prodromos said:
Where do you pick this 500 years from? The EOC still has services on the Sabbath and holds a special reverence for it. We generally do not fast on the Sabbath for this reason, and even during Lent where we follow a strict rule of fasting, on Saturday and Sunday the fasting is relaxed due to the celebratory nature of those days.
John
Let me correct myself, 400 years is a better number, based on the following historians, who lived in EOC regions, during time when the EOC was still keeping the Sabbath. Additionally, the Council of Laodicea exhorted Christendom to stop "Judazing" by keeping the Sabbath of Jews in 364 A.D., which proves that widespread Sabbath keeping existed in Christendom up to that time which was 350+ years past the time of Christ. The following quotes provide further evidence of widespread Sabbath keeping up till the 4th & 5th centuries.
The World
"For although almost all churches throughout The World celebrated the sacred mysteries (the Lord's Supper) on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Allexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this." The footnote which accompanies the foregoing quotation explains the use of the word "Sabbath." It says: "That is, upon the Saturday. It should be observed, that Sunday is never called "the Sabbath' by the ancient Fathers and historians." Socrates, "Ecclestical History," Book 5, chap. 22, p. 289.
Constantinople
"The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria." Socrates, "Ecclesiastical History," Book 7, chap.19.
The World - Augustine, Bishop Of Hippo (North Africa)
Augustine shows here that the Sabbath was observed in his day "in the greater part of the Christian world," and his testimony in this respect is all the more valuable because he himself was an earnest and consistent Sunday-keeper. See "Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers," 1st Series, Vol.1, pp. 353, 354.
Pope Sylvester (314-335) was the first to order the churches to fast on Saturday, and Pope Innocent (402-417) made it a binding law in the churches that obeyed him, (In order to bring the Sabbath into disfavour.) "Innocentius did ordain the Saturday or Sabbath to be always fasted." Dr. Peter Heylyn, "History of the Sabbath, Part 2, p. 44.
Africa
"Augustine deplored the fact that in two neighbouring churches in Africa one observes the seventh-day Sabbath, another fasted on it." Dr. Peter Heylyn, "The History of the Sabbath." p. 416.
Spain (400 A.D.)
"Ambrose sanctified the seventh day as the Sabbath (as he himself says). Ambrose had great influence in Spain, which was also observing the Saturday Sabbath." Truth Triumphant, p. 68.
Sidonius (Speaking Of King Theodoric Of The Goths, A.D. 454-526)
"It is a fact that it was formerly the custom in the East to keep the Sabbath in the same manner as the Lord's day and to hold sacred assemblies: while on the other hand, the people of the West, contending for the Lord's day have neglected the celebration of the Sabbath." "Apollinaries Sidonli Epistolae," lib.1, 2; Migne, 57.