When did the church stop keeping Saturday?

The transition was gradual and contested. Emperor Constantine decreed Sunday rest in 321 AD. The Council of Laodicea banned Saturday rest in 364 AD, proving it was still practiced. The Eastern churches never fully abandoned Saturday. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church restored formal Saturday observance at the Council of Mitmaq in 1450 AD.

What did the Church Fathers say about Saturday worship?

Socrates Scholasticus (c. 440 AD): 'Almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the sabbath.' Sozomen (c. 450 AD) independently confirmed this. The Apostolic Constitutions (c. 380 AD) commanded keeping both Saturday and Sunday. John Chrysostom (c. 400 AD) confirmed that Christians in Constantinople still kept the Sabbath, urging them to celebrate it at church rather than at the synagogue.

What is the Council of Laodicea Canon 29?

Canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea (364 AD) ordered Christians not to 'Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day.' The ban itself proves that Saturday worship was still widespread over 300 years after Christ. If it had ended naturally, no council would have needed to prohibit it.

Do Orthodox Christians Keep the Sabbath?

Q: Do Orthodox Christians keep the Sabbath?

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (36+ million members) has observed Saturday as a sacred day alongside Sunday for over 1,600 years. Greek and Russian Orthodox churches celebrate the full Divine Liturgy on Saturdays in monasteries and during Great Lent in parishes, and canonically prohibit fasting on Saturdays: Apostolic Canon 66 forbids it, and the Council in Trullo Canon 55 (692 AD) condemned Rome by name for violating that canon. The fifth-century historian Socrates Scholasticus recorded that 'almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the sabbath of every week' except Rome and Alexandria.

The short answer is yes, in varying degrees. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, with over 36 million members, has observed Saturday as a sacred day alongside Sunday for more than 1,600 years. The Greek, Russian, and other Eastern Orthodox churches serve Saturday Vespers in every parish, celebrate the full Liturgy on Saturdays in monasteries and during Great Lent, and prohibit fasting on Saturdays (Canon 66 of the Apostolic Canons). No ecumenical council has ever commanded the abandonment of the seventh-day Sabbath.

The Ethiopian Witness

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is the largest body of Saturday-keeping Christians in the world. Their Saturday observance traces to the earliest days of Ethiopian Christianity and was formally defended by the monk Ewostatewos (c. 1273–1352), who was flogged and exiled for his position. His followers prevailed at the Council of Mitmaq in 1450, which restored Saturday worship as official church practice.

The Ethiopian canon includes the Book of Jubilees, which contains the oldest explicit statement that the Sabbath was observed in heaven before creation: “And the Creator of all things blessed this day which He had created for blessing and holiness and glory above all days” (Jubilees 2:24).

The Historical Record

Two fifth-century church historians independently recorded that Saturday worship was the global norm, not the exception:

“For although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this.”
Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History V.22 (c. 440 AD)

“The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.”
Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History VII.19 (c. 450 AD)

The exception was Rome, not the global church.

The Council of Laodicea (364 AD)

Canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea ordered Christians to work on Saturday and rest on Sunday. The ban proves what it tried to prevent: over three hundred years after Christ, enough Christians still kept the Sabbath to require an official prohibition. If Saturday worship had ended naturally with the apostles, no council would have needed to ban it.

The Council in Trullo (692 AD)

Three centuries after Laodicea, the Eastern Church took the opposite position. The Council in Trullo (also called the Quinisext Council), Canon 55, explicitly condemned Rome for fasting on Saturdays: “Since we understand that in the city of Rome, they fast on the Saturdays of holy Lent, contrary to the traditional practice handed down to us, it has seemed good to the holy council that also in the church of Rome the canon shall immovably stand which says: If any clergyman is found to fast on Sunday or Saturday (except one only), he is to be deposed.” The East did not merely tolerate Saturday. It officially rebuked Rome for dishonoring it.

The Great Schism (1054 AD)

Saturday was still a live issue when the Eastern and Western churches formally split. Nicetas Stethatos, a monk of the Stoudios Monastery in Constantinople, wrote his Libellus Contra Latinos accusing Rome of breaking apostolic rules on Saturday observance. Saturday fasting was listed among Rome’s specific innovations. The Orthodox critique of Rome on this point is not modern. It is a thousand years old.

Saturday in Orthodox Practice Today

Orthodox monasteries celebrate the full Divine Liturgy on Saturdays weekly. Parishes serve the full Liturgy on Saturdays during Great Lent and on feast days. Saturday Vespers, served in every parish, opens Sunday worship following the biblical evening-to-evening reckoning of Genesis 1:5. Fasting on Saturday is prohibited by the Apostolic Canons. Saturday is dedicated to All Saints and the commemoration of the departed. The Orthodox tradition never abolished the Sabbath; it preserved Saturday’s festal character alongside Sunday.

Learn More

This page is a brief overview. For detailed evidence, primary sources, and interactive timelines:

Interactive Study: Orthodox Sabbath Tradition (timeline, tradition cards, century filter)
Church Fathers on the Sabbath (ten patristic witnesses with sources)
The Filioque Explained (Rome’s twin innovations: the Creed change and the day change)
Chapter 7: The Thread Never Broke (Ewostatewos, Waldenses, and historical witnesses)