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European Calendar

rstrats

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In the United States, most Christians say that they observe Sunday, the first day of the week, at least in part, to commemorate the resurrection which they believe took place on the first day of the week. Does anyone know, in those areas of Europe that use a calendar that labels the seventh day of the week, "Sunday", on what day they hold their weekly worship services? If they hold it on the seventh day, do they reject the first day as being a special day?
 

Melanie

Active Member
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Not quite sure about what you mean.....most of Europe are members of the EEU......however the Orthodox Church and there are many variations of Orthodox.....who may follow the Julian Calender rather than the Gregorian Calender.....is this what you mean???:type:
 

rstrats

Member
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Dquixote,

re: "In Europe the church meets on Sunday."

And is that the seventh day of the week on their calendar? And if so, how do they view the first day of the week?
 

rstrats

Member
Site Supporter
Briony-Gloriana,

re: "...most of Europe are members of the EEU......however the Orthodox Church and there are many variations of Orthodox.....who may follow the Julian Calender rather than the Gregorian Calender.....is this what you mean???"


I don’t think so, unless specific names of the days of the week are indigenous to the makeup of those calendars.
 

rstrats

Member
Site Supporter
DQuixote,

re: "No, Sunday is the first day of the week."

How then do you explain:

Wikipedia - "Both ISO and European norms prescribe Monday as the first day of the week..."

Also, stendigcalendar.com in their ad for their calendar says; "This impressive wall calendar (in the European style where Monday is the first day of the week)..."

Further, europeancalendar.net/cal06/index.php?cntr=no shows the calendar for several countries in Europe beginning with Monday.
 

BobRyan

Well-Known Member
Briony-Gloriana said:
Not quite sure about what you mean.....most of Europe are members of the EEU......however the Orthodox Church and there are many variations of Orthodox.....who may follow the Julian Calender rather than the Gregorian Calender.....is this what you mean???:type:

Neither calendar changed the day of the week. In BOTH Sunday is the first day. Recent attempts to change the weekly cycle numbering in Europe are instructive and are not the first time it has been tried - but that has never been accepted as anything but a novelty in all of history.
 

BobRyan

Well-Known Member
Dies Domini asserts that Sunday is not the Sabbath as God gave it.

Dies Domini 21

Pt 23. .

.21) Saint Augustine notes in turn: "Therefore the Lord too has placed his seal on his day, which is the third after the Passion. In the weekly cycle, however, it is the eighth day after the seventh, that is after the Sabbath, and the first day of the week".

(22) The distinction of Sunday from the Jewish Sabbath grew ever stronger in the mind of the Church, even though there have been times in history when, because the obligation of Sunday rest was so emphasized, the Lord's Day tended to become more like the Sabbath. Moreover, there have always been groups within Christianity which observe both the Sabbath and Sunday as "two brother days".(23)


The entire argument for Sunday as authoritative (not merely arbitrary) and as applying to all mankind is based on the continued authority of the Sabbath commandment according to the pope's argument above.



The Catholic commentary on the Baltimore catechism post
Vatican ii explains that
keeping Sunday is in obedience to the Sabbath commandment. Catholics attend "in obedience to the third commandment of God 'remember thou keep holy the Lord's day'"

((from "The Faith Explained" pg 241.))


The Faith Explained (a commentary on the Baltimore catechism post Vatican ii) states on

Page 242 that changing the Lord's day to Sunday was in the power of the church since "in the gospels ..Jesus confers upon his church the power to make laws in his name".


page 243

"nothing is said in the bible about the change of the Lord's day From Saturday to Sunday. We know of the change only from the tradition of the Church - a fact handed down to us...that is why we find so illogical the attitude of many Non-Catholics, who say that they will believe nothing unless they can find it in the bible and Yet will continue to keep Sunday as the Lord's day on the say-so of the Catholic church"

. (from "The Faith Explained" page 243.))

"we know that in the o.t it was the seventh day of the week - the Sabbath day - which was observed as the Lord's day. that was the law as God gave it...'remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.. the early Christian church determined as the Lord's day the first day of the week. That the church had the right to make such a law is evident...

