- What does the Bible say came first, the evening or the morning ?
What day of the week did God bless and sanctify because He had rested on it ?
When does a Day begin and end, according to the Bible ?
Now researching the subject "The Order of the Days of the Week" and looking for changes :
- ...There were two important changes
- (actually one change that occurred in two stages) to two different Roman calendars.
But what were the nature of these changes ?
Did they affect the weekly cycle ?
... Most are unfamiliar with the fact that
- today’s calendar is called the Gregorian calendar,
and that the Julian calendar preceded it.
- ... The first change to the calendar occurred in 1582 and was decreed by Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585).
- ... In 1752, another change was made.
... Days were dropped from the month —in October 1582— but not from the week !
The first week of October went from Thursday, October 4th, to Friday, October 15th.
The two Sabbaths on either side of this change were still seven days apart.
The Sabbath remained unaffected.
The weekly cycle was not broken.
Because it was the Catholics who made the change, it is they who possess the best historical record of how they did this.
The official change took place in Italy, Spain and Portugal.
Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 9, p. 251, under article "Lilies,"
- "Thus, every imaginable proposition was made, only one idea was never mentioned, viz., the abandonment of the seven-day week."
Left Column, 2nd paragraph on page 251
Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 740, article "Chronology,"
- " ... 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. ... "
... As stated, two changes occurred to the calendar that were really one change occurring in two stages.
This bears explanation.
- When Pope Gregory decreed the change, the British would not comply.
They retained the old Julian calendar until 1752 —thus remaining ten days behind the newly established Gregorian calendar !
Obviously, Sabbath-keeping remained undisturbed in British areas for these 170 years.
The British finally determined to make the change.
With the passing of 170 years came an additional “drift” in the calendar of one more day.
Now it became necessary to drop eleven days to catch up with the spring equinox, instead of the previous ten !
The change was effected in September of 1752.
Instead of dropping ten days, between a Thursday and Friday as in 1582, the British chose to drop eleven days between a Wednesday and Thursday.
The next diagram explains what happened.
Actually, there was even a third stage to the calendar changes described above.
The Russians refused to make the change until 1907 !
Their calendar had now fallen thirteen days behind everyone else’s.
It was not until 1907 that they synchronized with the rest of the world by dropping thirteen days from their calendar.
Before and after this change, Sabbath-keepers in Russia observed the same day that Sabbath-keepers everywhere else in the world observed.
Certainly the same practice applied to all Sunday-keepers.
No one can dispute these basic facts of recent history!