Chapter 10: Historical texts of Christians meeting together.

Ellen White, prophet of the Seventh-day Adventist church clearly indicates that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday observance by Constantine: “Constantine, while still a heathen, issued a decree enjoining the general observance of Sunday as a public festival throughout the Roman empire. After his conversion, he remained a staunch advocate of Sunday, and his pagan edict was then enforced by him in the interests of his new faith. But the honor shown this day was not as yet sufficient to prevent Christians from regarding the true Sabbath as the holy of the Lord. Another step must be taken; the false Sabbath must be exalted to an equality with the true. A few years after the issue of Constantine's decree, the bishop of Rome conferred on the Sunday the title of Lord's day. Thus the people were gradually led to regard it as possessing a degree of sacredness. Still the original Sabbath was kept.” The Spirit of Prophecy Volume Four, page 55, paragraph 2 (http://www.egwestate.andrews.edu/cgi-bin/egw2html?C=48108304&K=101803071410201333 )

Now let us study together texts written by the church fathers, dating from 90 A.D. to A.D.

* XXX. “On the day of the resurrection of the Lord, that is, the Lord's day, assemble yourselves together, without fail, giving thanks to God, and praising Him for those mercies God has bestowed upon you through Christ, and has delivered you from ignorance, error, and bondage, that your sacrifice may be unspotted, and acceptable to God, who has said concerning His universal Church: "In every place shall incense and a pure sacrifice be offered unto me; for I am a great King, saith the Lord Almighty, and my name is wonderful among the heathen."

Didache (90 AD), Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, Book XXX HOW WE OUGHT TO ASSEMBLE TOGETHER, AND TO CELEBRATE THE FESTIVAL DAY OF OUR SAVIOUR'S RESURRECTION.

*”He appeared in life, and demonstrated Himself in His baptism; how He that appeared is both God and man; He suffered for us by Thy permission, and died, and rose again by Thy power: on which account we solemnly assemble to celebrate the feast of the resurrection on the Lord's day, and rejoice on account of Him who has conquered death, and has brought life and immortality to light.”

Didache (90 AD) Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, Book XXXVI, A PRAYER COMMEMORATIVE OF THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST, AND HIS VARIOUS PROVIDENCE TO THE SAINTS.

* XXXVI. "O Lord Almighty Thou hast created the world by Christ, and hast appointed the Sabbath in memory thereof, because that on that day Thou hast made us rest from our works, for the meditation upon Thy laws. Thou hast also appointed festivals for the rejoicing of our souls, that we might come into the remembrance of that wisdom which was created by Thee; how He submitted to be made of a woman on our account; He appeared in life, and demonstrated Himself m His baptism; how He that appeared is both God and man; He suffered for us by Thy permission, and died, and rose again by Thy power: on which account we solemnly assemble to celebrate the feast of the resurrection on the Lord's day, and rejoice on account of Him who has conquered death, and has brought life and immortality to light. For by Him Thou hast brought home the Gentiles to Thyself for a peculiar people, the true Israel beloved of God, and seeing God.

For Thou O Lord, broughtest our fathers out of the land of Egypt, and didst deliver them out of the iron furnace, from clay and brick-making, and didst redeem them out of the hands of Pharaoh, and of those under him, and didst lead them through the sea as through dry land, and didst bear their manners in the wilderness, and bestow on them all sorts of good things. Thou didst give them the law or decalogue, which was pronounced by Thy voice and written with Thy hand. Thou didst enjoin the observation of the Sabbath, not affording them an occasion of idleness, but an opportunity 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 rejoicing upon the seventh period.

On this account was there appointed one week, and seven weeks, and the seventh month, and the seventh year, and the revolution of these, the jubilee, which is the fiftieth year for remission, that men might have no occasion to pretend ignorance. On this account He permitted men every Sabbath to rest, that so no one might be willing to send one word out of his mouth in anger on the day of the Sabbath. For the Sabbath is the ceasing of the creation, the completion of the world, the inquiry after laws, and the grateful praise to God for the blessings He has bestowed upon men. All which the Lord's day excels, and shows the Mediator Himself, the Provider, the Lawgiver, the Cause of the resurrection, the First-born of the whole creation, God the Word, and man, who was born of Mary alone, without a man, who lived holily, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and died, and rose again from the dead. So that the Lord's day commands us to offer unto Thee, O Lord, thanksgiving for all. For this is the grace afforded by Thee, which on account of its greatness has obscured all other blessings.”

Didache (90 AD) Constitutions of the Holy Apsotles, Book XXXVI, A PRAYER COMMEMORATIVE OF THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST, AND HIS VARIOUS PROVIDENCE TO THE SAINTS.