The reason for changing the Lord's day from Saturday to Sunday lies in the fact that to the Christian church the first day of the week had been made double holy...

nothing is said in the bible about the change of the Lord's day from Saturday to Sunday..that is why we find so illogical the attitude of many non-Catholic who say they will believe nothing unless they can find it in the bible and yet will continue to keep Sunday as the Lord's day on the say-so of the Catholic church


 

BobRyan

Well-Known Member
Past Calendar Changes
The calendar now in use, a Roman calendar, has been changed, but that change did not break the weekly cycle.
Prior to its change, it was called the Julian calendar, because it originated at the time of Julius Caesar, 45 B.C. -- several years before the birth of Christ. The one change was ordered by Pope Gregory, and since then it has been called the Gregorian calendar.

The Julian Calendar was imperfect -- it inserted leap years too frequently. Back in 45 B.C. they supposed the year was exactly 365 1/4 days long, and to take care of the extra one-fourth day each year, added a day to the month of February every four years. But it was found later the year was 12 minutes and 14 seconds shorter than this. Consequently, by the time of Pope Gregory, the calendar had drifted TEN DAYS away from the seasons. The Spring equinox, consequently, fell on March 11th, instead of March 21st.

To correct this, ten days were dropped from the calendar. But they were dropped only from the number of days in the MONTH not from the number of days in the WEEK. A man named Lilius proposed the method which was adopted in making the change. In the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 9, p. 251, under article "Lilius," explaining this change, we read:

"Thus, every imaginable proposition was made, only one idea was never mentioned, viz., the abandonment of the seven-day week."
In the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 740, article "Chronology," we read:

"It is to be noted that in the Christian period, the order of days in the week has never been interrupted. Thus, when Gregory XIII reformed the calendar in 1582, Thursday, 4 October was followed by Friday, 15 October. So in England, in 1752, Wednesday, 2 September, was followed by Thursday, 14 September."

Since the Catholics changed the calendar, the Catholic Encyclopedia is the best historical authority there is on the question, and is proof positive.
So that the reader may clearly understand it, and SEE how it was worked out on the Calendar, we reproduce below the actual calendar. The change was made in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, in 1582.
 

BobRyan

Well-Known Member
So that the reader may clearly understand it, and SEE how it was worked out on the Calendar, we reproduce below the actual calendar. The change was made in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, in 1582. Here is the calendar for October, 1582! ... Thursday Oct 4, 1582 was followed by FRIDAY Oct 15, 1582. (Pretty much as you would expect)

You will notice how ten days were dropped out. One day was the 4th, and the very next day was the 15th of October. But the 4th was Thursday, and the next day was FRIDAY.
To make it still plainer, the 29th of September that year was a Sabbath, or Saturday. The 30th was Sunday. The 1st of October was Monday, the 2nd was Tuesday, the 3rd was Wednesday, the 4th was Thursday, and the next day was Friday, but it was not the 5th: it was the 15th. And the following day was Saturday, the 16th. Actually Saturday, the 16th, was just one week of seven days after the preceding Saturday, the 29th of September. There had been exactly seven days, seven sunsets, from one Sabbath to the next. The change in the calendar DID NOT IN ANY WAY CHANGE THE SABBATH, or the succession of the DAYS OF THE WEEK.
 
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DQuixote

New Member
How then do you explain:

Wikipedia - "Both ISO and European norms prescribe Monday as the first day of the week..."

Also, stendigcalendar.com in their ad for their calendar says; "This impressive wall calendar (in the European style where Monday is the first day of the week)..."

Further, europeancalendar.net/cal06/index.php?cntr=no shows the calendar for several countries in Europe beginning with Monday.

Days of the week and geographical boundaries for the church are not identical to those of the federal bureaucracy (the European Parliament) now overseeing Europe from the country of Belgium. Protestant as well as Catholic church boundaries do not follow those, for example, of the German federal, state, or local governments. An entirely different map is displayed when one looks at the church. The church in Germany, for example, still observes Sunday as the first day of the week, regardless of what the secular government does. "Wikipedia" is not gospel.
 

NaasPreacher (C4K)

Well-Known Member
I HATE Monday calendars, but unless it is a Christian one, or published in America, every calendar I see starts on a Monday. Most software packages and default settings on mobile phones here start the week on Monday. It is a hassle to go through and change all the settings.

I guess Monday is that start of the work week and Saturday and Sunday are the week"end" and that is the reason.

I still hate it, but we still meet on Sunday and I buy Sunday calendars.
 
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