Did St. Patrick Observe the Sabbath?

"Even St. Patrick Kept the Sabbath"

From: Ray Reid Subject: pagaism I have done a study of religion for over thirty years, and have read the bible from cover to cover, no where can I find, christmas, sunday worship, mass, worship of mary, praying to saints , the bible says [call no man master or father on earth,] catholics seem to take great pride in doing the opposite to what tha bible says, using scriptures taken out of text to suit thier traditions, made up hundreds of years after the death of Christ, Everyone of your rituals can be found in ancient pagan religions of various nations around the world, the catholic faith is as far away from true understanding of the scriptures, as day is from night. They are stubborn, and refuse to look into history with open minds ,mainly out of fear it seems, [hell fire ect.] also pagan myth, when the bible talks of hell fire gehenna, it talks of a place where the wicked will be thrown if they refuse to repent either in this world, or when they come up in the second resurrection, Rev:20:5 there is nothing worse than truths mixed with untruth and pagan tradition. Mankind does not burn forever, flesh burns up.the bible tells us that all men must die and remain in the grave until the either first or second revelation, the nonsence the catholic church teaches is dangerous and confusing to say the least.Please don't start about Peter being the first pope, he was never in Rome, Peter was the apostle to the jews,his time was spent in Jerusalem and in Babylon , Paul was the apostle to the gentiles, and was the one in Rome, The bible must be taken as a whole,but here a little there a little, line upon line, precept uopn precept. As Paul said to Timothy 2 Tim:3:14-17.meaning the old testament [stange for Paul to say that if his thought the laws and commandments were done away with] Paul Peter and every follower of Christ kept the laws and commandments, even st,, Patrick and Columbas kept the sabbath, that is why Rome did not accept them until about four hundred years after their death. The bible stands secure in the true, no wonder the jesuits tried to burn the bibles, try reading not only the holy scriptures[[not the corrupt catholic version] but some secular history books, catholics seem to be in desparate need of history lessons. If man can make a day holy or change times, then we do not need God, but according to the scriptures only God can sanctify a day or time, so why would God allow people to worship Him in the way He calls abomination, paganism and idol worship will never be acceptable to Him, God is the same [ yesterday today and forever]. no man or tradition of man can change that, Peter would never consider such a heretical idea, only wicked puffed up humans.would dare to take such things upon themselves. The Jesuit oath, and the inquisition mob, tells one a great deal about the catholic faith or should I SAY LACK OF IT. *********

Dear Ray,

Not to get into a discussion on all the points you raise, but curious what this meant:

st,, Patrick and Columbas kept the sabbath, that is why Rome did not accept them until about four hundred years after their death.

Fr. Phil Bloom

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From: Ray Reid Subject: St. Patrick kept Saturday Sabbath

You can read for yourself, the book[ Truth Triumphant by Wilkingson] or just tap in on google [ St. Patrick Columba,Sabbath keepers ] Columba was a student of Patrick, Rome did not recocnise this two when they were alive. When they died, it was too difficult to erase the good work they had done, so Rome decided to claim them as one of their own, it was about four hundred years after their death that Rome made them saints of the catholic church, Rome was not too please with them in life, because they both insisted on keeping the Saturday Sabbath, most celts did at that time! That is a proven fact of history.

Susan

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Dear Susan,

Interesting. I did do the Google search you suggested. I found the same assertions, although I did not see a specific quote from St. Patrick regarding the Sabbath. Below are some statements from other early Christian teachers on the relation of Sabbath and Sunday. Did St. Patrick say something particular on the subject?