*“1 On the Lord's Day of the Lord come together, break bread and hold Eucharist, after confessing your transgressions that your offering may be pure; 2 but let none who has a quarrel with his fellow join in your meeting until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice be not defiled. 3 For this is that which was spoken by the Lord, "In every place and time offer me a pure sacrifice, for I am a great king," saith the Lord, "and my name is wonderful among the heathen."

Didache (90 AD), The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Chapter 14, The Sunday worship.

* CHAPTER 9 9:1 “If, therefore, they who were under the older dispensation came into a new hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath, but living in observance of the Lord's day, on which day also our life rose through him and through his death, which certain deny, through which mystery we have received faith (and through this abide, that we may be found disciples of Jesus Christ, our only teacher), 9:2 how shall we be able to live apart from him, of whom even the prophets were disciples, and waited for him in the spirit as their teacher? And on this account, he whom they rightly expected, when he came, raised them from the dead.”

Ignatius (107 AD), The Epistle of St. Ignatius of Antioch to the Magnesians chapter 9:1 and 2.

* “In addition, it is written similarly about the sabbath in the ten sayings that he spoke to Moses face to face on Mount Sinai: "And you will keep Yahweh's sabbath holy, with clean hands and with a clean heart."

And in another place he says, "If my descendants observe the sabbath, then I will give my mercy to them."

He speaks of the sabbath also at the beginning of the creation: "And God made the deeds of his hands in six days, and he ended on the seventh day, and rested on it, and he made it holy."

Children, pay attention to what this means: "He finished in six days." It means this, that in six thousand years Yahweh would bring all things to an end, for "a day with him is like a thousand years," as he himself testified when he said, "Look, Yahweh's day will be like a thousand years." Therefore, children, in six days, that is in six thousand years, everything would be finished.

"And he rested on the seventh day." He means this: that when his son comes and abolishes the time of the Lawless One, and judges the ungodly, and changes the sun and the moon and the stars, then he will truly rest on that "seventh day."

Yes, and lastly he adds, "You will make it holy with clean hands and a clean heart." Therefore, if [we believe] anyone is able now to make the day holy that God made holy, though he is clean in heart, we are greatly deceived.

Look, therefore then he will truly rest and make it holy, when we ourselves will be able to do so, we who have been justified and receiving the promise, when lawlessness is no more and all things have been made new by the Lord, after we ourselves will have been made holy first.

Finally he says to them, "I am unable to endure your new moons and your sabbaths." You see what is his meaning: the sabbaths that you presently keep are not acceptable but the one that I have made, so that, when I have rested from all things, I will make the beginning of the eighth day which is the beginning of another age.

For this reason we keep the eighth day for rejoicing, in which also Jesus rose from the dead, and after being displayed, he ascended into the sky.”

* “I have come into the Ogdoad (eighth number), which is the Lord's day [The Lord's day considered as the eighth day of the week.].”

*”I am aware that your precepts in the so-called Gospel are so wonderful and so great, that I suspect no one can keep them; for I have carefully read them. But this is what we are most at a loss about: that you, professing to be pious, and supposing yourselves better than others, are not in any particular separated from them, and do not alter your mode of living from the nations, in that you observe no festivals or sabbaths, and do not have the rite of circumcision; and further, resting your hopes on a man that was crucified, you yet expect to obtain some good thing from God, while you do not obey His commandments.”

Dialogue of Justin Philosopher and Martyr, with Trypho, a Jew (150-165 AD), Chapter X.-Trypho Blames the Christians for This Alone-The Non-Observance of the Law.

* “And on the day called Sunday,(1) all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability,(2) and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given,(3) and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons.

But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.”

First Apology of Justin the Martyr (150 AD), CHAP. LXVII.--WEEKLY WORSHIP OF THE CHRISTIANS.

* “Now in the night whereon the Lord's day dawned, as the soldiers were keeping guard two by two in every watch, 36 there came a great sound in the heaven, and they saw the heavens opened and two men descend thence, shining with (lit. having) a great light, and drawing near unto the sepulchre. 37 And that stone which had been set on the door rolled away of itself and went back to the side, and the sepulchre was opened and both of the young men entered in.”

* “But when Paul was about to depart, there was great weeping throughout all the brotherhood, because they thought that they should see Paul no more, so that they even rent their clothes. For they had in mind also how that Paul had oftentimes contended with the doctors of the Jews and confuted them, saying: Christ, upon whom your fathers laid hands, abolished their sabbaths and fasts and holy-days and circumcision, and the doctrines of men and the rest of the traditions he did abolish.”

