Sacred Roots Workshop

130 Sacred Roots Workshop: Retr ieving the Great Tradi t ion in the Contemporary Church

A. The Lord’s Day, or Sunday

1. Jesus’ tomb was found empty on the first day of the week, or Sunday morning, Matt. 28.1; Mark 16.2; Luke 24.1; John 20.1.

2. It was on Sunday when on the Emmaus Road, the risen Christ Jesus exegeted the Scriptures to the disciples, revealing himself later in the breaking of the bread, Luke 24.13-32, 33-49.

3. The Christians at Ephesus assembled on the “first day of the week” to hear Paul preach the Word and to break bread, Acts 20.7-11.

4. The report of Justin Martyr (100 years after Paul?): Christians from town and country gathered together in one place “on the day of the sun” to hear the Scriptures read, interpreted, and to take the Lord’s Supper: “We assemble on Sunday because it is the first day, that on which God transformed the darkness and matter to create the world, and also because Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead on the same day” ( First Apology , 67).

5. Written at the same time of Justin, the Epistle of Barnabas: “celebrating with gladness the eighth day, in which Jesus rose from the dead,” “the beginning of a new world” (15.8-9).

6. Basil of Caesarea, 4th century: “the image of the age to come” ( On the Holy Spirit , 27).

7. The Eastern Orthodox theology of Sunday: “a little Easter”!