It is not an ad, it is just information pertaining to the historical references discussed. I only mentioned it was from my book for transparency only.
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How does one write a book about a subject that they seemingly don't know much about? The things you are promoting in this thread are demonstrably false, and the information is readily available. Any of us who have actually studied the history of Christianity can tell you that you're mistaken because we have actually done our homework.
Constantine did not change the Sabbath. That is a lie. Constantine did make the first day of the week a civil holiday, this day does correspond to the
Kyriake Hemera, the Lord's Day--the day Christians have gathered for worship since the time of the Apostles. And, yes, Christians have always gathered on the first day of the week, and this is easily demonstrated by looking at the primary historical sources--what Christians themselves said.
The Sabbath is not "the day of worship", but a day of rest which God established for the Jewish people, that's why labor is prohibited on the Sabbath. Later in Jewish history with the establishment of synagogues as places of worship, the gathering together on the Sabbath became the custom; and it is what necessitated the idea of a "Sabbath's day journey", the distance permitted to walk to attend synagogue.
The earliest Christians, being Jews, continued to gather together for Jewish worship in the synagogue; and we can pretty safely assume that very early on many synagogues were mixed, with both believers and non-believers. However, Gentiles wouldn't have been attending the synagogue; and neither would a mixed synagogue practice the new Christian rites, such as the Eucharist. This necessitated specifically Christian meetings, which were generally in the homes of wealthier members of the community. As such the early Jewish Christians would have met with other Jews in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and then after the Sabbath both Jewish and Gentile Christians met together for explicitly Christian purposes, most importantly the Eucharist. As the synagogues become less welcoming for Christians, and the division between Church and Synagogue came into effect by the end of the 1st century, the elements of the synagogue were transferred to Christian worship gatherings, which occurred on the day after the Sabbath.
This is the basis for the Christian Liturgy: Scripture readings, prayers, singing of hymns, and a homily/sermon were (and still are) the basic elements of the Jewish liturgy, and continue to be part of Christian formal worship. The Christian Liturgy is still split between two parts based upon this ancient order: The Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Altar.
And so when we see St. Justin writing in the 2nd century about when Christians gather for worship and what they do when they gather, he is describing things which are familiar to anyone who has attended a traditional Christian worship service; and what he is describing are the elements of Christian worship that go back to the first and second generation of Christians in the 1st century.
You know what doesn't have any support historically? That Christians observed the Jewish Sabbath until Constantine came along and told people to stop doing that. Because Christians themselves very clearly say otherwise, hundreds of years before Constantine; and Constantine didn't do anything in regard to the Sabbath and the Church.
"
If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death — whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master — how shall we be able to live apart from Him, whose disciples the prophets themselves in the Spirit did wait for Him as their Teacher? And therefore He whom they rightly waited for, having come, raised them from the dead." - St. Ignatius, Epistle to the Magnesians, chapter 9; c. 107 AD
-CryptoLutheran
