Sunday: The Origin of its Observance in the Christian Church

CONSTANTINE, THE CHURCH AND SUNDAY

Much has been made of the fact that when Constantine issued his famous Sunday edict, he did it out of regard to the wishes of the church, even though he himself was a pagan. This cannot be denied, but we need only remind the reader that the church for which he legislated was already quite thoroughly paganized. Neo-Platonism had fully prepared the way for Constantine. Recall Mosheim’s statement that the bishops had purposely multiplied rites for the purpose of making the pagans more friendly to them, adopting those of the heathen, and remodeling those that it originally had, so that by the close of the third century most of the Christian institutions had the aspect of pagan mysteries. The bishops, moreover, as we have learned, acquiesced in Constantine’s regulating the affairs of the church. Submission to his will was the price that they paid for his protection; so that even if the church had not been paganized to the extent of adopting all the heathen festival days, they would not have hesitated at receiving one more. But the Sunday institution had gone hand in hand with sun-worship in the church. The heathen calendar regulated the amusements of the people, and Sunday, like other heathen festival days, was a day of pleasure. SOOCC 101.1

That Sunday was not regarded as a sacred day in the church is, perhaps unintentionally, witnessed by Mosheim in these words:— SOOCC 101.2

“The first day of the week, on which Christians were accustomed to meet for the worship of God, Constantine required, by a special law, to be observed more sacredly than before.”—Century 4, part 2, chapter 4;section 5. SOOCC 102.1

The peculiar law reads thus:— SOOCC 102.2

“Let all the judges and town-people, and all artisans, rest on the venerable day of the sun. But let those who are situated in the country freely and at full liberty attend to the cultivation of their fields: because it often happens that no other day is so fit for sowing corn or planting vines; lest, by neglecting the proper occasion, they should lose the benefits granted by divine bounty.” SOOCC 102.3

It is of this edict that “Chambers’ Encyclopedia” (article Sunday) says:— SOOCC 102.4

“Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the Sabbatical observance of that day is known to have been ordained, is the edict of Constantine, 321 A. D.” SOOCC 102.5

Schaff says that “Constantine is the founder, in part, at least, of the civil observance of Sunday, by which, alone, the religious observance of it in the church could be made universal and could be properly secured” (“Church History,” volume 2, section 75), thus showing that the day was not held sacred previous to that time. As it was adopted from heathenism, it was observed after the manner of the heathen, as a holiday. The “Continental Sunday” is therefore the original Sunday. Those who devote the day to picnics, to sports, racing, wrestling, etc., are observing Sunday according to the original custom. SOOCC 102.6

A few more extracts, out of an abundance of material, will suffice to show that the union of paganism and Christianity—a union in which the former gave up its name and the latter its character—was consummated over the bond of Sunday observance. The “Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia” says:— SOOCC 103.1

“Sunday (dies solis, of the Roman calendar, ‘day of the sun,’ because dedicated to the sun), the first day of the week, was adopted by the early Christians as a day of worship. The ‘sun’ of Latin adoration they interpreted as the ‘Sun of Righteousness.’ ...No regulations for its observance are laid down in the New Testament, nor, indeed, is its observance even enjoined.” SOOCC 103.2

Summing up Constantine’s acts, Schaff says that he “enjoined the civil observance of Sunday, though not as Dies Domini, but as Dies Solis, in conformity to his worship of Apollo, and in company with an ordinance for the regular consulting of the haruspex (321).” And further on he says: “Constantine, in 321, forbade the sitting of courts and all secular labor in towns, on ‘the venerable day of the sun,’ as he expresses himself, perhaps with reference at once to the sun-god, Apollo, and to Christ, the true ‘Sun of Righteousness.’”—Volume 2, sections 2, 17. This, as Gibbon says, would not offend the ears of his pagan or his Christian subjects, for both had already united in the worship of the sun-god, Apollo, the former as the veritable supreme God, and the latter as his representative. SOOCC 103.3

Schaff, speaking of the church’s conformity to paganism in the adoption of heathen festivals, and of the identity of martyr-worship with hero-worship, which we have already noticed at some length, says (volume 2, section 74):— SOOCC 104.1

