Sabbath Part 1

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Sabbath Part 1

The existence and common use of the planetary week already in the first century A.D. are well attested by several testimonies. In the present study we need refer only to few of them. The Roman historian Dio Cassius, who wrote his Roman History between A.D. 200-220, reports that Jerusalem was captured both by Pompey in 63 B.C. and by Gaius Sosius in 37 B.C. "on the day even then called the day of Saturn."22 That the praxis of naming the days of the week after the planetary deities was already in use before Christ is further corroborated by the contemporary references of Horace (ca. 35 B.C.) to "dies Jovis—Thursday"23 and of Tibullus (ca. B.C. 29-30) to dies Saturni—Saturday."24 Dio Cassius himself speaks of the planetary week as "prevailing everywhere" in his time to the extent that among the Romans it was "already an ancestral custom."25

Clement of Alexandria (ca. A.D. 150-215) explains that "prayers are offered while looking toward sunrise in the East" because the Orient represents the birth of light that "dispels the darkness of the night" and because of the orientation of "the ancient temples."66 For Origen (ca. A.D. 185-254) the East symbolizes the soul that looks to the source of light.67 Others urged Christians to pray looking toward the East to remind themselves of God’s paradise and/or of Christ’s coming.

Christians who had previously venerated the Sun, facing the necessity of dissociating themselves from the Jews, apparently not only abandoned Jerusalem as the orientation for prayer, but also reverted, unconsciously perhaps, to the direction of sunrise, reinterpreting its meaning in the light of the Christian message. One wonders, was the change of direction for prayer from the Jewish temple to sunrise interrelated also with the change of the worship day from the "Jewish" Sabbath to the day of the Sun? While prayer per se is not a weekly (at least it ought not to be) but a daily religious practice, could not the daily praying toward the Sun have encouraged Christians to worship also weekly on the day of the Sun? Moreover, could not the fact that Christ and His resurrection were associated with the rising sun have easily predisposed Christians to worship the rising "Sun of Justice" on the day of the Sun?

This close nexus between the two customs, admitted even by the pagans, suggests the possibility that Christians could well have adopted them contemporaneously because of the same factors discussed above. This is the conclusion which also F. A. Regan reaches after an extensive analysis of patristic references dealing with the orientation toward the East. He writes: "A suitable, single example of the pagan influence may be had from an investigation of the Christian custom of turning toward the East, the land of the rising sun, while offering their prayers. . . . For in the transition from the observance of the Sabbath to the celebration of the Lord’s day, the primitive Christians not only substituted the first day of the week for the seventh, but they went even further and changed the traditional Jewish practice of facing toward Jerusalem during their daily period of prayer.

22. Dio Cassius, Historia 49, 22, LCL 5, p. 389; cf. Historia 37, 16 and 37, 17; Josephus, Wars of the Jews 1, 7, 3 and Antiquities of the Jews 14, 4, confirms Dio Cassius’ account, saying that the Romans succeeded in capturing the city because they understood that Jews on the Sabbath only acted defensively.

23. Horace, Satirae 2, 3, 288-290, LCL p. 177, represents a superstitious mother as making this vow: "‘0 Jupiter, who givest and takest away sore affliction,’ cries the mother of a child that for five long months has been ill abed, ‘if the quartan chills leave my child, then on the morning of the day on which thou appointest a fast, he shall stand naked in the Tiber.’" The translator H. R. Fairelough explains: "This would be dies Jovis [the day of Jupiter], corresponding to our Thursday" (loc. cit.); cf. J. Hastings’ Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, 1928, s.v. "Sunday"; Ovid (43 B.C.-A.D. 18) refers several times to the seven-day week: "You may begin on the day . . . less fit for business, whereon returns the seventh-day feast that the Syrian of Palestine observe" (Ars Anratoria 1, 413-416; cf. 1,75-80; Remedia Amoris 217-220).

24. In one of his poems, Tibullus explains what excuses he could have found for staying in Rome with his beloved Delia: "Either birds or words of evil omen were my pretexts or that the sacred day of Saturn had held one back" (Carmina 1, 3, 15-18). The day of Saturn was regarded as an unlucky day (dies nefastus) for undertaking important business. Sextus Propertius, a contemporary of Tibullus, speaks, for instance, of "the sign of Saturn that brings woe to one and to all" (Elegies 4, 1, 8 1-86).

25. Dio Cassius, Historia 37, 18, LCL p. 130: "The dedication of the days to the seven stars which are called planets was established by Egyptians, and it spread also to all men not so very long ago, to state it briefly how it began. At any rate the ancient Greeks knew it in no way, as it appears to me at least. But since it also prevails everywhere among all the others and the Romans themselves . . . is already to them an ancestral custom." W. Rordorf, Sunday, pp. 27 and 37, takes Dio Cassius’ statement that the planetary week had come into use "not so very long ago," to mean that it did not exist before "the end of the first century A.D."