Sincerely,

Fr. Phil Bloom

The Didache
"But every Lord’s day . . . gather yourselves together and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one that is at variance with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned" (Didache 14 [A.D. 70]).
The Letter of Barnabas
"We keep the eighth day [Sunday] with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead" (Letter of Barnabas 15:6–8 [A.D. 74]).
Ignatius of Antioch
"[T]hose who were brought up in the ancient order of things [i.e. Jews] have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord’s day, on which also our life has sprung up again by him and by his death" (Letter to the Magnesians 8 [A.D. 110]).
Justin Martyr
"[W]e too would observe the fleshly circumcision, and the Sabbaths, and in short all the feasts, if we did not know for what reason they were enjoined [on] you—namely, on account of your transgressions and the hardness of your heart. . . . [H]ow is it, Trypho, that we would not observe those rites which do not harm us—I speak of fleshly circumcision and Sabbaths and feasts? . . . God enjoined you to keep the Sabbath, and imposed on you other precepts for a sign, as I have already said, on account of your unrighteousness and that of your fathers . . ." (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 18, 21 [A.D. 155]).
"But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead" (First Apology 67 [A.D. 155]).
Tertullian
"[L]et him who contends that the Sabbath is still to be observed as a balm of salvation, and circumcision on the eighth day . . . teach us that, for the time past, righteous men kept the Sabbath or practiced circumcision, and were thus rendered ‘friends of God.’ For if circumcision purges a man, since God made Adam uncircumcised, why did he not circumcise him, even after his sinning, if circumcision purges? . . . Therefore, since God originated Adam uncircumcised and unobservant of the Sabbath, consequently his offspring also, Abel, offering him sacrifices, uncircumcised and unobservant of the Sabbath, was by him [God] commended [Gen. 4:1–7, Heb. 11:4]. . . . Noah also, uncircumcised—yes, and unobservant of the Sabbath—God freed from the deluge. For Enoch too, most righteous man, uncircumcised and unobservant of the Sabbath, he translated from this world, who did not first taste death in order that, being a candidate for eternal life, he might show us that we also may, without the burden of the law of Moses, please God" (An Answer to the Jews 2 [A.D. 203]).
The Didascalia
"The apostles further appointed: On the first day of the week let there be service, and the reading of the holy scriptures, and the oblation [sacrifice of the Mass], because on the first day of the week [i.e., Sunday] our Lord rose from the place of the dead, and on the first day of the week he arose upon the world, and on the first day of the week he ascended up to heaven, and on the first day of the week he will appear at last with the angels of heaven" (Didascalia 2 [A.D. 225]).
Origen
"Hence it is not possible that the [day of] rest after the Sabbath should have come into existence from the seventh [day] of our God. On the contrary, it is our Savior who, after the pattern of his own rest, caused us to be made in the likeness of his death, and hence also of his resurrection" (Commentary on John 2:28 [A.D. 229]).
Victorinus
"The sixth day [Friday] is called parasceve, that is to say, the preparation of the kingdom. . . . On this day also, on account of the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ, we make either a station to God or a fast. On the seventh day he rested from all his works, and blessed it, and sanctified it. On the former day we are accustomed to fast rigorously, that on the Lord’s day we may go forth to our bread with giving of thanks. And let the parasceve become a rigorous fast, lest we should appear to observe any Sabbath with the Jews . . . which Sabbath he [Christ] in his body abolished" (The Creation of the World [A.D. 300]).
Eusebius of Caesarea
"They [the early saints of the Old Testament] did not care about circumcision of the body, neither do we [Christians]. They did not care about observing Sabbaths, nor do we. They did not avoid certain kinds of food, neither did they regard the other distinctions which Moses first delivered to their posterity to be observed as symbols; nor do Christians of the present day do such things" (Church History 1:4:8 [A.D. 312]).
"[T]he day of his [Christ’s] light . . . was the day of his resurrection from the dead, which they say, as being the one and only truly holy day and the Lord’s day, is better than any number of days as we ordinarily understand them, and better than the days set apart by the Mosaic law for feasts, new moons, and Sabbaths, which the apostle [Paul] teaches are the shadow of days and not days in reality" (Proof of the Gospel 4:16:186 [A.D. 319]).
