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Did you know Orthodox Christians observe the Sabbath on Sunday — the Lord’s Day?

In the book of Exodus, God commands His people to keep the Sabbath — Saturday — as a day of rest, because on the seventh day, God rested after creating the world (Exodus 31). This was a holy command for the people of Israel, shaping their entire rhythm of life.

But everything changed with Christ’s Resurrection. In the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 28), we read that “after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week,” the women came to the tomb — and found it empty. Christ had risen. That first day of the week, Sunday, became “the Lord’s Day” (Κυριακή in Greek), the day of joy, of new creation and eternal life in the light of the Resurrection.

The early Christians, including the Apostles, gradually shifted communal worship from Saturday evening into Sunday, celebrating the Holy Eucharist (the breaking of bread — what we now know as the Divine Liturgy) and gathering in the joy of the Resurrection.

The Didache, a first-century Christian text, tells believers to gather and give thanks on “the Lord’s Day.” By the second century, Saints like Ignatius of Antioch encouraged Christians to worship on Sunday, not the Sabbath. By the time of the First Ecumenical Council in 325, Sunday had become the central day of Christian worship.

In Greek, we don’t call it “Sunday” but Kyriake (Κυριακή) — “the Lord’s Day.” We don’t rest because of the seventh day — we rejoice because Christ is risen. We worship the Risen Son of God, who fulfilled the Sabbath and gave us eternal rest in Him.

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