This conclusion, however, is invalidated first by Dio’s own comment that the planetary week was prevailing everywhere and that the Romans regarded it as an ancestral custom (a new time cycle does not become widespread and ancestral overnight); secondly, by Dio’s mention that already back in 37 B.C., when Jerusalem was captured by Sosius and Herod the Great, the Sabbath "even then was called day of Saturn" (Historia 49, 22). Moreover note that Dio makes the Greeks, not the Romans, the terminus ante quem the planetary week was unknown. We would therefore agree with C. S. Mosna that "the planetary week must have orginated already in the first century B.C." (Storia della domenica, p. 69).

26. The Sabine calendars have been dated by T. Mommsen between 19 B.C. and A.D. 14, see CIL 12, 220; this date is supported by Attilio Degrassi, "Un Nuovo frammento di calendario Romano e la settimana planetaria dei sette giorni," Atti del Terzo Congresso Internationale de Epigrafia Greca e Latina, Rome, 1957, p. 103; the article is included by the author in his Scritti vari di antichità, 1962, pp. 681-691; Degrassi is of the opinion that even the newly found calendar of Nola "is not later than the time of Tiberius" (p. 101).

27. That the letters from A to G stand for the seven days of the planetary week, as stated by A. Degrassi (fn. 26), p. 99, "has been recognized long ago." This is proven by the fact that they occur "for the whole year in the manuscript Philocalian Calendar of A.D. 354" (bc. cit.). Herbert Thurston explains the Sabine calendars, saying: "when the Oriental sevenday period, or week, was introduced, in the time of Augustus, the first seven letters of the alphabet were employed in the same way as done for the nundinae, to indicate the days of this new division of time.

In fact, fragmentary calendars on marble still survive in which both a cycle of eight letters—A to H—indicating nundinae, and a cycle of seven letters—A to G—indicating weeks, are used side by side (see Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, 2nd ed., I, 220. The same peculiarity occurs in the Philocalian Calendar of A.D. 356, ibid., p. 256). This device was imitated by the Christians, and in their calendars the days of the year from 1 January to 31 December were marked with a continuous recurring cycle of seven letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G" (The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911, s.v. "Dominical Letter").

28. A. Degrassi (fn. 26) pp. 103-104; cf. CIL 12, 218; one has been found in Pompei:i and therefore it is prior to A.D. 79, CIL IV, 8863; these calendars are also reproduced by A. Degrassi in his recent edition of Inscriptiones Italiae, 1963, XIII, ns. 49, 52, 53, 55, 56.

29. A. Degrassi (fn. 26), p. 104, (emphasis supplied).
30. CIL X, part I, 199 (No. 1605).
31. Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 3,41, LCL I, pp. 321, 323.
32. Petronius, Sat yricon 30, LCL, p. 45.
33. Frontinus, Strategemata 2, 1, 17, LCL, p. 98; Dio Cassius’ account is strikingly similar: "Thus was Jerusalem destroyed on the very day of Saturn, the day which even now the Jews reverence most" (Historia 65,7, LCL, p. 271.

34. For a good reproduction of the Pompeiian painting of the planetary gods see Erasmo Pistolesi, Real Museo Borbonico, 1836, VII, pp. 116-130, plate 27; cf. "Le Pitture Antiche d’Ercolano," Real Accademia de Archeologia, III, pp. 257-263; H. Roux Ain~, Herculanum et Pompei: recueil g,~n~ral des peintures, bronzes, mosaiques, 1862, pp. 106-109; cf. J. Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, 1928, s.v. "Sunday."

35. CIL I, part 1, 342; CIL IV, part 2, 515, no. 4182; at Herculaneum was found inscribed in Greek upon a wall a list entitled "Day of the Gods" followed by the names of the seven planetary deities in the genitive form, CIL IV, part 2, 582, no. 5202; cf. CIL IV, 712, no. 6779; see E. Schiirer (fn. 20), pp. 27f.; R. L. Odom, Sunday in Roman Paganism, 1944, pp. 88-94.

36. CIL IV, part 2, 717. no. 6338.
37. Attilio Degrassi, Inscriptiones Italiae, 1963, XIII, pp. 308-309, plate 56; Troianus Marulli, Sopra un’antica cappella cristiana, scoperta di fresco in Roma nelle terme di Tito, 1813; I. A. Guattani, Meinorie enciclopediche per il 1816, pp. 153f. table 22; Antonius De Romanis, Le Antic/ic catnere esquiline, 1822, pp. 21, 59f.

