Didache 14: 1–3)27 The first hesitant references to resurrection, which is presented as a secondary reason for the celebration of the Lord’s Day in these sources, are not mentioned in the Didache.28 Justin Martyr Justin’s First Apology is the most ancient detailed description of the Christian Liturgy of the Word, the first part of the Mass, and also shows clear marks of its evolution from worship in the synagogue. It is clear, now, that Sunday is the first day of the week, and it is linked to the resurrection and the creation of the world. He uses here, the terms ‘Saturn’ and ‘Day of the Sun’. This appears to be a description of the ordinary Sunday service. On the day which is called Sunday we have a common assembly of all who live in the cities or in the outlying districts, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the Prophets are read, as long as there is time. Then, when the reader has finished, the president of the assembly verbally admonishes and invites all to imitate such examples of virtue. Then, we all stand up together and offer up our prayers, and, as we said before, after we finish our prayers, bread and wine and water are presented. He who presides likewise offers up prayers and thanksgiving, to the best of his ability, and the people express their approval by saying ‘Amen’. The Eucharistic elements are distributed and consumed by those present, and to those who are absent they are sent through the deacons… Sunday, indeed, is the day on which we all hold our common assembly because it is the first day on which God, transforming the darkness and (prime) matter, created the world; and our Saviour Jesus Christ arose from the dead on the same day. For they crucified him on the day before that of Saturn, and on the day after, which is Sunday, he appeared to his apostles and disciples, and taught the things which we have passed on to you also for consideration. (First Apol. 67)29 The elements of the liturgy that seem to be modelled on synagogue worship are first, the readings and a homily, and second, prayer recited in common, while standing, ending with the kiss of peace. The kiss of peace may not have had an exact parallel in synagogue worship, though there is the blessing for peace. The eucharistic liturgy of bread and wine centres about Christ. Irenaeus, however, stresses that the Eucharist is an offering to God of the first fruits of creation, an example of the christianising of a Sabbath-day element and attributing it to Sunday.30 It would seem very likely that the prayers in early Christianity resembled the spontaneous blessings that became formalised in the Amidah, for this pattern of prayer is evident in the early literature.. See Kraft, Barnabas and the Didache, 173. Beckwith points out that κυριακος (dominical, the Lord’s) is found in the feminine form of the adjective. The word ‘day’ has been omitted, a practice common in the early church. The duplication κυριακη and κυριου is rather unusual. Beckwith postulates that the Lord’s Day was originally an Aramaic term, which was translated into this Greek form to show that the church’s ‘Day of the Lord’, meant Sunday. See J. T. Beckwith, Calendar and Chronology: Jewish and Christian. Biblical, Intertestamental and Patristic Studies (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 38. See Barn. 15:9; Justin Dial. 24.1, 41:4; The Didascalia Apostolorum 21 calls it the first day of the week. 29 See Writings of Saint Justin Martyr, in The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation, ed. Ludwig Schoff and Roy Joseph Deferrari (New York: Christian Heritage, 1948–), 6: 106–107. See Irenaeus AH 4.18.1; see also AH 4.18.4. See Cheslyn Jones, Geoffrey Wainwright, and Edward Yanold, eds., The Study of Liturgy (London, SPCK, 1979), 171–172. 27 4 Graeco-Roman Sources in the Second Century The information from Graeco-Roman sources may reflect popular knowledge, but tells little about Christian worship in itself. Pliny the younger, a legate of Trajan from 111 to113 CE, in Bithynia and Pontus on the southern shore of the Black Sea, mentions among the practices of Christians their custom of meeting regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses to ‘Christ as to a god’(Christo quasi deo). Their custom was to meet on a fixed day before dawn, to say an antiphonal hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves with an oath—not in order to commit any crime but to refrain from theft, robbery, adultery, and disregarding of oaths and the refusal to repay a deposit upon request. After this they used to depart and then meet again for a meal, which was ordinary and innocent (innoxium). (Ep.10.96.7).31 It follows that the practice of Sunday had become a feature of the church’s life by about the mid second century. However, as yet, Christians do not appear to have broken with the keeping of the Sabbath. Although some have argued otherwise, it is reasonable to suggest that in apostolic times Sunday had not yet replaced the Sabbath nor was it associated with the resurrection or any specific event. Some have argued that since the New Testament appears to infer that the resurrection appearances took place on the first day of the week, this was the day of worship. Again, though Christians at Troas met on the first day to ‘break bread’ (Acts 20:7) this may not have been the usual practice. In the Didache, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the letters of Ignatius, the importance of Sunday is emphasised, and this is made explicit in Justin. In the late second century, while Origen had compared the Lord’s Day with the Jewish Sabbath, a number of such texts prepared the ground for Sunday to assume the idea of rest and cessation from work that belong to the Sabbath In many provinces of the early church, Saturday was observed as the Feast of the Creation. 