Sabbath & 325 AD

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Christian greetings everyone!

I would have replied earlier, but I have been out of town and have 
just got around to cleaning out the mailbox.

> John Van Norman (jvannorm@health1.uwsp.edu) wrote:
> 
> > The Sabbath for the Christian community became Sunday as a result of the =
> > Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.  The entire purpose of this council was to =
 
I do not have the references in front of me.  But be assured that the 
Sunday Sabbath was indeed canonized at the council of Nicea.  I 
believe the information can be found in Phillip Schaff's 
_Creeds_of_Christendom_; Kenneth Scott Latourette's 
_History_of_the_Christian_Church_, and other heavy duty histories.  
The Catholic Encyclopedia of Christianity (that may not be the 
correct name for it) would certainly have the information.  Michael 
Green's _Evangelism_in_the_Early_Church_ may have also had 
information on this subject.

By canonization, the Sunday Sabbath simply gained an official 
sanction by the majority of the clergy.  The practise was already 
widespread, especially in the West.

It is also true that the canonization of the Sunday Sabbath served to 
distinguish Christianity from Judaism.  I won't go into the history 
because it is too intensive, but you really must know about the 
relationship between the Jews and the post-apostolic Church before 
passing judgment on those who sought to distinguish themselves from 
Judaism.  By 325 A.D., it was no longer Judaism proper that was seen 
as a threat, but the region of the East.  Asia minor (in the East) 
was the birthplace of all the major heresies that plagued the post-
apostolic Church.  The East/West conflict continued, manifesting 
itself later in schisms over what day Easter should be on.

> I've never heard that about the Nicean Council implementing the 
> "Sunday Sabbath" before.  I thought it was a much more recent 

Again, it wasn't implemented a Nice, but canonized, or given official 
sanction.

Sincerely,

Lynn Childers
lchilder@navajo.astate.edu