The Sabbath
God Sanctified the Sabbath
After the creation of the world God sanctified the seventh day (the Sabbath), but did not establish a commandment:
“Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Gen. 2:3)
Nearby there are many places where God gives other commands:
“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply…’” (Gen. 1:28)
“And God said, ‘See, I have given you every herb … and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food’” (Gen. 1:29)
“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat’” (Gen. 2:16-17)
However, no commands are given about the Sabbath. After all the days of creation it is said that God rested, not people. People, however, God placed in the garden of Eden to work:
“there was no man to till the ground <...> The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. <...> Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it” (Gen. 2:5,8,15)
Into that eternal divine rest in which God abides (Gen. 2:3), people will be able to enter only in the future. And even then, not all, but only those whom God Himself lets in:
“For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: ‘So I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest,”’ although the works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Heb. 4:3; Ps. 95:11; Heb. 3:11)
The Appearance of the Commandment to Abstain from Work on the Sabbath
The commandment of Sabbath rest was first established by God in the time of the prophet Moses, at the making of the covenant with the people of Israel:
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates” (Ex. 20:8-10; Deut. 5:12-15; Lev. 19:3; Lev. 19:30)
The Reason for Establishing the Commandment of Sabbath Rest
The reason for the commandment is given right after the words of the commandment. This reason is the exodus of the people of Israel from Egyptian captivity.
“but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work <…> And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day” (Deut. 5:14-15)
He gave them “Sabbaths”, that is, He gave what had not existed before:
“Therefore I made them go out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, ‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them.’ Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them” (Ezek. 20:10-12)
“The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive” (Deut. 5:2-3)
There is also another explanation, pointing to God’s blessing of the seventh day:
“but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work <…> For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Ex. 20:10-11; Gen. 2:3)
However, although this explanation points to a connection, what is given here is precisely the reason for the blessing of the Sabbath: “therefore the LORD blessed” (Ex. 20:10-11), not the reason for the command. In the other verse, however, the reason precisely for the command is given in the plainest way: “you were a slave <…> brought you out <…> therefore … commanded” (Deut. 5:14-15).
Thus, the Sabbath rest is established because of the liberation of the people of Israel from Egyptian captivity, although a connection with the divine rest is indicated.
The Law of Commandments Is Abolished
The Law was given until the time of Christ’s coming:
“What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made” (Gal. 3:19)
The law of commandments has been done away by the teaching of Christ:
“For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity” (Eph. 2:14-16)
Christians have been freed from the law:
“But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter” (Rom. 7:6)
A detailed explanation of the abolition of the Law of Moses: Abolition of the Law of Moses
Christ Defended the Apostles Against Accusations of Breaking the Sabbath Rest
The Pharisees reproach the Lord and the apostles for breaking the Sabbath rest. Christ calls the apostles guiltless:
“And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, ‘Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!’ <...> ‘But if you had known what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the guiltless’” (Matt. 12:2,7)
The Apostle Forbids Condemning Christians for Not Keeping the Sabbath Rest
“So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths” (Col. 2:16)
Sunday
The Day of the Lord’s Appearing
The Lord Jesus Christ rose and appeared to the disciples, without Thomas, on the first day of the week — Sunday (John. 20:19).
On Sunday He appeared to the myrrh-bearing women (Matt. 28:1, 9), to Mary Magdalene (Mark. 16:9), to the apostle Peter (Luke. 24:34), to the apostles Cleopas and Luke (Luke. 24:13-32).
For Thomas’s sake the Savior appears again exactly a week later, again on the Lord’s day (John. 20:26).
The Day of Assembly and of Celebrating the Eucharist
The apostles, staying in Troas for a week, out of all 7 days gather for divine service and the breaking of bread not on the Sabbath, but on Sunday:
“But we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days (THEY WERE IN TROAS ALL SEVEN DAYS — note). Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread (THEY WERE THERE 7 DAYS, BUT FOR THE BREAKING OF BREAD THEY GATHERED PRECISELY ON SUNDAY — note), Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together (A SOLEMN ASSEMBLY — note). <...> Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed” (Act. 20:6-11).
The apostle asks that on Sunday (the day of assembly) money be set aside little by little to help the needy:
“On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come” (1 Cor. 16:2)
Objections
Some communities separated from the Church (chiefly the sect of Seventh-day Adventists), contrary to the commandment (Col. 2:16), accuse the Church not only of not keeping the Sabbath rest, but also of celebrating Sunday more solemnly, and say that it should not be celebrated.
In the Orthodox Church a person is called to good deeds on all the days of his life, while special days (Saturday and especially Sunday) are celebrated by performing not only a personal good deed, but also a common work (from Greek λειτουργία — leitourgia): Sunday is celebrated with a common assembly for divine service. Services are held on other days as well, but on Saturday and especially on Sunday special, more solemn services are celebrated.
For Christians the most important event is the Pascha of Christ — the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. This day is called the feast of feasts and the triumph of triumphs, because:
“And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. <...> And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (1 Cor. 15:14,17)
As already shown above, the apostles celebrated divine service precisely on Sunday. This day became a joyful day of meeting with the risen Lord. The first Christians did the same: the Eucharist on Sunday (in Russian)
They also accuse the emperor Constantine (4th century) of supposedly moving the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday (Act. 20:6-11). However, the emperor Constantine established the very first day of rest in the week — Sunday — without giving any instructions about Saturday (more, in Russian). Before this decree there were no general weekly days of rest in the Roman Empire.
Thus the criticism is, to put it mildly, unfounded.