From Sabbath to Sunday: The Transformation of Sacred Time in Early Christianity

The question of abolishing the Sabbath often sparks lively discussions in Christian circles. It
is frequently asserted that Jesus Christ himself annulled the Sabbath as a day of rest;
however, an objective historical analysis suggests otherwise. Before drawing final
conclusions, it is essential to examine the facts, thoroughly study primary sources, and
analyze the process of religious tradition transformation.
In various Christian denominations, it is widely believed that their doctrine represents a direct
continuation of the teachings and way of life of the apostles. However, do contemporary
church practices truly reflect original Christianity as it was known to Jesus’ first followers?
Specifically, a crucial question remains: when and by whom was worship on Sunday
introduced as a replacement for the Sabbath rest prescribed by the Torah?
Historical facts allow us to trace the origins of this tradition. The first official recognition of
Sunday as a day off occurred on the seventh of March in the year three hundred twenty-one,
when Roman Emperor Constantine the First issued a corresponding edict. This ruler, who
had permitted the free practice of Christianity eight years prior, declared Sunday a day of
rest, replacing the traditional Sabbath observed by Christians. Before Constantine’s decree,
citizens of the Roman Empire celebrated the “Day of the Sun” on that day, indicating a
possible pagan influence on this transition.
Some researchers argue that the reason for this change was the desire to commemorate the
Resurrection of Christ. However, early New Testament texts contain no direct instructions
mandating worship specifically on Sunday. The New Testament does not refer to the first day
of the week as the “Day of Resurrection” but simply designates it as the “first day of the
week.” Moreover, nowhere does it state that the Lord’s Supper must be observed exclusively
on Sunday. In his epistles (First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter eleven, verses eighteen,
twenty, thirty-three, and thirty-four), the Apostle Paul does not link this sacrament to any
specific day of the week. Even early Christian authors such as Barnabas and Justin Martyr
viewed Sunday as a secondary occasion for worship rather than a fundamental theological
mandate.
After the destruction of Jerusalem in the year seventy of our era, Christians who fled the city
continued to observe the Sabbath. According to the historian Epiphanius, such Christians
were called “Nazarenes” because they adhered to traditional Jewish rituals, including the
Sabbath, circumcision, and other Torah commandments. This indicates that until the end of
the first century, the Jerusalem church continued to honor the Sabbath, and no official
transition to Sunday had taken place.
However, in the year one hundred thirty-five of our era, after the suppression of the Bar
Kokhba revolt, Emperor Hadrian destroyed Jerusalem and prohibited Jewish religious
practices, including Sabbath observance and circumcision. He repopulated the city with new
inhabitants, while Jews, including Jewish Christians, were forbidden to settle there. During
this time, a small community of Gentile Christians emerged in Jerusalem, distancing itself
from Jewish tradition and introducing Easter celebrations on Sundays.
This division between Jewish and Gentile Christians led to further liturgical changes. Those
who severed ties with Judaism adopted Sunday as the new day of worship. However, in the
early centuries of Christianity, this change was not universally accepted. On the contrary,
writings of the church fathers indicate that the Sabbath continued to be observed by many
Christians across different regions.
The Roman church played a pivotal role in the final transition to Sunday worship. In the
second century, Justin Martyr, who lived in Rome, strongly opposed Sabbath observance,
declaring it “obsolete” and “alien” to Christians. Around the same time, a Saturday fast was
introduced in Rome, contradicting the Jewish tradition of joyful Sabbath celebration. This
practice was intended not only to express sorrow over Christ’s suffering but also to
demonstrate “contempt for the Jews and their Sabbath,” as Pope Sylvester asserted.
Over time, the theological interpretation of the Sabbath evolved. In Western Christian
tradition, the Sabbath ceased to be regarded as a day of joy, becoming instead a day of
sorrow and fasting, while Sunday was proclaimed a day of jubilation. This contrast solidified
the dominance of Sunday within the Christian calendar.
During the fourth and fifth centuries, church councils repeatedly issued decrees against
Sabbath observance. For instance, the Council of Nicaea (year three hundred twenty-five)
ruled that Christians should “avoid any participation in Jewish customs and traditions.” The
Council of Antioch (year three hundred forty-five) prohibited celebrating Easter alongside the
Jews, threatening excommunication for those who continued to do so.