“Chrysostom mourns over the theatrical customs, such as loud clapping in applause, which the Christians at Antioch and Constantinople brought with them into the church. In the Christmas festival, which from the fourth century spread from Rome over the entire church, the holy commemoration of the birth of the Redeemer is associated—to this day, even in Protestant lands—with the wanton merriments of the pagan Saturnalia. And even in the celebration of Sunday, as it was introduced by Constantine, and still continues on the whole continent of Europe, the cultus of the sun-god Apollo mingles with the remembrance of the resurrection of Christ; and the widespread profanation of the Lord’s day, especially on the continent of Europe, demonstrates the great influence which heathenism still exerts upon Roman and Greek Catholic, and even upon Protestant christendom.” SOOCC 104.2

But the influence of heathenism upon christendom is seen in the recognition in any way whatever of Christmas and Sunday; the fact that in Europe they are still connected with revelry and amusements simply shows that in a large part of christendom the primitive heathen custom is retained unchanged. SOOCC 104.3

The work of attaching sacredness to Sunday was a very gradual one. In fact, as already stated, it is not accomplished yet to any extent on the continent of Europe. In the latter part of the fourth century the Council of Laodicea enacted the following canon:— SOOCC 104.4

“Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honor, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out from Christ.” SOOCC 105.1

This was in harmony with Constantine’s sentiment that they ought not to have anything in common with the detestable Jews. The pagan usurper had by this time quite crowded out the true Sabbath of Jehovah. But, as in open heathendom, so in professed christendom, “the wild solar holiday” was accompanied, not with the blessings of the Spirit, but with the spirit of licentiousness. This is shown by the fact that the Council of Laodicea found it necessary to enact the following canon:— SOOCC 105.2

“None of the higher or lower clerics and ascetics, nor any laymen, in a word, no Christian, may bathe in the same bath with females, for this is the greatest reproach among the heathen.” SOOCC 105.3

It is worthy of note that the canon enjoining Sunday sacredness (if possible) was number 29, and that this one is number 30. SOOCC 105.4

It was not till 469 A. D. that the emperor Leo abolished in the Eastern Empire the exemption clause which Constantine’s edict made in favor of farmers, and required them to rest the same as mechanics. See Mosheim’s “Ecclesiastical History,” century 4, part 2, chapter 4, note 9. SOOCC 105.5

The spirit that prompted the paganized church to show more and more deference to Sunday is shown in the edict of the Council of Laodicea. It was hatred of anything that savored of the Jewish religion. There was no longer any care for making the Jews favorable to Christianity, as in the former days when the church was weak. The church now had the support of the empire, and the Jews were thenceforth persecuted, as they are in Catholic countries even to this day. The spirit that would utterly repudiate the Sabbath of the Lord, which the Jews observed, at least nominally, is shown in Constantine’s letter, regulating the time of the celebration of Easter, after the Council of Nice. Said he: “Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd.”—Life of Constantine, book 3, chapter 18. SOOCC 106.1

It needs no argument in the presence of such testimony as this, to show that the fourth commandment was not thought of as supporting Sunday observance. It was not until the time of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in England, that the theory was first sprung that the observance of Sunday was enjoined by the fourth commandment. (See Schaff, volume 2, section 75, note 4, page 383.) Dr. Nicholas Bound published a book in 1595, entitled “The Doctrine of the Sabbath,” which is the sole foundation of the observance of Sunday as a Sabbath. The reason why Bound endeavored to make the Bible responsible for Sunday observance was that the Puritans did not wish to seem to have received anything from the Catholic Church, and as they were determined to hold to the Catholic Sunday, they invented the idea that in doing so they were obeying the commandment of the Lord. This pleasing delusion satisfied the people, and has greatly delighted many souls since, until now the base origin of Sunday is quite generally forgotten. They have made for it a pedigree, and now boast of its lordly birth, as is quite common with many modern aristocrats who sprang from a very obscure family a few generations ago. SOOCC 106.2

And now we may leave the subject with the candid reader, who will, we are sure, agree that we have done just what we proposed to do. We have not quoted from a single Catholic document, and we have carefully avoided using the testimony of any writer that could by any means be considered as favorable to Sabbath observance. All our quotations are from men who believe that the Sunday is of divine authority; consequently it is of the greatest weight. May the Lord enable the reader to believe that “the customs of the people are vain,” and to inquire for the old paths, the way cast up by the Lord himself. “What is the chaff to the wheat?” SOOCC 107.1