Did Roman Emperor Constantine issue the first Roman law commanding Sunday observance on March 7, A.D. 321?
I ‘gree with puddin’. I just started reading these answers and it baffles me that they always stray from answering the original question. Papa S seems to answer the question, whatever the exact date, Constantine’s law didn’t command Sunday worship, but made it available to Christians who wanted to worship on that day. Papa S, thanks for the ancient writings, which clearly show that Christians worshipped on Sunday before Constantine, and clearly debunks the original interpretation of the book of Daniel. And Cachanilla, I think you are really stretching the new testament texts and really reading a lot into them. When it talks about Paul going to the synagogue, “as was his custom”, it doesn’t say “as is our custom.” The author of Acts, shows that Paul was doing something that might have seemed strange to his readers.
Answering your question, according to Justinian’s collection of laws, Constantine’s law did not command Sunday observance, but opened the opportunity for those who wished to take Sunday off to do so. Laws in the US are quite similar in that employers are required to allow people to observe whatever religious holiday they choose, be it Sunday, Saturday, or Tuesday (as long as the employees religions doesn’t forbid them from ever working!). We must remember that Constantine was a supporter of freedom of religion, and that he never forced religion on anyone. He legalized Christianity, but it did not become the state sponsored religion until the end of the 4th century. And because it had been illegal to practice any form of Christianity on any day of the week just ten years before the edict you inquire about was promulgated, Constantine was just getting to the point of fixing a new religious system into the society that he was running; Roman religions were very irregular in their days of w
