Answers to Quora Questions by Yair Davidiy (20 October 2017, 30 Tishrei, 5778)
What is the difference between Orthodox Jews who use no electricity, motor vehicles, etc. Friday night or Saturday day and major holidays and devout Christians who apply the same restrictions to Sunday and holidays until sundown?
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-Orthodox-Jews-who-use-no-electricity-motor-vehicles-etc-Friday-night-or-Saturday-day-and-major-holidays-and-devout-Christians-who-apply-the-same-restrictions-to-Sunday-and-holidays-until-sundown/answer/Yair-Davidiy
There are no Christians, to the best of my knowledge, who observe Sunday like the Jews keep the Sabbath.
Maybe 2 to 3 hundred years ago in some parts of Scotland there were some Christians who kept Sunday in that way. Today they do not exist.
The Christian observance of Sunday is attributed to Paul. It was intended to replace the Jewish Sabbath.
They chose Sunday possibly in order to differentiate themselves from the Jews.
The History of Sunday Observance
http://abvmcalgary.com/abvmcalga...
The decree of the Second Vatican Council on the "Constitution on the Liturgy" declares: " a tradition handed down from the apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ's resurrection, the Church celebrates the paschal mystery every eighth day; with good reason this, then, bears the nam of the Lord's Day or Sunday." ....
The ancient Romans, following the Egyptians, called Sun-day the "Day of the Sun" from which comes the English name "Sunday". the early Fathers of the Church this name had a profound meaning, for they considered the sun as the symbol of Jesus Christ: St. Justin the Martyr (c. 165) says: "We meet together on the day of the sun on which God, changing darkness and matter created the world, and on which Jesus Christ our Saviour arose from the dead. Eusebius of Caesarea similarly remarks: "It was on this day that at the time of creation when God said, "Let there be light', there was light; and on this day also arose the Sun of Justice on our souls."
Abridged from "A Byzantine Rite Liturgical Year" Fr. Julian Katrij, OSBM, 1983
In English Tradition a large number of laws were enacted during the Catholic Period to differentiate Sunday observance from the Jewish one.
See:
John BRAND, "Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain" (Edited, revised and greatly enlarged by Sir Henry Ellis), London 1841.
Nowadays Sunday is still a day of rest among Christians.
This means that they try not to labor too much, many shops are closed, people do not go to work or they get extra pay for doing so since it is an official holiday.
Many Christians in our time prefer to adopt a variation of the Jewish Sabbath rather than emphasize Sunday rest.
