Its all over history if you just look, but then would you be convinced is the question..
I think this is the page I got it from....https://www.sabbathtruth.com/sabbath-history/sabbath-through-the-centuries/id/3rd-century#history
So again, you're just copying and pasting unverified claims from a website that itself is just copying and pasting those unverified claims. It's a pattern I've noticed from you.
Anyway, I'm actually familiar with most of these quotes (I spent some time looking into them because people so frequently copy and paste them without checking them), so let's take a look at the sources.
Early Christians-C 3rd
"Thou shalt observe the Sabbath, on account of Him who ceased from His work of creation, but ceased not from His work of providence: it is a rest for meditation of the law, not for idleness of the hands." "The Anti-Nicene Fathers," Vol 7,p. 413. From "Constitutions of the Holy Apostles," a document of the 3rd and 4th Centuries.
The quote itself states that it was a rest for meditation, not for idleness of hands. It therefore rejects the claim that Saturday rest was practiced by the church.
Africa (Alexandria) Origen
"After the festival of the unceasing sacrifice (the crucifixion) is put the second festival of the Sabbath, and it is fitting for whoever is righteous among the saints to keep also the festival of the Sabbath. There remaineth therefore a sabbatismus, that is, a keeping of the Sabbath, to the people of God (Hebrews 4:9)." "Homily on Numbers 23," par.4, in Migne, "Patrologia Graeca," Vol. 12,cols. 749, 750.
There is an English translation of this work available now, and in it we see Origen says "Therefore,
leaving behind the judaic observances of the sabbath, let us see what sort of observation of the sabbath there ought to be for the Christian." He goes on to assert that on the Sabbath, "worldly activity" and "secular works" are not to be carried out, but says nothing about labor in general, and as noted rejects "judaic observances of the sabbath".
Palestine to India (Church of the East)
As early as A.D. 225 there existed lallrge bishoprics or conferences of the Church of the East (Sabbath-keeping) stretching from Palestine to India. Mingana, "Early Spread of Christianity." Vol.10, p. 460.
There is no volume 10 of Early Spread of Christianity. "Early Spread of Christianity" is an article that comes from volume 10 of the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. This is how we know the citation was just copy and pasted, for otherwise it would be stated more clearly.
In any event, Mingana says nothing at all about the churches being Sabbath keeping on the applicable page, nor does he (as far as I can tell) mention the Sabbath
at all in his article.
India (Buddhist Controversy, 220 A.D.)
The Kushan Dynasty of North India called a famous council of Buddhist priests at Vaisalia to bring uniformity among the Buddhist monks on the observance of their weekly Sabbath. Some had been so impressed by the writings of the Old Testament that they had begun to keep holy the Sabbath. Lloyd, "The Creed of Half Japan," p. 23.
This entire portion is utter nonsense. The council (called the Second Buddhist Council) in question didn't happen in 220 AD; it was held a century after the death of Buddha. We don't know the exact year of Buddha's death, but that would put the council centuries before the birth of Jesus. The Creed of Half Japan never dates it to 220 AD, so I have no idea why you or the person you copied from think it's at that date.
Furthermore, the council had
nothing to do with the weekly Sabbath. The dispute was about Uposathas, which were mandated days of rest in Buddhism. While there are similarities to Sabbath rest in that they were rest days, they weren't weekly and on Saturday. However, the term was still translated by some as "sabbaths", including Creed of Half Japan (earlier on page 16, however, it clarifies that these "sabbaths" were uposathas).
So not only did it have nothing to do with the Saturday Sabbath, it occurred in pre-Christian times.
Italy AND EAST-C 4th
"It was the practice generally of the Easterne Churches; and some churches of the west...For in the Church of Millaine (Milan);...it seems the Saturday was held in a farre esteeme... Not that the Easterne Churches, or any of the rest which observed that day, were inclined to Iudaisme (Judaism); but that they came together on the Sabbath day, to worship Iesus (Jesus) Christ the Lord of the Sabbath." "History of the Sabbath" (original spelling retained), Part 2, par. 5, pp.73, 74. London: 1636. Dr. Heylyn.
The quote says nothing at all about them observing Sabbath rest or thinking it was required. Indeed, on the prior page, Heylyn writes "As for the Saturday, that retained its wounted credit in the Easterne Church; little inferior to the Lords day; if not plainely equall: not as a Sabbath, thinke not so, but as a day designed unto sacred meetings."