This anti-Jewish stance persisted in subsequent centuries. In the year five hundred
thirty-eight, the Council of Orléans forbade labor on Sundays but still permitted attending
worship on Saturdays. In the year five hundred eighty-five, the Council of Mâcon mandated
strict Sunday observance, and in the year five hundred eighty-nine, the Council of Narbonne
imposed a final ban on Sabbath observance.
These prohibitions indicate that Sabbath observance remained widespread among
Christians. If this tradition had already disappeared, there would have been no need for such
persistent prohibitions.
Historical facts clearly show that the Sabbath was not abolished by Christ or the apostles.
The early church, particularly in Jerusalem, continued to observe the Sabbath in accordance
with tradition. However, due to political and theological changes initiated in Rome and
Alexandria, Sunday gradually replaced the Sabbath in Christian practice.
Thus, the change in the day of worship did not result from theological revelation but was
influenced by political, social, and anti-Jewish trends in the Roman Empire. The question of
the Sabbath remains open for every believer, and its study requires careful analysis of
Scripture and history.
The Catholic Church, as its own sources attest, openly acknowledges that the establishment
of Sunday as a day of worship was its initiative. The Catholic Press (Sydney, year nineteen
hundred) states: “Sunday worship is a Catholic institution, and its observance can only be
justified on the basis of the authority of the Catholic Church… There is no single passage in
the Holy Scriptures that justifies transferring worship from the last to the first day of the
week.”
The American Catholic Quarterly Review (year eighteen ninety-three) makes an even more
categorical statement: “Protestantism, rejecting the authority of the Catholic Church, has no
proper grounds for its Sunday theory and, by logic, should observe the Sabbath as a day of
rest.”
Similar admissions are found in other Catholic sources, confirming that the change of the
day of worship resulted from church authority rather than biblical commandment.
Preservation of Jewish Practices on the Outskirts of the Empire Despite pressure from the
official church, several Christian groups continued to maintain traditional Jewish elements of
faith, particularly in regions beyond the direct influence of Roman Christianity. Among them
were the Waldensians, who lived in remote Alpine valleys of France and Italy, as well as
Celtic Christians in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Eastern churches in Persia, China, and
India, as well as African Christian communities in Ethiopia, continued to observe the
Sabbath while maintaining other elements of Jewish religious tradition.
For example, Ethiopian Christians claim that their church traces its origins to the Ethiopian
eunuch mentioned in the Book of Acts (Acts, chapter eight). For centuries, their communities
remained isolated from the Western Church, allowing them to preserve significant Jewish
influences. They continued to celebrate the Sabbath alongside Sunday, practiced
circumcision, and observed dietary laws distinguishing clean and unclean animals.
“For over seventeen centuries, the Abyssinian Church has observed the Sabbath as a holy
day in accordance with the Fourth Commandment,” note scholars of African Christianity.
One of the most striking examples of a Christian tradition that remained unaffected by
Constantine and his reforms was the Church of Persia. This community, referred to by its
opponents as Nestorian, traces its origins to one of the first Christian missions—the
preaching of the Apostle Thaddeus in the city of Abgar.
Historical sources indicate that the Nestorians adhered to several traditions rooted in early
Judaic Christianity. For instance, Coleman writes: “They observe the feasts of the Lord and
honor the Sabbath, on which they abstain from labor. This day they celebrate in a manner
entirely distinct from all others.” Furthermore, he notes that “the Nestorians offer incense on
the Sabbath and on festive days.” Similarly, the distinguished theologian Philip Schaff,
examining their religious practices, states: “The Nestorians do not eat pork, observe the
Sabbath, and reject such Catholic dogmas as auricular confession and purgatory.”
Equally remarkable is the history of the Church in India. According to tradition, the first
Christian communities on the southwest coast of India (Malabar) were founded by the
Apostle Thomas himself. When Portuguese explorers reached India in the seventeenth
century, they found more than a hundred Christian churches already established there.
However, they were surprised to discover that these communities did not adhere to the
doctrinal teachings of the Roman Church. This led to religious pressure, including from the
Inquisition, aimed at converting these believers to Catholicism.
In his book “A Report on the Inquisition in Goa” (year sixteen eighty-four), Delon describes
how the Christians of the Apostle Thomas were accused by inquisitors of having “Judaizing
tendencies.” The grounds for these accusations included Sabbath observance, abstention
from eating pork, hares, and fish without scales, the preparation of the Passover lamb, and
several other practices aligned with Mosaic law.
