The very first bishop of Rome that is on record of claiming to transfer the rest of the seventh day Sabbath to the first day of the week, and to give names to the day exalting Sunday as the chief day of the week was Sylvester I who ruled the church from 314 A.C.B.-335 A.C.B. Of Sylvester I we are told: “Pope Sylvester instructed the clergy to keep the feriae. And, indeed, from an old custom he called the first day (of the week) the “Lord’s (day)”, on which the light was made in the beginning and also the resurrection of Christ is celebrated”. Rabanus Maurus (776-856), quoted in, ,.Robert L. Odom, Sabbath and Sunday in Early Christianity, p 247.
i. It was Sylvester I that named the days of the week “the first of the Lord’s day”, “the second of the Lord’s day (Tuesday)”, etc., all this was done to exalt Sunday. Bede, and English monk (672-735) tells us: “The week consists of seven days, and the eight day is the same as the first, to which it returns, and on which the week begins again. The gentiles gave to these (days) names from the planets, believing that from the sun they themselves had a spirit, from the moon a body, from Mars blood, from Mercury mind and speech, from Jupiter moderation, from Venus sensual desire, (and) from Saturn slowness (of movement). But the holy Sylvester ordered that they be called feriae (calling the first “Lord’s day”), imitating the Hebrews, who (named them) the “first from the Sabbath”, the “second from the Sabbath”, and so the rest by number”. Quoted in, Ibid, p. 246.
ii. Sylvester I was the first to claim or decree that the rest of the Sabbath should be transferred to the Lord’s day (Sunday). “Pope Sylvester, first among the Romans ordered that the names of the days (of the week), which they previously called after the name of their gods, that is, (the day) of the Sun, (the day) of the Moon, (the day) of Mars, (the day) of Mercury, (the day) of Jupiter, (the day) of Venus, (the day) of Saturn, they should call feriae thereafter, that is, the first feria, the second feria, the third feria, the fourth feria, the fifth feria, the sixth feria, because, that in the beginning of Genesis, it is written that God said concerning each day: on the first, “Let there be light”, on the second, “Let there be a firmament”; on the third, “Let the earth bring forth verdure”, etc. But he (Sylvester) ordered (them) to call the Sabbath by the ancient term of the law, (to call) the first feria the “Lord’s day”, because on it the Lord rose (from the dead). Moreover, the same pope decreed that the rest of the Sabbath should be transferred rather to the Lord’s day (Sunday), in order that on that day we should rest from worldly works for the praise of God”, Ibid, pp. 247-248.
iii. Concerning this statement we are told: “According to this statement, he (Sylvester I) was the first bishop to introduce the idea that the divinely appointed rest of the Sabbath day should be transferred to the first day of the week. This is significant, especially in view of the fact that it was during Sylvester’s pontificate that the Emperor of Rome issued the first civil laws compelling men to rest from secular labor on Sunday, and Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, was the first theologian on record to present arguments, allegedly from the Scriptures, that Christ did transfer the rest of the Sabbath day to Sunday’. Ibid, p. 248.
iv. It must be understood that Sylvester I also retained the decree to fast on every Sabbath when the Greeks attempted to show this to be wrong. “… the Greeks met with the blessed Sylvester, raising against the Romans the question concerning the fast of the Sabbath, to whom he replied with these words: “It ought to suffice for the authority of our course, that we know that the Apostles first regarded it. Nevertheless, since a reason is demanded by your charity, it is to be given: If every Lord’s day (Sunday) is regarded on account of the resurrection of the Lord it is right that every Sabbath day be given over to a fast on account of the burial, in order that those who weep with the apostles concerning the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, may deserve to rejoice with them concerning His resurrection”. But the Greeks said that one (day) was the Sabbath of the burial, on which once in the year the fast is to be observed. To whom Pope Sylvester said: “If every Lord’s day (Sunday) is thought to be adorned with the glory of the resurrection, every day of (His) burial which precedes it is to be given to fasting, in order that he who will have wept, over the death, may rejoice with merit concerning the resurrection”. Ibid, pp. 249-250.
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