Transition from Pagan to Christian
"This legislation by Constantine probably bore no relation to Christianity; it appears, on the contrary, that the emperor,
in his capacity of Pontifex Maximus, was only adding the day of the Sun, the worship of which was then firmly [p.123]
established in the Roman Empire, to the other ferial days of the sacred calendar...[p.270] What began, however, as a pagan ordinance,
ended as a Christian regulation; and a long series of imperial decrees, during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, enjoined with
increasing stringency abstinence from labor on Sunday.
The Church made sacred day of Sunday...largely because it was the weekly festival of the sun; for it was a definite Christian policy to
take over the pagan festivals endeared to the people by tradition, and to give them a Christian significance.
Q. What is Sunday, or the Lord's Day in general?
It is a day dedicated by the Apostles to the honor of the holiest Trinity, and in memory that Christ our Lord arose from the dead upon Sunday,
sent down the Holy Ghost on a Sunday, and therefore is called the Lord's Day. It is also called Sunday from the old Roman denomination of Dies Solis,
the day of the sun, to which it was sacred.
The non-Nazarene Church decrees the fixed day of Sunday sacredness- Canon Laws of the Council of Laodicea(343-381?).
If the original Nazarenes had kept Sunday sacred, there would have been no need for imperial laws to change an ancient custom.
The very existence of this Canon declaration concerning Sunday reinforces the fact that it was a new and not original practice.
Can. 16."On Sunday [Greek sabbaton, "the Sabbath"] the Gospels and other portions of the Scripture shall be read aloud."…
Can. 29. "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 not work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out [Greek anathema] from Christ."…
Can. 49. "During Lent, the bread shall not be offered, except on Saturday and Sunday."…
Can. 50. "During Lent, no feast of the martyrs shall be celebrated, but the holy martyrs shall be commemorated on the Saturdays and Sundays of Lent."
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