Philip Schaff confirms that “observance of the seventh day—the Sabbath—was widespread
and deeply rooted among believers of the Eastern Church, as well as among the Christians
of the Apostle Thomas in India.” The same applies to other Eastern Christian groups that
broke away from Rome after the Council of Chalcedon (year four hundred fifty-one),
including the Abyssinians, Jacobites, Maronites, and Armenians.
When all this evidence is gathered, it becomes clear that for nearly a millennium, early
Christians maintained their adherence to Messianic traditions despite continuous
persecution and religious pressure. In remote regions, such as Ethiopia, where the influence
of the Inquisition and Catholic dominance was weakened, these traditions have survived to
this day.
The Catholic Church openly declares its key role in changing the day of worship,
emphasizing that this transition is solely its own establishment. In the publication The
Catholic Press (Sydney, Australia, August of the year nineteen hundred), it states: “Sunday
worship is a Catholic institution, and its observance can only be justified based on the
authority of the Catholic Church… From the beginning to the end of the Holy Scriptures,
there is not a single passage that justifies transferring worship from the last to the first day of
the week.”
This perspective is confirmed by other Catholic sources. For instance, in the American
Catholic Quarterly Review (January of the year nineteen eighty-three), John Gilmary Shea
writes: “Protestantism, rejecting the authority of the Catholic Church, has no proper basis for
its Sunday theory and, logically, should observe the Sabbath as the day of rest.”
In the year nineteen hundred three, priest Brady, in his speech published in Elisabeth, N.J.
News, emphasizes: “The Bible in no way supports Protestants in observing Sunday. Sunday
worship is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe it follow the
command of the Catholic Church.”
This position is clearly expressed in later Catholic works. In the book Forbidden Sunday and
Feast-Day Occupations (page two) by Vincent J. Kelly, it is stated: “God granted His
(Catholic) Church the authority to designate any day or days it deems necessary for worship.
The Church chose Sunday, the first day of the week, and over time added other sacred
days.”
The Catholic Church also asserts its exclusive right to religious authority, as evidenced by
the encyclical of Pope Leo XIII (twentieth of June, year eighteen ninety-four): “We hold upon
this earth the place of Almighty God.” This statement is reinforced by a publication in The
Catholic National (July of the year eighteen ninety-five), which states: “The Pope is not only
the representative of Jesus Christ but also Jesus Christ himself, hidden under the veil of
flesh.”
Protestant communities that adopted Sunday worship, according to Catholic authors,
thereby recognize the authority of the Roman Church. In Our Sunday Visitor (fifth of
February, year nineteen fifty), it is noted: “Protestants… more willingly accept Sunday than
the Sabbath as a day of worship, after the Catholic Church implemented the change… yet
the Protestant mind seems unaware that, by observing Sunday, they acknowledge the
authority of the Church’s representative—the Pope.”
This idea is reflected in S. D. Moshna’s work Storia Della Domenica (year nineteen
sixty-nine): “Not the Creator of the Universe from the Book of Genesis, chapter two, verses
one to three, but the Catholic Church can claim the honor of providing humanity with a
seven-day cycle of rest.”
The historical decree The Most Holy Councils, cited by Philip Labbé and Gabriel Cossart,
confirms this assertion: “We affirm that the Holy Apostolic See (the Vatican) and the Roman
Pope hold supremacy over the entire world.”
Thus, the Catholic Church openly acknowledges that it, rather than the Holy Scriptures,
established the tradition of Sunday worship. In A Doctrinal Catechism (Peter Geiermann,
year nineteen fifty-seven), it is explicitly stated: “We observe Sunday instead of the Sabbath
because the Catholic Church transferred the sanctity of the Sabbath to Sunday.”
This idea is summarized in The Catholic Universe Bulletin (fourteenth of August, year
nineteen forty-two, page four): “The Church replaced Sabbath observance with Sunday
worship by the right of divine infallible authority granted to it by its Founder, Jesus Christ. A
Protestant who claims that the Bible is the sole guide of faith has no basis for Sunday
observance. In this matter, Seventh-day Adventists and Sabbath-keeping Pentecostals are
the only consistent Protestants.”
Historical Context of Judaic Practices in Early Christianity A fourth argument in favor of
preserving the Jewish heritage of the early church is the continuation of practices not
affected by the decrees of Emperor Constantine. Historical evidence indicates that for
centuries after Christ, a significant portion of Christian communities continued to observe the
Sabbath and other Old Testament commandments. This confirms that the shift in the day of
worship from Saturday to Sunday was not the result of apostolic teaching but rather of
political and church-state decisions made later.