38. Plutarch’s Complete Works, III, p. 230.
39. According to the geocentric system of astronomy of that period, the order of the planets was as follows: Saturn (farthest), Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, and Moon (nearest). In the planetary week, however, the days are named after the planets in this sequence: Saturn Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus; for a discussion, see R.L. Odom (fn. 35), pp. 11-17.

40 R. L. Odom (fn. 35), pp. 54-124, surveys the evidences for the planetary week till the third century A.D.
41. This conclusion is shared by several scholars; see F. H. Colson (fn. 20), p. 36: "Reviewing the evidence discussed ~above, we see that the planetary week was known in some sense in the Empire as early as the destruction of Pompeii and most people will think a century earlier"; B. Botte, "Les Denominations du dimanche dans la tradition chrdtienne," Le Dimanche, Lex Orandi 39, 1965, p. 16: "When Tibullus wrote his Elegy, the use of the planetary week had already entered the customs. But, considering, on the one hand, the absence of any allusion prior to this date and, on the other hand, the abundance of indications beginning from the second century, we clearly see that the change took place toward the beginning of the Christian era"; cf. H. Dumaine, "Dimanche," DACL IV, 911.

42. F. H. Colson (fn. 41), p. 75, rightly notes: "A religion in which the supreme object of adoration was so closely connected if not identified with the Sun, could hardly fail to pay special reverence to what even non-Mithraists hailed as the Sun’s-day."

43. W. Rordorf, Sunday, p. 35; note that initially the day of the Sun was the second day of the planetary week, following the day of Saturn which was first. This is clearly proved, for instance, by several stone calendars (so-called indices nundinarii) where the days of the week are given horizontally, starting with the day of Saturn; see above fn. 28. In a mural inscription found in Herculaneum the "Days of the Gods" are given in capital Greek letters, starting with "kronou [of Saturn], Heliou [of Sun] . . ." (CIL IV, part 2, 582, no. 5202). A similar list was found in Pompeii written in Latin and beginning with "Saturni [of Saturn]" (CIL IV, part 2, 712, no. 6779). W. Rordorf, Sunday, p. 35, rightly stresses this point: "It must, however, be emphasized straight away that in the planetary week Sunday always occupied only the second place in the sequence of days."

44. V. Monachino, De persecutionibus in imperio Romano saec. I-IV et de polemica pagano-christiana saec. II-III, Gregorian University, 1962, p. 147.
45. The text of the first law of March 3, 321 is found in Codex Justinianus III, 12, 3 and that of July 3, 321, in Codex Theodosianus II, 8, 1. Considering the fact that the necessity to legislate on a social custom such as a day of rest, arises when this endangers public welfare (as suggested by the exception made for farmers), it is plausible to suppose that the veneration of the day of the Sun was already a well-rooted tradition.

46. Arthur Weigall, The Paganism in Our Christianity, 1928, p. 236.
47. According to Eusebius, The Life of Constantine 4, 18 and 20, Constantine recommended that Christians, including the soldiers, "attend the services of the Church of God." For the pagan soldiers the Emperor prescribed a generic prayer to be recited on Sunday in an open field. (cf. Sozomen, HE 1, 8, 12).
This imperial injunction cannot be taken as an example of traditional pagan Sunday worship, since the motivation of the legislation is clearly Christian: "in memory . . . of what the Saviour of mankind is recorded to have achieved" (NPNF 2nd, I, p. 544). Moreover it should be noted that the Constantinian law did not prohibit agricultural or private activities but only public. This shows that even at the time of Constantine the pagan observance of Sunday was quite different from the Jewish keeping of the Sabbath.

48. Tertullian, Ad Nationes 1, 13, ANF III, p. 123. W, Rordorf, Sunday, p. 37, argues that Tertullian does not allude to the day of the Sun but to that of Saturn, since he later speaks of Jewish customs such as the Sabbath which pagans had adopted. Unfortunately Rordorf fails to recognize that Tertullian responds to the charge that Christians are Sun-worshipers, first, by making the pagans themselves guilty of having adopted the day and the veneration of the Sun; and secondly, by showing them how they had deviated from their tradition by adopting even Jewish customs such as the Sabbath. For an analysis of the passage, see my Italian dissertation, pp. 446-449; F. A. Regan, Dies Dominica, p. 35, recognizes that Tertullian refers to Sunday.

49. Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia 2, 4, LCL, p. 177.
50. Samuel Laechli, Mithraism in Ostia, 1967, p. 11, 13, 14, 38-45, 72-73. The Mithraeum of the Seven Doors is dated A.D. 160-170 while that of the Seven Spheres is dated late in the second century. In the former, the Sun’s "door" is the tallest and widest; in the letter, the Sun’s sphere is presumably the last; see Leroy A. Campbell, Mithraic Iconography and Ideology, 1968, pp. 300-307, figs. 19 and 20.

