Ողջամիտ կասկածից այն կողմ

The Catholic Church openly states that it transferred the solemnity of the Sabbath from Saturday (the seventh day) to Sunday (the first day), pointing to its divine authority to regulate worship practices in honor of Christ’s resurrection.

Key historical moments and official statements outline how this transition occurred:

The Catholic Church's Stated Position: The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Paragraph 2175) explains:

"Sunday is expressly distinguished from the Sabbath which it succeeds chronologically, in every week; for Christians its ceremonial observance replaces that of the Sabbath. In Christ’s Passover, Sunday fulfills the spiritual truth of the Jewish Sabbath and announces man’s eternal rest in God."

The Theological Reason: Early Christians began gathering on the "Lord's Day" (Sunday) because Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2) and appeared to His disciples on successive Sundays (John 20:19, 26).

Council of Laodicea (c. AD 364): Canon 29 of this regional church council officially prohibited resting on the Jewish Sabbath and mandated honoring Sunday instead:

"Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ."

Civil Enforcement under Constantine (AD 321): Before ecclesiastical canonization, Roman Emperor Constantine issued the first civil Sunday law in March 321:

"On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed."

Historical Catholic Catechisms: Traditional Catholic teaching resources frequently cite this change as an illustration of the Church's apostolic authority. For example, The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine by Peter Geiermann (1910) states:

Q: Which is the Sabbath day?

A: Saturday is the Sabbath day.

Q: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?

A: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.

In contrast, seventh-day observing Christian denominations (such as Seventh-day Adventists and Seventh Day Baptists) maintain that the biblical fourth commandment remains unaltered, arguing that no earthly council or church tradition had scriptural authority to change the seventh-day Sabbath.