Sabbath Day - Orthodox

[Justin-H.S.]

Rabbinic Judaism looks for a different type of Messiah. There are Jewish believers, there are even Orthodox Churches (St Nicholas and at the Holy Trinity cathedral of the Russian Moscow Mission in Jerusalem) with a Jewish priest (Av Aleksandr...Fr Alexander Winogradsky Frenkel) who performs services in Hebrew! It is amazing to me! It makes my heart swell with joy!

Amazing!

I love seeing/hearing that.

 

[Union With Christ]

You really should not base all of this on if a local priest (likely VERY busy right now) replies to your email.

Well if the Priest doesn’t answer my emails how am I going to get the answers I need? The Church also does not answer their phone when I call.

 

[Justin-H.S.]

You really should not base all of this on if a local priest (likely VERY busy right now) replies to your email.

The fact that we're in a fasting period now = there are more services done throughout the week = you should be able to go to the church any day of the week = you could just talk to the priest in person because letters on a screen doesn't communicate very well because context is lost due to loss of body language.

It's almost like God is telling this guy: "JUST GO TO CHURCH AND YOU'LL SEE"

 

[Union With Christ]

It's just in your head, man...

For 250 posts I have been basically told here that Orthodox do not keep the sabbath and that it is not necessary for me to do so.

How do you consider that to be in my head?

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

Well if the Priest doesn’t answer my emails how am I going to get the answers I need? The Church also does not answer their phone when I call.

You already got answers here...call another priest? BTW, Army Matt IS a Priest

 

[ArmyMatt]

For 250 posts I have been basically told here that Orthodox do not keep the sabbath and that it is not necessary for me to do so.

How do you consider that to be in my head?

because that's not what we said. we actually have said we do keep the Sabbath.

you might not like HOW we keep the Sabbath and see it, but that doesn't mean it's not kept.

 

[GreekOrthodox]

Because the celebration of the Eucharist introduces us to the "final day" (eschata), the Lord's Day is also known as the "eighth day," i.e. the day which will have "no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light and its lamp is the Lamb" (Rev. 21: 23). The "eighth day" is a term which indicates the final age, when the new creation, already begun by the resurrection of Christ, will be fulfilled and completed; when the new world will be ushered in by the general resurrection. (Goarch.org)

Fr. Joseph Gleeson writes in his blog The Eighth Day

On Holy Saturday, His body rests in the tomb as He keeps the final Sabbath in the Old Covenant. Then, on the 8th day. . .

• On the 8th day death is defeated.
• On the 8th day, the gates of Hell are shattered.
• On the 8th day, the graves release their captive.
• On the 8th day, the Son of God rises from the dead holding the keys of death and hell in one hand and the broken teeth of the devil in the other.
• On the 8th day, the old creation begins passing away, and the new creation begins breaking into our present world, for when the Apostles look upon the Risen Christ, they are looking at a human body which has already crossed over from death into life.
• They are looking at a human body that will outlive this present universe. When this world burns, and we meet the end of the world as we know it, our Risen Savior will still be there, alive and well on the other side.

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

We will see if my local Priest responds to my email.

You have a Priest here...Fr Matt...Army Matt

 

[Union With Christ]

because that's not what we said. we actually have said we do keep the Sabbath.

you might not like HOW we keep the Sabbath and see it, but that doesn't mean it's not kept.

You say that you keep it in your own way by remembering Christ in the tomb and while I don’t argue and say that remembering Christ is a bad thing I wish to keep the sabbath according to the commandment in the biblical way and rest on that day as prescribed in scripture.

 

[Union With Christ]

You have a Priest here...Fr Matt...Army Matt

Don’t take this personal but his responses generally are not very detailed.

 

[Union With Christ]

Because the celebration of the Eucharist introduces us to the "final day" (eschata), the Lord's Day is also known as the "eighth day," i.e. the day which will have "no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light and its lamp is the Lamb" (Rev. 21: 23). The "eighth day" is a term which indicates the final age, when the new creation, already begun by the resurrection of Christ, will be fulfilled and completed; when the new world will be ushered in by the general resurrection. (Goarch.org)

Fr. Joseph Gleeson writes in his blog The Eighth Day

On Holy Saturday, His body rests in the tomb as He keeps the final Sabbath in the Old Covenant. Then, on the 8th day. . .