51. On the Bononia relief the planetary gods are placed on the face of the tauroctone arch and they run counter clockwise from Luna (Monday) at the right, followed by Mars (Tursday) and so on, closing with Sol (Sunday) at the left; see F. Cumont, Textes et Monuments,1886-1889, II, p. 261 and I, p. 119; cf. L.A. Campbell (fn. 50), p. 342.

52. In Origen, Contra Celsunr 6, 21-22. Celsus lists the planets in the reverse order (Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Moon, Sun) enabling the Sun to occupy a significant seventh position. Note that though the arrangement of the gods of the week-days may vary in Mithraic iconography, the sequential order of the planetary deities is not disrupted and the Sun usually occupies a preeminent position. Priscillian (ca. A.D. 370) provides a slightly different list but always with the Sun at the top (Tractatus 1, 15). In the Brigetio relief, however, the planetary gods follow the regular sequence of the planetary week from Saturn to Venus; see L. A. Campbell (fn. 50) plate XXXIII.

53. F. Cumont, Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans, 1912, p. 163; Cumont also comments: "Each day of the week, the Planet to which the day was sacred was invoked in a fixed spot in the crypt; and Sunday, over which the Sun presided, was especially holy" (The Mysteries of Mithra, 1956, p. 167); cf. Textes (fn. 51) I, p. 119: "The dies Solis was evidently the most sacred of the week for the faithful of Mithra and, like the Christians, they had to keep holy Sunday and not the Sabbath" (cf. also p. 325).

A statement from Isidore of Seville (ca. A.D. 560-636) best summarizes the priority Sun worship accorded to the day of the Sun: "The gods have arranged the days of the week, whose names the Romans dedicated to certain stars. The first day they called day of the Sun because it is the ruler of all stars" (Etymologiae 5, 30 PL 82, 216).

54. The date is established by Otto Neugebauer and Henry B. Van Hoesen, Greek Horoscopes, 1959, p. 177.
55. Vettius Valens, Anthologiarum 5, 10, ed. G. Kroll, p. 26. Robert L. Odom, "Vettius Valens and the Planetary Week," AUSS 3 (1965): 110-137 provides a penetrating analysis of the calendations used by Vettius Valens and shows convincingly that "Vettius Valens, who undoubtedly was a pagan, used the week of seven days, [and] reckoned the seven-day week as beginning with the day of the Sun (Sunday) and ending with ‘the sabbatical day’ (Sabbath day)" (p. 134); H. Dumaine "Dimanche" DACL IV, 912 defends the same view on the basis of different evidences; cf. W. H. Roscher, "Planeten," Aligeineines Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, 1909, col. 2538.

56. B. Botte (fn. 41), p. 21.
57. Jacquetta Hawkes, Man and the Sun, 1962, p. 199.
58. Tertullian strongly rejected the pagan accusation that the Christians’ rejoicing on Sunday was motivated by the worship of the Sun (see Apology 16, 1 and Ad Nationes 1, 13, 1-5, ANF III, p. 31 and p. 122). Similarly Origen regarded Celsus’ likening of Christianity to pagan mystery religions, Mithraism included, as absurd and unworthy of eithei refutation or repetition (see Against Celsus 1, 9 and 6, 22, ANF IV, p. 399-400 and 583).

59.Tertullian, On Idolatry 14 ANF III, p. 70: "How... wicked to celebrate them [i.e., pagan festivals] among brethren! . . . The Saturnalia and New-year and Midwinter’s festivals and Matronalia are frequented—presents come and go—New-year’s gifts—games join their noise—banquets join their din! Oh, better fidelity of the nations to their own sect, which claims no solemnity of the Christians for itself!"

60. Jack Lindsay, Origin of Astrology, 1972, provides in chapter 20 "Pagan and Christians" (pp. 373-400) a valuable and concise survey of the influence of astrological beliefs on early Christianity. Origen complains that many Christians believed that nothing could happen unless it had been decreed by the stars (Philocalia, 23). H. Dumaine and De Rossi point out that the names of the planetary week used in Christian funerary inscriptions reflect the prevailing superstition, according to which the day mentioned belonged to the protecting star ("Dimanche" DACL IV, 872-875; cf. E. Schürer (fn. 20), pp. 35-39).

The Fathers protested against such beliefs. Philaster, Bishop of Brescia (d. ca. A.D. 397) condemns as heresy the prevailing belief that "the name of the days of the Sun, of the Moon . . . had been established by God at the creation of the world. . . . The pagans, that is, the Greeks have set up such names and with the names also the notion that mankind depends from the seven stars" (Liber de haeresibus 113, PL 12, 1257).

