The Sabbath from the Fifth Century to the Reformation

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Today we're continuing in our search for Saturday Sabbath history. We have found that up through the fourth century there is evidence that believers have observed a Saturday Sabbath. This actually appears to be the norm and it isn't until about this time that Sunday began to be the new Sabbath. Although the majority of believers make the switch today's discussion will focus on those groups that continued in the Saturday Sabbath.

Saturday Sabbath History of the Fifth and Sixth Centuries

"Centuries of the Christian era passed away before the Sunday was observed by the Christian church as the Sabbath. History does not furnish us with a single proof or indication that it was at any time so observed previous to the Sabbatical edict of Constantine in A.D. 321" (Domville, Sir William, Examination of the Six Texts)

"The last day of the week was strictly kept in connection with that of the first day for a long time after the overthrow of the temple and it worship. Down even to the fifth century the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church, but with a rigor and solemnity gradually diminishing" (Coleman, Ancient Christianity Exemplified, Chapter 26, Section 2).
 
Near the end of the sixth century Pope Gregory, in an epistle, condemned those who either observed a Saturday Sabbath or those who observed both Saturday and Sunday as preachers of Antichrist (Heylyn, History, Sabbath, Part 2, Chapter 5, Section 1).

"Having continued his labors (Colomba, missionary to Scotland, born 543) in Scotland thirty-four years, he clearly and openly foretold his death, and on Saturday the ninth of June said to his disciple Diermit: 'This day is called the Sabbath, that is, the day of rest and such will it truly be for me; for it will put an end to my labors'" (Butler, Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principle Saints, Art. St. Colombo, A.D. 597).

Saturday Sabbath History from the Seventh Century to the Reformation

Saturday Sabbath keeping was never totally extinguished. Nazarenes, Cerinthians, Hypsistari, Vaudois, Cathari, Toulousians, Albigenses, Petrobrusians, Passagii, and Waldenses. All of these groups were believed to observe Saturday as the Sabbath.

Regarding the Cathari, "He lays down also as one of their opinions, that the law of Moses is to be kept according to the letter, and that the keeping of the Sabbath, circumcision, and other legal observations, ought to take place" (Ecclesiastical History, p 168).

"Like the other sects already mentioned, they had the utmost aversion to the dominion and discipline of the church of Rome; but they were, at the same time, distinguished by two religious tenets, which were peculiar to themselves. The first was a notion that the observation of the law of Moses, in everything except the offering of sacrifices, was obligatory upon Christians, in consequence of which they circumcised their followers, abstained from those meats, the use of which was prohibited under the Mosaic economy, and celebrated the Jewish Sabbath" (Mosheim, Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 2, p. 273, 1860 edition).

Of a group of eastern Christians, "Fasting periods are very numerous and about half of the days of the year, including the Jewish Sabbath and Sunday, are religiously observed. Indications of Jewish influence, besides Sabbath observance, are the practice of circumcision, and distinction between clean and unclean animals, etc." (Newman, A.H.,A Manual of Church History, Vol 1, p. 646, 1933 edition).

Regarding the Nestorians, "These eight festivals of our Lord they observe and we have many holy days and the Sabbath-day, on which we do not labor ...The Sabbath-day we reckon far- far above the others... Incense is burned on the Sabbath and feast days" (Coleman, Ancient Christianity Exemplified, p. 573).

"But when the period of the Auto da Fe approaches, the Proctor waits upon him and declares, that he is charged by a great number of witnesses, of having Judaized; which means, having conformed to the ceremonies of the Mosaic law, such as not eating pork, hare, fish without scales, etc., of having attended the solemnization of the Sabbath, having eaten the Pascal Lamb, etc." (Dellon, Account of the Inquisition at Goa, 1684).

Saturday Sabbath History Since the Reformation

"Louis XII, king of France, being informed by the enemies of the Waldenses inhabiting a part of the province of Provence, that several heinous crimes were laid to their account, sent the Master of Requests, and a certain doctor of the Sorbonne; who was a confessor to His Majesty, to make inquiry into this matter. On their return, they reported that they had visited all the parishes where they dwelt, and inspected their places of worship, but that they had found there no images, nor signs of the ornaments which belong to the mass, nor any of the ceremonies of the Romish Church; mush less could they discover any traces of those crimes with which they had been charged.

"On the contrary, they kept the Sabbath day, observed the ordinance of baptism according to the primitive church, instructed their children in the articles of the Christian faith and commandments of God. The king having heard the report of this commissioner, said with an oath that they were better men than himself or his people" (Jones, Church History, Vol II, Chapter V, Section 4).

Following the Reformation this comment was made about  a university professor named Carlstad. "Carlstad differed essentially from Luther in regard to the use made of the Old Testament. With him, the law of Moses was still binding. Luther, on the contrary, had a strong aversion to what he calls a legal and Judaizing religion. Carlstad held to the divine authority of the Sabbath from the Old Testament; Luther believed Christians were free to observe any day as a Sabbath, provided they be uniform in observing it," (Sears, Life of Luther, p. 402).

"In the reign of Elizabeth (1558-1603), it occurred to many conscientious and independent thinkers (as it had previously done to some Protestants in Bohemia), that the fourth commandment required of them the observance, not of the first, but of the specified seventh day of the week, and a strict bodily rest, as a service then due to God; while others, though convinced that the day had been alteed by divine authority, took up the same opinion as to the scriptural obligation to refrain from work. The former class became numerous enough to make a considerable figure for more than a century in England, under the title of 'Sabbatarians' -- a word now exhanged for the less ambiguous appelation of 'Seventh-day Baptist'" (Chambers' Cyclopaedia, Article, Sabbath, Vol 8, p. 402, London, 1867).

"In the seventeenth century, eleven churches of Sabbatarians flourished in England, while many scattered Sabbath-keepers were to be found in various parts of that kingdom" (History of the Sabbath, 1873, p. 491).

"Several leaders and preachers of the Puritans have retransferred the rest day from Sunday to Saturday (1554). . . . In Bohemia Sabbatarians sprung up as early as 1520. Such Sabbatarians, or similar sects, we meet about 1545 among the Quakers in England" (Kohn, Chief Rabbi, Sabbatarians in Transylvania).

From these quotes we see that as the fifth century dawned the observance of worship on both Saturday and Sunday continued. However, the observance of the Saturday Sabbath was diminishing. This was especially true in the sixth century as the bishop or pope of Rome became the head of all the Roman Catholic Church. It was really at this point that the Saturday Sabbath went "underground", being observed by splinter groups and those opposed to the Roman church. During the next centuries the Sunday Sabbath was considered the norm in the church, but there were still groups that observed the Saturday Sabbath. During the Reformation, the Protestant reformers generally kept the Sunday Sabbath from the Roman church, although again we find evidence of Saturday Sabbath keeping.

Next we will look at the Saturday Sabbath after the Reformation.

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