• On the 8th day death is defeated.
• On the 8th day, the gates of Hell are shattered.
• On the 8th day, the graves release their captive.
• On the 8th day, the Son of God rises from the dead holding the keys of death and hell in one hand and the broken teeth of the devil in the other.
• On the 8th day, the old creation begins passing away, and the new creation begins breaking into our present world, for when the Apostles look upon the Risen Christ, they are looking at a human body which has already crossed over from death into life.
• They are looking at a human body that will outlive this present universe. When this world burns, and we meet the end of the world as we know it, our Risen Savior will still be there, alive and well on the other side.

This is basically the same answer I have been receiving here but as a sabbath keeper it is an unacceptable answer to me. I do not believe that the sabbath has been transferred to Sunday. While I am not opposed to worshiping on Sunday in honor of the resurrection I in no way see it as a replacement for the sabbath day of rest.

 

[ArmyMatt]

You say that you keep it in your own way by remembering Christ in the tomb and while I don’t argue and say that remembering Christ is a bad thing I wish to keep the sabbath according to the commandment in the biblical way and rest on that day as prescribed in scripture.

except you're not keeping it the Biblical way. God commanded Joshua to march around Jericho on a Sabbath day, after the Law was given to Moses.

 

[Justin-H.S.]

You say that you keep it in your own way by remembering Christ in the tomb and while I don’t argue and say that remembering Christ is a bad thing I wish to keep the sabbath according to the commandment in the biblical way and rest on that day as prescribed in scripture.

Okay, then keep the sabbath like the way you do...

I don't understand what you're not getting here. There are a diversity of ways we keep the Sabbath in the Church.

 

[ArmyMatt]

Don’t take this personal but his responses generally are not very detailed.

I don't take offense, but mine are detailed, especially in light of what others have said.

 

[Union With Christ]

I don't take offense, but mine are detailed, especially in light of what others have said.

Your answers are usually one or two lines. This is a deep theological topic and I am looking for a more lengthy detailed reply from a Priest. But I’m not very concerned about it at this point because I have gotten my answer from others.

 

[Justin-H.S.]

This is basically the same answer I have been receiving here but as a sabbath keeper it is an unacceptable answer to me. I do not believe that the sabbath has been transferred to Sunday. While I am not opposed to worshiping on Sunday in honor of the resurrection I in no way see it as a replacement for the sabbath day of rest.

No, Sunday is the 8th day. Saturday is the 7th day. No transference occurred. Saturday is still the sabbath. Your interpretation of his post is incorrect with what we actually believe. No where in his post did he mention the seventh day besides "Holy Saturday" being the sabbath the Lord rested in His tomb.

 

[BNR32FAN]

No it isn't.
We honour the Sabbath in a number of ways, primarily we do not fast on the Sabbath (unless we are preparing to receive Holy Communion. However we understand that when Genesis states that God rested on the seventh day, it was pointing to the future event when God become man would rest in the tomb. God is spirit and does not tire and have need of rest. Rest is something which pertains to the flesh.

As Orthodox Christians we have been baptised in Christ, through which we participate in Christ's death and resurrection, so we have passed through the Sabbath rest and are now risen with Him on the eighth day, which we call Kuriaki, the Lord's day, what is known in the West as Sunday

That is a very interesting perspective I have not seen before. Thanks for sharing friend.

 

[Union With Christ]

Okay, then keep the sabbath like the way you do...

I don't understand what you're not getting here. There are a diversity of ways we keep the Sabbath in the Church.

Well then it seems as if I am still receiving different answers here.

I am confused at this point and don’t really know where I belong.

I wish that the Priest would respond to my emails so I could clarify things with him.

 

[Union With Christ]

No, Sunday is the 8th day. Saturday is the 7th day. No transference occurred. Saturday is still the sabbath. Your interpretation of his post is incorrect with what we actually believe. No where in his post did he mention the seventh day besides "Holy Saturday" being the sabbath the Lord rested in His tomb.

But the emphasis in the Orthodox Church is always on keeping Sunday and not Saturday.

 

[ArmyMatt]

Your answers are usually one or two lines. This is a deep theological topic and I am looking for a more lengthy detailed reply from a Priest. But I’m not very concerned about it at this point because I have gotten my answer from others.

you've gotten more than one or two lines from me, and I am not the kind who just rehashes what someone else says if he's right. especially since this is a forum thread.