THE EARLY CHRISTIAN SABBATH - Friends of the Sabbath Australia

The Early Christian Sabbath
Constantine was celebrating his twentieth year as emperor, Eusebius, the church
historian, says of the glory of his reign. “One might have thought that a picture of Christ's
kingdom was thus shadowed forth, and a dream rather than reality.” - The Life of
Constantine, book 3, chapter 15, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series,
volume 1, Page 524.
Again when Constantine had taken with him into the government his three sons as
Caesars, Eusebius says:
“Invested as he is with a semblance of heavenly sovereignty, he directs his gaze
above, and frames his earthly government according to the pattern of that divine original,
feeling strength in its conformity to the monarchy of God.” Oration in Praise of
Constantine, chapter 3, paragraph 5, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series,
volume 1, page 584.
It is this emperor, so highly praised by a leading churchman of his day. Yet still a
pagan, who in pi issued the first “blue” law:
“All judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable Day
of the Sun. Country people, however, may freely attend to the cultivation of the fields,
because it frequently happens that no other days are better adapted for planting the grain
in the furrows or the vines in trenches. So that the advantage given by heavenly
providence may not for the occasion of a short time perish.”-Code of Justinian, b. 3, title
12, 3; trans. In Ayer's Source Book for Ancient Church History, item 59 (9). Of this and a
later law, the church historian Sozomen, writing about A. D. 440, says:
“He also enjoined the observance of the day termed the Lord's day, which the
Jews call the first day of the week, and which the pagans dedicate to the sun, as likewise
the day before the seventh [Friday], and commanded that no judicial or other business
should be transacted on those days, but that God should be served with prayers and
supplications.” - Ecclesiastical History, book 1, chapter 8, in Nicene and Post-Nicene
Fathers, Second Series, volume 2, Page 245.
Constantine’s laws of worship applied also in the Roman army: “Accordingly he
enjoined on all the subjects of the Roman Empire to observe the Lord's day, as a day of
rest, and also to honor the day which precedes the Sabbath. In memory, I suppose, of
what the Savior of mankind is recorded to have achieved on that day [the crucifixion].
And since his desire was to teach his whole army zealously to honor the Savior's day
(which derives its name from light, and from the sun), he freely granted to those among
them who were partakers of the divine faith, leisure for attendance on the services of the
Church of God, in order that they might be able, without impediment, to perform their
religious worship.” Eusebius, The Life of Constantine, book 4, chapter 18, in Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, volume 1, Pages 544, 545.
Constantine also prohibited litigation on Sunday, but did allow the freeing of
slaves by both magistrates and bishops on the newly legalized worship day. This
provision was repeated in the years 386 and 389, when Christianity was becoming the
exclusive religion in the empire. In the meantime the emperor Valentinian 1 in the year
365 had decreed that Sunday be kept by Christians as a holiday. A few years later he
decreed that on the day of the sun -there should be no theatrical displays or horse racing.
Constantine did permit markets to be held on Sunday, but even this liberty was revoked
by the emperor Leo 1. This same emperor decreed about the year 460 that the Lord's day
should be free from lawsuits, executions, pleadings, theatrical displays, and unrestrained
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