The Fathers on “the Lord’s Day”
By Timothy Glover
Historically, the record shows that early Christians met on Sunday, which they called the “Lord’s Day.” This does not carry the weight and authority of the Scriptures. Still, it provides evidence for the practices of early Christians.
Ignatius (30-107)
Ignatius in his epistle to the Magnesians, “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 sprang up again by Him and His death...” (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.1, pg. 62). Another quote on page 63 of the same source has him saying, “Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness.. But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner. And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord’s day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all days [of the week]. Looking forward to this the prophet declared, ‘To the end, for the eighth day, on which our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was obtained in Christ...’”
Barnabas (100)
“we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead” (Epistle of Barnabas, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 147).
The Didache (125)
“But every Lord’s day do ye gather yourselves together, and break bread” (ibid, Vol. 7, pg. 381).
Justin Martyr (140)
“And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things....He further explains that when the prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, thanksgiving is offered for it and “there is a distribution to each and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons” (Vol. 1, 186).
Cement of Alexandria
In the “Stromata” he writes, “He, in fulfillment of the precept, according to the gospel, keeps the Lord’s day, when he abandons an evil disposition, ...glorifying the Lord’s resurrection in himself” (Vol. II, pg. 545).
Tertullian (200)
Tertullian writes an answer to the Jews. Chapter four is entitled, “Of the Observance of the Sabbath” in which he writes, “the observance of the Sabbath is demonstrated to have been temporary.
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