32 Graeco-Roman Sources in the Third Century By the third century a change was noticeable. In addition to disapproval of Christians celebrating the Sabbath, there is an attempt to devalue the Sabbath. The Didascalia forbids Sabbath observance; it describes the Sabbath as an imitation of mourning.33 But let us observe and see, brethren, that most men in their mourning imitate the Sabbath; and they likewise who keep Sabbath imitate mourning. For he that mourns kindles no light: neither do the people on the Sabbath, because of the commandment of Moses; for so it was commanded by him. He that mourns takes no bath: nor yet the People on the Sabbath. He that mourns does not prepare a table: neither do the People on the Sabbath, but prepare and lay for themselves the evening before; because they had a presentiment of mourning, seeing that they were to lay hands on Jesus. He that mourns does no work, and does not speak, but sits in sorrow; so too the People on the Sabbath. (Didascalia 20)34 Graeco-Roman Sources in the Fourth Century 31 See Adrian Nicholas Sherwin-White, The Letters of Pliny (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966), 702–710. See also Grant, Augustus to Constantine, 101. Thus, for example, The Constitutions of Hippolytus 16.1 forbid owners to ask their slaves to work on Saturday and Sunday. See also Apostolical Constitutions 8.33. 33 See Hugh Connolly, ed., Didascalia Apostolorum: The Syriac Version translated and accompanied by the Verona Latin Fragments (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), xxvi ff. The third century document, originally in Greek, survived in Syriac translation. Considerable portions of the Greek lie embedded in the fourth century Apostolical Constitutions. 34 See Connolly, ed., Didascalia Apostolorum, 191–192. 5 As late as the fourth and fifth centuries some Christians fasted on Saturday in Rome35 and in Spain.36 This practice also was condemned in due course.37 The Apostolic Canons, which are to be found in the latter part of the Apostolical Constitutions, broach this subject.38 If any one of the clergy be found to fast on the Lord’s Day, or on the Sabbath, excepting one only (during Easter) let him be deprived; but if he be one of the laity, let him be suspended. (Apostolic Canon 64)39 The Apostolical Constitutions also say to celebrate both the Sabbath and Sunday as the first recalls the creation and the second, the resurrection. But keep the Sabbath, and the Lord’s day festival; because the former is the memorial of the creation, and the latter of the resurrection. But there is one only Sabbath to be observed by you in the whole year, which is that of our Lord’s burial, on which people ought to keep a fast, but not a festival. For inasmuch as the Creator was then under the earth, the sorrow for Him is more forcible than the joy for the creation; for the Creator is more honourable by nature and dignity than His own creatures. (Apostolical Constitutions 7.23)40 However, during the period of the fast before Easter, there was also the cessation of fasting on the Sabbath and Sunday in some areas of the church.41 There are traces of fasting on the Sabbath in the African church, first attested by Tertullian, who relates that Sabbath has been added to the fast days of Wednesday and Friday, though there should be no fast on the Sabbath except before Easter.42 Thus, there were differences in various areas of the church. The Sabbath was regarded more favourably in places in the east such as Alexandria and Cyprus than in the west, as in Rome. However, the early church was riddled with various heresies such as docetism, arianism, and gnosticism, and in some areas syncretistic forms of Christianity existed, as in Antioch, as attested by John Chrysostom in his sermons on the autumn feasts and earlier by Ignatius of Antioch. This was not an isolated case. Again, the variations may be due to lack of a strong centralising authority in Rome, the primacy of Rome being first attested in the introduction of the first Epistle of Ignatius. When the ecumenical councils began in the fourth century, areas of the eastern church began to split off from the Roman Church, as disagreements about the nature of Christ and the Trinity became irreconcilable. Politics, differences in culture, and rivalry were also elements that contributed to this Jerome Ep. 71.6 (PL 22:672) speaks of the observance in both Rome and Spain in the fourth century; in the fifth century Innocent I, Ep. 25.c.4 (PL 20:555), Augustine, Ep. 54.2ff (PL 33:200ff); and Socrates Hist. cccl. 5.22 (Rome). Karle Joseph von Hefele, A History of the Councils of the Church from the Original Documents (New York: AMS Press,1972), 1:484. 