In a document attributed to Priscillian (ca. A.D. 340-385) anathema is pronounced against those Christians who "in their sacred ceremonies, venerate and acknowledge as gods the Sun, Moon... and all the heavenly host, which are detestable idols worthy of the Gehenna" (Tractatus undecim, CSEL 18, p.14); cf. Martin of Braga, De correctione rusticorum ed. C. W. Barlow, 1950, p. 189; Augustin, In Psalmos 61, 23, CCL 39, p. 792.

61. A number of examples can be seen in F. Cumont, Textes et monunrents II, p. 202, no. 29; p. 210, no. 38; p. 241, no. 73; p. 290, no. 145; p. 311, no. 169; p. 350, no. 248; p. 434, no. 379.

62. See E. Kirschbaum, The Tomb of St. Peter and St. Paul, 1959, pp. 3Sf.; P. Testini, Archaelogia Cristiana, 1958, p. 167. The mosaic came to light during the recent excavations (1953-1957) under the altar of St. Peter’s basilica; cf. an artistic reproduction of Christ portrayed as Sol Invictus in F. Cumont (fn. 61), I, p. 123, table no. 6.

63. Justin, Dialogue 121, ANF I, p. 109 contrasts the devotion of Sun-worshipers with that of the Christians, who on account of the word of Christ who "is more blazing and bright than the might of the sun ... have suffered and still suffer, all kinds of torments rather than deny their faith in Him." In a document attributed to Melito, Bishop of Sardis (d. ca. A.D. 190) a striking parallelism is established between Christ and the sun: "But if the sun with the stars and the moon wash in the ocean, why should not Christ also wash in the Jordan? The king of the heavens and the leader of creation, the sun of the east who both appeared to the dead in Hades and to the living in the world, and this only Sun rose from Heaven" (On Baptism, ed. J. B. Pitra, Analecta Sacra Spicilegio Solesmensi, 1884, 2,5).

Clement of Alexandria (ca. A.D. 150-215) elaborates diffusely on the symbol of Christ as true Light and true Sun and applies to Christ a common pagan designation for a heavenly god: "pantepoptes"—the one who looks down on all." Clement skillfully urges the pagans to abandon their rites of divination and be initiated instead into Christ the true Sun and Light (see Protrepticus II, 114, 1, GCS 1,80, 16; Stromateis 7,3,21,6, GCS 3, 15, 28; Paedagogus 3,8,44,1, GCS 1, 262, 7).

Origen (ca. A.D. 185-254) manifests the same predilection for the denomination "Sun of Justice": "Christ is the Sun of Justice; if the moon is united, which is the Church, it will be filled by His light" (In Numeros homilia 23, 5, GCS 7, 217, 24; cf. In Leviticum homilia 9, GCS 6, 438, 19). Cyprian (d. A.D. 258) Bishop of Carthage exhorts believers "to pray at sunrise to commemorate the resurrection ... and to pray at the setting of the sun ... for the advent of Christ" (De oratione 35, CSEL 3, 292). Ambrose (A.D. 339-397), Bishop of Milan, to counteract the widespread Sun-cult, frequently contrasts Christ "lumen verum et Sol iustitiae—true light and Sun of justice" with the "Sol iniquitatis—Sun of iniquity" (In Psalmos 118, sermo 19,6 CSEL 62, 425, 4f). A. J. Vermeulen,

The Semantic Developntent of Gloria in Early Christian Latin, 1956, p. 170, comments that Christians did not adopt an exclusive apologetic attitude, but "they took a much easier view of certain pagan customs, conventions and images and saw no objection, after ridding them of their pagan content, to adapting them to Christian thought." J. Daniélou, Bible and Liturgy, p. 299, offers a similar observation. Eusebius of Alexandria (ca. A.D. 500) writes: "I know many who worship and pray to the Sun.

For at the time the sun is rising they pray and say, ‘Have mercy upon us,’ and not only sun-worshipers and heretics do this, but also Christians, departing from the faith, mingle with heretics" (PG 86, 453). That the problem assumed alarming proportions is indicated by the vigorous attack of Pope Leo the Great (d. A.D. 461) against the veneration of the Sun by many Christians (Sermon 27, In Nativitate Domini, PL 54, 218). F. J. D6lger, Sol Salutis. Gebet und Gesang in christlichen Altertum. Mit besonderer Riicksicht auf die Ostung in Gebet und Liturgie, 1925, provides especially in chapters 20 and 21 an extensive documentation of the influence of Sun-worship on the Christian liturgy.

