In Russia the Subotniki observed the Sabbath for centuries, and in the eighteenth century numbered in the thousands. Many suffered persecution in the early nineteenth century and many were banished to Siberia or the Crimea. Others outwardly joined the Orthodox Church but secretly continued to observe the Sabbath.
The Biblical Sabbath has always been the seventh day of the week, what we call Saturday. However, the “Christian Sabbath” is today almost universally recognized as Sunday, the first day of the week. This day of worship dates back to the convergence of religious and political power under the Roman Catholic Church in the middle ages.
The word Sabbath literally means “rest,” and the Bible says that God blessed and sanctified, or set apart as holy, this first Sabbath rest day as a memorial of His finished work of creation. This is why the fourth commandment begins with a call to remember the seventh-day Sabbath rest.
As the early Christian church grew, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians debated about the continuing relevance of certain institutions and commands dating from Old Testament…
A growing number of Christians observed both Sabbath and Sunday during the fourth and fifth centuries. The so-called Apostolic Constitutions from the fourth century taught…
Throughout history, the Sabbath has provided an opportunity to combat and, at least to some degree, dismantle the distinctions of socio-economic status within human society. Thousands of years ago people were already talking about the Sabbath as a day that would be a blessing to society. Few people would argue that human society today desperately needs these same Sabbath blessings.