37 This mention of fasting on the Sabbath was cited by Greek and Roman authors who were under the impression that Jews fasted on the Sabbath. See Petronius, Fragmenta no. 37, Menahem Stern, Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism (Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1976), 1:444. In addition, the idea is hinted at in the second-century gnostic Gospel of Thomas. See Gos. Thom. 86:17–20. Jews, following an ancient custom, fast before the morning service of Sabbath, and the early comments that Jews fasted on the Sabbath may have arisen from a misunderstanding of this practice. These form the last chapter of the Apostolical Constitutions (8.47), which are generally thought to date from about the year 375 CE. The author was possibly an Arian. The first six books are based on the Didascalia, the seventh being a version of the Didache, and the main known source of the eighth chapter is the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus. See Connolly, Didascalia Apostolorum, xx. 39 See Ante-Nicene Fathers, 7:504. 40 Ibid., 7:469. 41 See Athanasius, Festal letter 6.13; Etheria, 27. 42 See Tertullian, De Ieiunio 14:2–3; 15:2. 6 process of separation between different strands of Christianity, and the different rate of separation from the practice of the Sabbath. The text also shows that in Egypt the Eucharist was celebrated on both the Sabbath and Sunday. Basil the Great from Antioch recommends daily communion, but says that he himself partakes of the Eucharist four times a week on Sunday, Wednesday, Friday, and the Sabbath, and also on the other days if there is a saint’s memorial.43 Another witness, Epiphanius of Salamis, gives testimony to the special place of the Sabbath alongside of Sunday as a day of Christian gathering.44 The practice of Sabbath alongside Sunday is also widely attested by others, including Basil of Cappodicia,45 John Chrysostom of Antioch,46 and Augustine of Hippo47 as well as by Coptic Christianity.48 The picture, however, is a mixed one showing both reverence and disapproval. Let the slaves work five days; but on the Sabbath-day and the Lord’s day let them have leisure to go to church for instruction in piety. We have said that the Sabbath is on account of the creation, and the Lord’s day of the resurrection. (Apostolical Constitutions 8.33.2) 49 The text elaborates that on all the major Christian feasts the slaves were permitted to rest, the rest being because of an event connected with Christ. Council of Laodicea The Synod of Laodicea in Phrygia50 mentions the Sabbath and Sunday in no less than four canons,51 thus emphasising its importance. Laodicea was the site of a strong Jewish community, a Christian community seemingly being established there in the first century, as can be gleaned from the Epistle to Colossians.52 Paul, on his first missionary voyage, visited and preached and recruited in the synagogues of the area of Phrygia.53 Canon 29 states: Christians shall not judaise and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honour, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If however, they are found judaising, they shall be shut out from Christ. (Canon 29)54 The text does not specify what is meant by ‘judaising’, but this probably includes attending the synagogue, and doing no work on the Sabbath or keeping it in a Jewish manner.55 The second canon which mentions the Sabbath specifically stipulates: ‘On 43 Letter 93. PG 24:832A. 45 De Ieiunio, 1.7.10; 11.4.7. 46 Hom.13.2 in Gen. The practice is condemned. See also Hom.10.7 in Gen., PG 53:89, where Chrysostom uses the Sabbath commandment to justify rest from work on Sunday, 171. 47 Ad Casulanum 2.4 48 See Kraft, ‘Some Notes’, 23–28. 49 Ante-Nicene Fathers, 7:495. 50 Ca. 360 CE. 51 Canons 16, 29, 49, and 51. See Col 4:13–16, which mentions Epaphras. In verse 15 Paul sends greetings to the brothers in Laodicea, and verse 16 mentions the Church of the Laodiceans. 53 See Acts 2:10, 13:1–14:28. 54 Hefele, 2:316. Canon 29 of Laodicea (ca. 360). 55 See Hefele, 2:360. 44 7 Saturday, the Gospels and other portions of the Scripture shall be read aloud’ (Canon 16).56 The text shows that the Christian liturgy maintained an important element in Jewish liturgy, the reading of scripture. Two other canons mention Sabbath and Sunday. ‘One must not offer bread (celebrate the Eucharist) except on the Sabbath and Sunday only’ (Canon 49)57, and: ‘One must not observe the anniversaries of the martyrs during Lent, but make a commemoration of the holy martyrs on Sabbaths and Sunday (Canon 51).58 Canons 16, 49, and 51 show clearly that in the region of Laodicea in the fourth century, despite the interdiction of Canon 29 against Sabbath rest, the Sabbath enjoyed an important status in worship beside Sunday. Thus, though Sabbath was important in some areas of Christianity in the fourth century as a day of honour, its meaning had been changed and christianised.59 The idea of rest was being gradually