Lord's Day
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Undisputed references:
The first undisputed reference to Lord's Day is in the
• apocryphal Gospel of Peter (verse 34,35 and 50 [2]),
• probably written about the middle of the 2nd century or perhaps the first half of that century.
The Gospel of Peter 35 and 50 use kyriake as the name for the first day of the week, the day of Jesus' resurrection.
That the author referred to Lord's Day in an apocryphal gospel purportedly written by St. Peter indicates that the term kyriake was very widespread and had been in use for some time.
Around 170 AD, Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, wrote to the Roman Church, "Today we have kept the Lord's holy day (kyriake hagia hemera), on which we have read your letter."
In the latter half of the 2nd century, the apocryphal Acts of Peter identify Dies Domini (Latin for "Lord's Day") as "the next day after the Sabbath," i.e., Sunday.
From the same period of time, the Acts of Paul present St. Paul praying "on the Sabbath as the Lord's Day (kyriake) drew near."
The Lord's day is also referred to in the Acts of John as "on the seventh day, it being the Lord's day, he said to them: now it is time for me also to partake of food.
Early church
Early Christianity
The Cenacle on Mount Zion, claimed to be the location of the Last Supper and Pentecost.
Bargil Pixner[12] claims the original Church of the Apostles is located under the current structure.
In the first centuries, Sunday, being made a festival in honor of Christ's resurrection, received attention as a day of religious services and recreation, but seventh-day Sabbath rest was still observed by "almost all churches".
Often first-day worship (Sunday morning or Saturday night) was practiced alongside observance of seventh-day Sabbath rest and was a widespread Christian tradition by the 2nd century, attested(Acts 20:7)
in patristic writings of the 2nd century; over time, Sunday thus came to be known as Lord's Day.
These early Christians believed that the resurrection and ascension of Christ signals the renewal of creation, making the day on which God accomplished it a day analogous to the first day of creation when God made the light. Some of these writers referred to Sunday as the "eighth day".
The 1st-century or 2nd-century Epistle of Barnabas or Pseudo-Barnabas
• on Is. 1:13 stated "Sabbaths of the present age" were abolished in favor of one millennial seventh-day Sabbath that ushers in the "eighth day" and commencement of a new world.
• Accordingly, the eighth-day assembly (Saturday night or Sunday morning) marks both the resurrection and the new creation.
• Thus first-day observance was a common regional practice at that time.
• By the mid-2nd century, Justin Martyr wrote in his apologies about the cessation of Sabbath observance and the celebration of the first (or eighth) day of the week (not as a day of rest, but as a day for gathering to worship):
• "We all gather on the day of the sun" (τῇ τοῦ ῾Ηλίου λεγομένη ἡμέρᾳ, recalling both the creation of light and the resurrection).
• He argued that Sabbath was not kept before Moses, and was only instituted as a sign to Israel and a temporary measure because of Israel's sinfulness, no longer needed after Christ came without sin.
• Curiously he also draws a parallel between the Israelite practice of circumcisionon the eighth day, and the resurrection of Jesus on the "eighth day".
• 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.
• And on the day called Sunday, 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, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons.
• And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.
• 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.
• Tertullian (early 3rd century), writing against Christians who participated in pagan festivals (Saturnalia and New-year),
• defended the Christian festivity of Lord's Day amidst the accusation of sun-worship, acknowledging that "to [us] Sabbaths are strange" and unobserved.
Cyprian, a 3rd-century church father, linked the "eighth day" with the term "Lord's Day" in a letter concerning baptism.
'For in respect of the observance of the eighth day of the Jewish circumcision of the flesh, a sacrament was given beforehand in shadow and in usage; but when Christ came, it was fulfilled in truth.
For because the eighth day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, was to be that on which the Lord should rise again, and should quicken us, and give us circumcision of the spirit, the eighth day, that is the first day after the Sabbath, and the Lord's Day, went before in the figure; which figure ceased when by and by the truth came and spiritual circumcision was given to us
—Cyprian, Letter LVIII
Origins of Sunday worship
• Though Sunday was widely observed as a day of Christian worship by the 2nd century, the origin of Sunday worship remains a debated point, with at least three scholarly positions being taken.
Edict of Constantine
On 3 March 321, Constantine I decreed that Sunday (dies Solis) will be observed as the Roman day of rest [CJ3.12.2]:
• On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed.
•
Mal.4:2 But for you who obey me, my saving power will rise on you like the sun and bring healing like the sun's rays.(Jn.8:12)
• In the country however persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits because it often happens that another day is not suitable for grain-sowing or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.
• Constantine's decree was most likely modeled on pagan sun worship, though it is probable that he also intended to benefit the church, which already met for worship on Sunday. Some theorize that, because the practice favored the Christian day of worship, it also helped the church to avoid implicit association with the Jews.
Eusebius, in Life of Constantine, claims Constantine stated:
• "Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour a different way.
4th century, Socrates Scholasticus
stated that:
• The Christians of Alexandria and Rome partook of the "mysteries" (the love feast or Eucharist) on the first day of the week (Saturday evening), though they also held worship meetings on Sabbath like almost all other churches.
5th century, Sozomen stated:
• that most churches, such as at Constantinople, met both on Sabbath and first day (Saturday evening),
• but that Rome and Alexandria met only on the first day (Saturday evening) and no longer on Sabbath.