64. Dan. 6:11; 2 Chron. 6:34f; cf. Jewish Encyclopedia, 1907, s.v. ‘‘Prayer."
65. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses 1,26, ANF I, p. 352.
66. Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis 7, 7, 43, GCS 3, 32.
67. Origen, De oratione 32, GCS 2, 400, 23.
68. Apostolic Constitutions 2, 57, 2 and 14, specific instructions are given to ensure that both the church building and the congregation face the orient. Moreover believers are urged to "pray to God eastward, who ascended to the heaven of heavens to the east; remembering also the ancient situation of paradise in the east. . ." (ANF VII, p. 42); cf.

Didascalia 2, 57, 3; Hippolytus, De Antichristo 59, GCS 1, 2, 39-40; Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem (A.D. 315-386) instructed his baptismal candidates to face first the West, the devil’s domain, and facing that direction, they were to say: "I renounce you Satan" and then after "severing all ancient bonds with hell, the Paradise of God, which is planted in the East is open to you" (Catechesibus 1,9, Monumenta eucharistica, ed. J. Quasten, 2,79).

An early Christian Syrian author tells us: "The Apostles therefore established that you should pray toward the east, because ‘as the lightning which lighteneth from the east is seen even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be,’ that by this we may know and understand that He will appear suddenly from the east" (Didascalie d’Addai 2, 1, see F. Dolger (fn. 5) p. 72, n. 3); cf. also Basil, De Spiritu Sancto27, 64, PG 32, 189; Gregory of Nyssa, De oratione Domini 5, PG 44, 1184; Augustine, De sermone Domini in morte 2, 5, 18, PL 34, 1277.

69. See above fn. 48.
70. F. A. Regan, Dies Dominica, p. 196,
71. In the Philocalian calendar (A.D. 354) the 25th of December is designated as "N[atalis] Invicti—The birthday of the invincible one" (CIL I, part 2, p. 236); Julian the Apostate, a nephew of Constantine and a devotee of Mithra, says regarding this pagan festival: "Before the beginning of the year, at the end of the month which is called after Saturn [December], we celebrate in honor of Helios [the Sun] the most splendid games, and we dedicate the festival to the Invincible Sun. That festival may the ruling gods grant me to praise and to celebrate with sacrifice! And above all the others may Helios [the Sun] himself, the king of all, grant me this" (Julian, The Orations of Julian, Hymn to King Helios 155, LCL p. 429);

Franz Cumont, Astrology and Religion Among Greeks and Romans, 1960, p. 89: "A very general observance required that on the 25th of December the birth of the ‘new Sun’ should be celebrated, when after the winter solstice the days began to lengthen and the ‘invincible’ star triumphed again over darkness"; for texts on the Mithraic celebration of Dec. 25th see CIL I, p. 140; Gordon J. Laing, Survivals of Roman Religion, 1931, pp. 58-65, argues persuasively that many of the customs of the ancient Roman Saturnalia (Dec. 17-23) were transferred to the Christmas season. G. Brumer, Jahrbuch für Liturgiewissenschaft, 1935, p. 178f and K.

Prumm, Stimmen der Zeit, 1939, p. 215, date the festival of December 25 back to the Emperor Aurelian (A. D. 270-275), whose fondness for the worship of the Sun is well known. The hypothesis rests on Augustine’s censure of the Donatists (PL 38, 1033) for failing to observe January 6th. This, however, hardly implies that Christians celebrated Christ’s birthday on December 25th already at that time.

72. An exception is the comment of an unknown Syrian writer who wrote in the margin of the Expositio in Evangelia of Bar-salibaeus (d. A.D. 1171) as follows: "Therefore the reason why the aforesaid solemnity was transferred by the Fathers from the 6th of January to the 25th of December, they explain to have been as follows: It was a solemn rite among the pagans to celebrate the festival of the rising of the sun on this very day, December 25th.

Furthermore, to augment the solemnity of the day, they were accustomed to kindle fires, to which rites they were accustomed to invite and admit even Christian people. When therefore the Teachers observed that Christians were inclined to this custom, they contrived a council and established on this day the festival of the true Rising" (J. S. Assemanus, Bibliotheca orientalis 2, 164, trans. by P. Cotton, From Sabbath to Sunday, 1933, pp. 144-145).

73. Augustine, Sermo in Nativit ate Domini 7, PL 38, 1007 and 1032, enjoins Christians to worship at Christmas not the sun but its Creator; Leo the Great (fn. 63) rebukes those Christians who at Christmas celebrated the birth of the sun rather than that of Christ.

74. L. Duchesne, Christian Worship: Its Origin and Evolution, 1919, pp. 260f., presents this hypothesis as a possibility. M. Righetti, Manuale di Storia Liturgica, 1955, II, pp. 68-69, explains that the date of March 25th "though historically unfounded, was based on astronomical-allegorical considerations, namely that on the day of the vernal equinox the world was created." According to this theory, on the same date of March 25 creation began and Christ, as Augustine says, was "conceived and crucified" (De trinitate 4, 5, PL 42, 894); cf. Hippolytus, In Danielem commentarius 4, 23, for a similar view.