transferred to Sunday, as was the idea of the commemoration of creation. Sunday was more clearly seen as the day of the resurrection than in the second century. The process continued well into the fifth century. Imperial Legislation The imperial decrees aided the process of transferring Christian allegiance and Sabbath symbolism more fully to Sunday, by making it officially the day of rest. The process began with Constantine who decreed Sunday as the official day of rest for the citizens of the Roman Empire. The law dates from the March 3, 321 CE and is addressed to A. Helpidius, the prefect of the city of Rome. The Emperor Constantine to A. Helpidius. All judges, townspeople and all occupations (artium officia cunctarum) should rest on the most honourable day of the sun. Farmers indeed should be free and unhindered in their cultivation of the fields, since it frequently occurs that there is no more suitable day for entrusting seeds of corn to the furrows and slips of vine to the holes prepared for them, lest haply the favourable moment sent by divine providence be lost. (Codex Justinianus 3.12.9 [de feriis]3)60 However, the motive for the law is not fully known. Was it to win the support of the Christian minority, or did it simply legalise the sun worship of the cult of Mithras, which was by now widespread? Rordorf suggests that Constantine’s subsequent Sunday legislation indicates that he wished to establish Sunday as a day set apart for religious purposes. The day does not appear to have had an expressly Christian character. This is supported by the fact that no church council makes allusion to Constantine having decreed that Sunday be specifically a Christian day, nor does there appear to be any such reference in the Latin patristic sources of the period. At the same time, a text from Eusebius reports that Constantine also paid honour to the Sabbath for Christians.61 His motives appear to have been mixed, the text in Eusebius indicating that as well as tolerating Christian churchgoing on Sunday, Constantine also composed a kind of liturgical prayer for soldiers that appears similar to one recited by sun worshippers.62 Constantine had introduced rest from work on Sunday. As work was now forbidden on Sundays, it is to be concluded that the church took advantage of this situation to transfer the Jewish idea of Sabbath rest to Sunday. However, the process whereby Sunday took on some of the characteristics of the Sabbath was gradual. Through the new Covenant the word (of God) has, therefore, transferred the Sabbath 56 See Hefele, 2:360. After Rordorf, Sabbat et dimanche, 49. 58 Ibid. 59 See b.Taan. 27b. ‘On the eve of Sabbath they did not fast, out of respect to the Sabbath; still less (did they fast) on the Sabbath itself. Why did they not fast on the day after the Sabbath?’ R. Johanan says, ‘Because of the Nazarenes’. See Travers R. Herford, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, reprint. (Clifton, NJ: Reference Book Publishers, 1966), 171. See also b. Abod. Zar. 6a. 57 8 celebration to the light’s rising and has given us a type of the true rest in the saving day of the Lord, the first day of light. (Eusebius Commentary on Psalm 92).63 John Chrysostom also dictated that Sunday be a day of rest, citing the hallowing of the seventh day as a reason.64 Conclusion A sixth-century text expresses what may have been a fairly universal church attitude to Sunday, whose religious value it saw as its responsibility to maintain. Many wait for Sunday, but not all with the same purpose. Some await it with awe, and in order that they may send their prayer up to God and be fortified with the precious body and blood, but the idle and indifferent in order that they may have time for wickedness when they are free from work. The facts bear me out that I am not lying.65 Thus, the movement of transferring Sabbath symbolism to Sunday was not complete even by the sixth century.66 The impetus to transferring Sabbath symbolism to Sunday was a combination of imperial legislation and the way that the church authority took advantage of the situation to give the day of rest a Christian meaning. Prejudices against the Sabbath voiced by Greek and Roman writers, such as it being a day of idleness and fasting (a misunderstanding of Jewish praxis), found their way into church writings. The imperial support of Sunday as the weekly day of rest appeared largely to have been a matter of convenience more than of religious conviction. The secular and religious authorities had spoken, the secular decree lending force to the church stance. 60 Rordorf, Sunday, 162. See also C. Th. 8.8.3. and C. Th. 2.8.25. See Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 4. 18–20. 62 Ibid. 63 Rordorf, Sunday, 170ff. 64 See Hom 10.7. in Gen, PG 53:89. 65 See PG 86:1 as translated in Rordorf, Sunday, 169. 66 For recent discussion on the early history of Sunday, see S. R. Llewelyn, ‘The Use of Sunday for Meetings of Believers in the New Testament’, Novum Testamentum 43, no. 3 (2001): 205–223 and N. F. Young, ‘The Use of Sunday for Meetings of Believers in the New Testament: A Response’, Novum Testamentum 45, no 2 (2003):111–122. 61 9