Italy - Milan
"Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan, said that when he was in Milan he observed Saturday, but when in Rome observed Sunday. This gave rise to the proverb, 'When you are in Rome, do as Rome does.'" Heylyn, "The History of the Sabbath" (1612)
Curiously, despite the fact that Heylyn's work is referred in the preceding citation, no page number is offered here. Thus I cannot look this up in the work for sure.
However, your copy-and-pasted citation woefully misrepresents what was happening. This whole incident is mentioned to us in
Letter 54 of Augustine, where this entire incident was clearly about
fasting practices. Some areas (like Rome) fasted on Saturday, others (like Milan) did not, and Augustine says that Ambrose gave the advice of, when travelling, to follow the local practices of your area. Sunday is not even mentioned by Ambrose or Augustine; that is being inserted into this claim to try to make it look like it's about resting when it isn't.
Orient And Most Of World
"The ancient Christians were very careful in the observance of Saturday, or the seventh day...It is plain that all the Oriental churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival...Athanasius likewise tells us that they held religious assembles on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, Epiphanius says the same." "Antiquities of the Christian Church," Vol.II Book XX, chap. 3, sec.1, 66. 1137,1138.
Even the quote offered only says it was a "festival" and that they had religious assembles. So this again doesn't prove the point of them seeing Sabbath rest as required. Indeed, the author on the next page denies it:
"If it be inquired, why the ancient church continued the observation of the Jewish sabbath, when they took it to be only a temporary institution given to the Jews only, as circumcision and other typical rites of the law; (which is expressly said by many of the ancient writers, particularly by Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Eusebius, to name no more) it is answered by learned men, that it was to comply with the Jewish converts, as they did in the use of many other indifferent things, so long as no doctrinal necessity was laid upon them... But when any one pretended to carry the observation of it further, either by introducing a doctrinal necessity, or pressing the observation of it precisely after the Jewish manner, they resolutely opposed it, as introducing Judaism into the Christian religion."
Abyssinia - Remnants of Philip's Evangelism
"In the last half of that century St. Ambrose of Milan stated officially that the Abyssinian bishop, Museus, had 'traveled almost everywhere in the country of the Seres' (China). For more than seventeen centuries the Abyssinian Church continued to sanctify Saturday as the holy day of the fourth commandment." Ambrose, DeMoribus, Brachmanorium Opera Ominia, 1132, found in Migne, Patrologia Latima, Vol.17, pp.1131,1132.
The work in question is actually found on columns 1167 to 1184 (copying and pasting strikes again!). Now, the work is in Latin so I cannot really read it, though I know enough to note that in the introduction of the compilation being cited, the editor mentions says there is question about whether Ambrose actually wrote it. Accepting he did and that he did mention Museus traveling around, how does this prove anything about Sabbath keeping? I'm going to assume the work said nothing about that, or else we would have seen that quoted rather than just a vague statement about someone traveling around.
Arabia, Persia, India, China
"Mingana proves that in 370 A.D. Abyssinian Christianity (a Sabbath keeping church) was so popular that its famous director, Musacus, travelled extensively in the East promoting the church in Arabia, Persia, India and China." "Truth Triumphant,"p.308 (Footnote 27). (Page numbers vary in this
Online version of Truth Triumphant)
Truth Triumphant was a polemical work trying to argue for Seventh Day Adventist beliefs, so there's obvious bias here. Still, let's take a look at the claim. It mentions that "page numbers vary" but apparently so does the footnote number, as it's footnote 23 in the linked version. What the footnote begins with is:
"Mingana proves that as early as A.D. 225 there existed large bishoprics or conferences of the Church of the East stretching from Palestine to, and surrounding, India. In 370 Abyssinian Christianity (a Sabbathkeeping church) was so popular that its famous director, Musaeus, traveled extensively in the East promoting the church in Arabia, Persia, India, and China."
So all it seems to say is that Mingana proves that there were Christian churches in the third century in Palestine and India. The "370 AD" seems to be a separate thing. Even if it is claiming they're combined, as noted earlier I don't think Mingana said anything at all about the Sabbath. Perhaps the claim that it was "a Sabbathkeeping church" comes from what follows in the footnote, namely "These churches were sanctifying the seventh day, as can be seen by the famous testimonies of Socrates and Sozomen, Roman Catholic historians (c. A.D. 450), that all the churches throughout the world sanctified Saturday except Rome and Alexandria, which two alone exalted Sunday." This, however, is a massive misrepresentation on the part of Truth Triumphant of what Socrates and Sozomen actually wrote... it also misleadingly calls them as Roman Catholics even though Sozomen was from Constantinople and Socrates was Greek. Socrates and Sozomen sometimes get cited by people who try to claim they refer to Sabbath observance everywhere but Alexandria and Rome, but what they actually refer to is whether people had
religious assemblies on that day or not. Nothing at all about Sabbath rest observance.