75. 0. Cullmann, The Early Church, 1956, p. 29. Cullmann maintains that two factors contributed "to the separation of the festival of Christ’s birth from Epiphany, and to the transference of the former to December 25th," namely, "the dogmatic development of christology at the beginning of the fourth century" and the influence of the pagan festival held in honor of the Sun—god on December 25. Theologically, Cullmann argues, it became necessary, after the condemnation at the Council of Nicaea of the doctrine that God the Son did not become incarnate at his birth, to dissociate the festival of the birth from that of the Epiphany.

Both festivals were celebrated, especially in the East, on January 5th-6th (as birth-baptism), and this must have been objectionable, since the birth of Christ commemorated under the common theme of "Epiphany=appearing," could easily be misinterpreted heretically. This theological explanation, though very ingenious, hardly justifies the adoption of December 25, especially in the West. In fact, to be able to speak of separation of the two festivities, it is necessary to prove first of all that in Rome, Christians had previously celebrated Christmas on January 6, a fact that we have not found.

76. Joseph A. Jungmann, The Early Liturgy to the Time of Gregory the Great, 1962, p. 147; L. Duchesne (fn. 74), p. 26, also recognizes this as a more plausible explanation: "A better explanation is that based on the festival of Natalis Invicti, which appears in the pagan calendar of the Philocalian collection under the 25th of December. . . . One is inclined to believe that the Roman Catholic Church made the choice of the 25th of December in order to enter into rivalry with Mithraism"; John Ferguson, The Religions of the Roman Empire, 1970, p. 239, defends the same view; cf. Franz Cumont (fn. 71), p. 89 and (fn. 51), I, p. 342:

"It appears certain that the commemoration of the nativity was placed on December 25, because on the winter solstice was celebrated the rebirth of the invincible god. By adopting this date ... the ecclesiastical authorities purified somehow some pagan customs which they could not suppress."

77. Gaston H. Halsberghe (fn. 6), p. 174; 0. Cullmann (fn. 75), p. 35, explicitly states: "The choice of the dates themselves, both January 6th and December 25th, was determined by the fact that both these days were pagan festivals whose meaning provided a starting point for the specifically Christian conception of Christmas"; the same view is emphatically expressed by B. Botte, Les Origines de la Noël et de l’Épiphanie, 1932, p. 14; cf. C. Mohrmann, "Epiphania," Revue des Sciences Philosophiques (1937): 672.

78 T. Mommsen, Chronography of Philocalus of the Year 354, 1850, p. 631; L. Duchesne, Bulletin critique, 1890, p. 41, has established that the calendar goes back to 336, because the Depositio nra rtyrum is preceded in the Philocalian by the Depositium episcoporum of Rome, which lists Sylvester (d. A.D. 335) as the last pope.

79. M. Righetti (fn. 74), II, p. 67; this view is widely held: see L. Duchesne above fn. 76; 0. Cullmann (fn. 75), p. 30: "The Roman Church intentionally opposed to this pagan nature cult its own festival of light, the festival of the birth of Christ."

80. B. Botte (fn. 41), pp. 14f; see above fn. 75.
81. Q. Cullmann (fn. 75), p. 32; for a concise account of the diffusion of and opposition to the Roman Christmas, see M. Righetti (fn. 74), II, pp. 70f.
82. Joseph A. Jungmann (fn. 76), p. 151.
83. See above fn. 63.
84. Eusebius, Cominentaria in Psalmos 91, PG 23, 1169-1172; cf. below fn. 112.
85. Note that Justin Martyr, long before Eusebius, alludes to the same two motivations (though not so explicitly) in his I Apology 67, see above p. 230 and below p. 265.

86. Jerome, In die dominica Paschae homilia CCL 78, 550, 1, 52; the same in Augustine, Contra Faustum 18,5; in Sermo 226, PL 38, 1099, Augustine explains that Sunday is the day of light because on the first day of creation "God said, ‘Let there be light! And there was light. And God separated the light from darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness night" (Gen. 1:2-5).

87. Maximus of Turin, Homilia 61, PL 57, 371; Gaudentius, Bishop of Brescia (ca. A.D. 400), Sermo 9, De evangelica lectione 2, PL 20, 916 and De Exodo sermo 1, PL 20, 845, explains that the Lord’s day became first in relationship to the Sabbath, because on that day the Sun of righteousness has appeared, dispelling the darkness of the Jews, melting the ice of the pagans and restoring the world to its primordial order; Eusebius, Life of Constantine 4, 18, NPNF 2nd, I, p. 544, explicitly states: "The Savior’s day which derives its name from light and from the sun"; cf. Hilary of Poitiers, Tractatus in Psalmos 67, 6, CSEL 27, 280; Athanasius, Expositio in Psalmos 67, 34, PG 27, 303; Ambrose, Hexaemeron 4, 2, 7; and Epistula 44, PL 16, 1138.