130AD BARNABAS: “Moreover God says to the Jews, 'Your new moons and Sabbaths 1 cannot endure.' You see how he says, 'The present Sabbaths are not acceptable to me, but the Sabbath which I have made in which, when I have rested [heaven: Heb 4] from all things, I will make the beginning of the eighth day which is the beginning of another world.' Wherefore we Christians keep the eighth day for joy, on which also Jesus arose from the dead and when he appeared ascended into heaven.” (15:8f, The Epistle of Barnabas, 100 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, pg. 147)

150AD JUSTIN: “...those who have persecuted and do persecute Christ, if they do not repent, shall not inherit anything on the holy mountain. But the Gentiles, who have believed on Him, and have repented of the sins which they have committed, they shall receive the inheritance along with the patriarchs and the prophets, and the just men who are descended from Jacob, even although they neither keep the Sabbath, nor are circumcised, nor observe the feasts. Assuredly they shall receive the holy inheritance of God.” (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, 150-165 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, page 207)

150AD JUSTIN: “But if we do not admit this, we shall be liable to fall into foolish opinion, as if it were not the same God who existed in the times of Enoch and all the rest, who neither were circumcised after the flesh, nor observed Sabbaths, nor any other rites, seeing that Moses enjoined such observances... For if there was no need of circumcision before Abraham, or of the observance of Sabbaths, of feasts and sacrifices, before Moses; no more need is there of them now, after that, according to the will of God, Jesus Christ the Son of God has been born without sin, of a virgin sprung from the stock of Abraham.” (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, 150-165 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, page 206)

150AD JUSTIN: “Moreover, all those righteous men already mentioned [after mentioning Adam. Abel, Enoch, Lot, Noah, Melchizedek, and Abraham], though they kept no Sabbaths, were pleasing to God; and after them Abraham with all his descendants until Moses... And you [fleshly Jews] were commanded to keep Sabbaths, that you might retain the memorial of God. For His word makes this announcement, saying, "That you may know that I am God who redeemed you." (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, 150-165 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, page 204)

150AD JUSTIN: “The commandment of circumcision, requiring them always to circumcise the children on the eighth day, was a type of the true circumcision by which we are circumcised from error and evil through the resurrection from the dead on the first day of the week of Jesus Christ our Lord. For the first day of the week, although it is the first of all days, yet according to the number of the days in a cycle is called the eighth (while still remaining the first).” (Dialogue 41:4)

200AD BARDESANES: “Wherever we are, we are all called after the one name of Christ Christians. On one day, the first of the week, we assemble ourselves together” (On Fate)

200AD TERTULLIAN: "We solemnize the day after Saturday in contradistinction to those who call this day their Sabbath" (Tertullian's Apology, Ch 16)

200AD TERTULLIAN: “It follows, accordingly, that, in so far as the abolition of carnal circumcision and of the old law is demonstrated as having been consummated at its specific times, so also the observance of the Sabbath is demonstrated to have been temporary.” (An Answer to the Jews 4:1, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 3, page 155)

200AD TERTULLIAN: “Others . . . suppose that the sun is the god of the Christians, because it is well-known that we regard Sunday as a day of joy.” (To the Nations 1: 133)

225 AD The Didascalia "The apostles further appointed: On the first day of the week let there be service, and the reading of the Holy Scriptures, and the oblation, because on the first day of the week our Lord rose from the place of the dead, and on the first day of the week he arose upon the world, and on the first day of the week he ascended up to heaven, and on the first day of the week he will appear at last with the angels of heaven" (Didascalia 2).

250AD CYPRIAN: “The eight day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, and the Lord's Day." (Epistle 58, Sec 4)

300AD EUSEBIUS: "They did not, therefore, regard circumcision, nor observe the Sabbath neither do we; … because such things as these do not belong to Christians" (Ecc. Hist., Book 1, Ch. 4)

300 AD Eusebius of Caesarea "The day of his [Christ's] light . . . was the day of his resurrection from the dead, which they say, as being the one and only truly holy day and the Lord's day, is better than any number of days as we ordinarily understand them, and better than the days set apart by the Mosaic Law for feasts, new moons, and Sabbaths, which the Apostle [Paul] teaches are the shadow of days and not days in reality" (Proof of the Gospel 4:16:186).

345 AD Athanasius "The Sabbath was the end of the first creation, the Lord's day was the beginning of the second, in which he renewed and restored the old in the same way as he prescribed that they should formerly observe the Sabbath as a memorial of the end of the first things, so we honor the Lord's day as being the memorial of the new creation" (On Sabbath and Circumcision 3).

I searched everywhere trying to find at least a few texts that would indicate that some early Christians were keeping the seventh-day Sabbath. I found none! Historical texts from Christians who wrote 1900 years ago indicates that the early Christians were coming together on the 8^th day, the Lord’s Day (this term was used way before Constantine’s time), to commemorate Jesus resurrection. Nowhere is there mention that the Sabbath day rest was changed into Sunday day rest. However the Bible is clear that the Sabbath found its reality in Jesus Christ, who is our provider of true rest! Who do you want to believe? God’s Word and the many historical proofs backing up the Bible or doctrines from men? The choice is yours my friend.