So Truth Triumphant ultimately does not provide evidence for the assertion, or that Mingana made this claim.
Spain - Council Elvira (A.D.305)
Canon 26 of the Council of Elvira reveals that the Church of Spainat that time kept Saturday, the seventh day. "As to fasting every Sabbath: Resolved, that the error be corrected of fasting every Sabbath." This resolution of the council is in direct opposition to the policy the church at Rome had inaugurated, that of commanding Sabbath as a fast day in order to humiliate it and make it repugnant to the people.
There is considerable speculation going on here ("commanding Sabbath as a fast day in order to humiliate it and make it repugnant to the people"?), but once again nothing at all about Sabbath rest is discussed, merely whether it's a fast day. However, the canon is worded so ambiguously that people don't know whether it's correcting the error of them fasting on the Sabbath or whether it's correcting the error of them not fasting on the Sabbath! As a work about the Council of Elvira discussed
here:
"In Elv. XXVI the brevity of the Canon has made its force exceptionally ambiguous, and caused grave doubt whether it is to be interpreted as a precept or a prohibition."
Spain
It is a point of further interest to note that in north-eastern Spainnear the city of Barcelona is a city called Sabadell, in a district originaly inhabited. By a people called both "Valldenses" and Sabbatati."
No citation is given, and irrelevant anyway.
Persia-A.D. 335-375 (40 Years Persecution Under Shapur II)
The popular complaint against the Christians-"They despise our sungod, they have divine services on Saturday, they desecrate the sacred the earth by burying their dead in it." (
Truth Triumphant, Online Version p. 261)
Truth Triumphant gives no source for this quote. Even if true, all it says is they had divine services on Saturday, not that it was a day of required rest.
Persia-A.D. 335-375
"They despise our sun-god. Did not Zorcaster, the sainted founder of our divine beliefs, institute Sunday one thousand years ago in honour of the sun and supplant the Sabbath of the Old Testament. Yet these Christians have divine services on Saturday." O'Leary, "The Syriac Church and Fathers," pp.83, 84.
As far as I can tell, this quote is not found in the book.
....All the way to present day.....
Roman Catholic
“It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church.” Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth, NJ ‘News’ on March 18, 1903.
"The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord's Day. The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. xix) condemns those who deny that the Ten Commandments are binding on Christians."
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Commandments of God, Volume IV, © 1908 by Robert Appleton Company - Online Edition © 1999 by Kevin Knight, Nihil Obstat - Remy Lafort, Censor Imprimatur - +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York, page 153.
'Deny the authority of the Church and you have no adequate or reasonable explanation or justification for the substitution of Sunday for Saturday in the Third - Protestant Fourth - Commandment of God... The Church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.'' Catholic Record, September 1, 1923.
“If Protestants would follow the Bible, they would worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church.” Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal, in a letter dated February 10, 1920.
The last few copied-and-pasted quotes are not even particularly relevant, just being some quotes from vaguely cited Catholic sources saying that the sanctification of Sunday was an institution of the Catholic Church. Even if this is true, it proves nothing at all about what the early Christians were doing in regards to Sabbath rest. Perhaps the argument is supposed to be that if these sources are correct, then it would mean the church observed Saturday Sabbath rest in the early centuries, and the mentioned change in the above quotes came later. None of the above quotes actually make such a statement, though, and even if they did, the only one of those that can be considered an actual scholarly source is the Catholic Encyclopedia.
If we're to trust the Catholic Encyclopedia, let's see what it says
in its article on Sunday: "Sunday was the first day of the week according to the Jewish method of reckoning, but for Christians it began to take the place of the Jewish Sabbath in Apostolic times as the day set apart for the public and solemn worship of God." Thus the "changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first" mentioned by the Catholic Encyclopedia occurred,
according to the CE, in the apostolic age.
So this big copy and pasted list of quotes really doesn't show the early church believing the Sabbath rest must still be followed.