88. F. H. Colson (fn. 20), p. 94.
89. See above fns. 48, 58 and 60.
90. Tertullian, On Idolatry 14, ANE III, p. 70; Martin of Braga, De correctione rusticorum, ed. C. W. Barlow, 1950, p. 189, forcefully rebukes Christians, saying: "What madness it is therefore, that one who has been baptized in the faith of Christ should not worship on the Lord’s day, the day on which Christ rose from the dead, but says rather that he worships the day of Jupiter and Mercury. . . . These have no day but were adulterers and magicians... and died in evil."

91. We found this to be true also in the case of Christmas. Only later were Christians willing to explicitly admit the borrowing of a pagan festival; see above fn. 72.
92. This point is well made by F. A. Regan, Dies Dominica, p. 157.
93. For instance, Justin Martyr, Dialogue 121, ANF I, p. 260, associates Christ with the Sun on the basis of Scriptural texts: "The word of His truth and wisdom is more ardent and more light-giving than the rays of the sun... Hence also the Scripture said, ‘His name shall rise above the sun.’ And again Zechariah says, ‘His name is the East.’"

94. Psalm 84:11 applies the title sun to God Himself: "For the Lord God is a sun and a shield"; Psalm 72:17, alluding to the Messiah, says: "May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun"; cf. Isaiah 9:2; 60:1-3, 19-20; Zechariah 3:8.

95. John 1:4-5.
96. John 1:9.
97. John 5:35.
98. John 8:12; cf. 9:4-5.
99. John 12 :34.
100. Rev. 22 :4. In the inaugural vision John describes Christ’s face "like the sun shining in full strength" (Rev. 1:16). Note also that when Christ was transfigured before Peter, James and John, it is said: "his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light" (Matt. 17:2). See F.A. Regan, Die Dominica, pp. 157-163 for further texts and discussion.

101. E. Lohse, "sabbaton," TDNT VII, p. 29, fn. 228, admits this possibility: "A contributory factor was undoubtedly the fact that from the first century B.C., the seven-day week named after the planets had been increasingly adopted in the Hellenistic-Roman world. The day of Saturn was generally regarded as an unlucky day, while Sunday which followed it was a particularly good day."

102. See above fn. 58.
103. Eusebius, Commentaria in Psalmos 91, PG 23, 1169-1172.
104. Justin, I Apology 67; the passage is quoted and discussed above, pp. 230-231.
105. Justin, Dialogue 121, see fn. 93.
106. Macrobius, Saturnalia 1, 9, 9 speaks of the sun as "opening the day in the orient and closing it in the occident"; Juvenal, Satirae 14,280: "Herculeus heard the roaring sun in the bottom of the sea" and "The sun roars when it rises as when a red hot iron is immersed in water."

107. Melito of Sardis, Fragment VIIIb, 4, SC 123, p. 233; Zeno of Verona frequently uses solar metaphors to explain Christian teachings. He compares the baptism of the neophytes to immersion of the sun in the ocean and the rising of the sun to the immortal glory promised to the believers (Liber II, 46, PL 11, 503A and 504).

108. F.H. Colson (fn. 20), p. 92.
109. B. Botte (fn. 41), p. 21.
110. F. H. Colson (fn. 20), p. 93.
111. Maximus of Turin, Homilia 61, PL 57, 371.
112. Eusebius, Life of Constantine 4, 18, NPNF 2nd, I, p. 544.
113. Several scholars support this conclusion: Franz Cumont (fn. 53), p. 163, affirms: "The preeminence assigned to the dies solis also certainly contributed to the general recognition of Sunday as a holiday"; P. Cotton (fn. 72), p. 130, similarly notes: "It cannot be denied that the pagan use of Sun-day has had an appreciable effect upon Christianity in bringing the Christian Sun-day into preeminence in the Church as the sole day of worship"; cf. F. H. Colson (fn. 20), p. VI; 0. Cullman (fn. 75) acknowledges the association between the resurrection and the day of the Sun by the middle of the second century:

"From the middle of the second century the term ‘Sunday’ occurs for the former ‘Lord’s Day’ This means that the Christians’ thought about the redemptive act of the resurrection of Christ . . . had already become associated with the symbolism of the sun." Cullmann, however, fails to prove that the designation "Lord’s day" is prior to that of "Sunday."
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