Athanasius
"The Sabbath was the end of the first creation, the Lord’s day was the beginning of the second, in which he renewed and restored the old in the same way as he prescribed that they should formerly observe the Sabbath as a memorial of the end of the first things, so we honor the Lord’s day as being the memorial of the new creation" (On Sabbath and Circumcision 3 [A.D. 345]).
Cyril of Jerusalem
"Fall not away either into the sect of the Samaritans or into Judaism, for Jesus Christ has henceforth ransomed you. Stand aloof from all observance of Sabbaths and from calling any indifferent meats common or unclean" (Catechetical Lectures 4:37 [A.D. 350]).
Council of Laodicea
"Christians should not Judaize and should not be idle on the Sabbath, but should work on that day; they should, however, particularly reverence the Lord’s day and, if possible, not work on it, because they were Christians" (Canon 29 [A.D. 360]).
John Chrysostom
"[W]hen he [God] said, ‘You shall not kill’ . . . he did not add, ‘because murder is a wicked thing.’ The reason was that conscience had taught this beforehand, and he speaks thus, as to those who know and understand the point. Wherefore when he speaks to us of another commandment, not known to us by the dictate of conscience, he not only prohibits, but adds the reason. When, for instance, he gave commandment concerning the Sabbath— ‘On the seventh day you shall do no work’—he subjoined also the reason for this cessation. What was this? ‘Because on the seventh day God rested from all his works which he had begun to make’ [Ex. 20:10-11]. . . . For what purpose then, I ask, did he add a reason respecting the Sabbath, but did no such thing in regard to murder? Because this commandment was not one of the leading ones. It was not one of those which were accurately defined of our conscience, but a kind of partial and temporary one, and for this reason it was abolished afterward. But those which are necessary and uphold our life are the following: ‘You shall not kill. . . . You shall not commit adultery. . . . You shall not steal.’ On this account he adds no reason in this case, nor enters into any instruction on the matter, but is content with the bare prohibition" (Homilies on the Statutes 12:9 [A.D. 387]).
"You have put on Christ, you have become a member of the Lord and been enrolled in the heavenly city, and you still grovel in the law [of Moses]? How is it possible for you to obtain the kingdom? Listen to Paul’s words, that the observance of the law overthrows the gospel, and learn, if you will, how this comes to pass, and tremble, and shun this pitfall. Why do you keep the Sabbath and fast with the Jews?" (Homilies on Galatians 2:17 [A.D. 395]).
"The rite of circumcision was venerable in the Jews’ account, forasmuch as the law itself gave way thereto, and the Sabbath was less esteemed than circumcision. For that circumcision might be performed, the Sabbath was broken; but that the Sabbath might be kept, circumcision was never broken; and mark, I pray, the dispensation of God. This is found to be even more solemn than the Sabbath, as not being omitted at certain times. When then it is done away, much more is the Sabbath" (Homilies on Philippians 10 [A.D. 402]).
The Apostolic Constitutions
"And on the day of our Lord’s resurrection, which is the Lord’s day, meet more diligently, sending praise to God that made the universe by Jesus, and sent him to us, and condescended to let him suffer, and raised him from the dead. Otherwise what apology will he make to God who does not assemble on that day . . . in which is performed the reading of the prophets, the preaching of the gospel, the oblation of the sacrifice, the gift of the holy food" (Apostolic Constitutions 2:7:60 [A.D. 400]).
Augustine
"Well, now, I should like to be told what there is in these ten commandments, except the observance of the Sabbath, which ought not to be kept by a Christian. . . . Which of these commandments would anyone say that the Christian ought not to keep? It is possible to contend that it is not the law which was written on those two tables that the apostle [Paul] describes as ‘the letter that kills’ [2 Cor. 3:6], but the law of circumcision and the other sacred rites which are now abolished" (The Spirit and the Letter 24 [A.D. 412]).
Pope Gregory I
"It has come to my ears that certain men of perverse spirit have sown among you some things that are wrong and opposed to the holy faith, so as to forbid any work being done on the Sabbath day. What else can I call these [men] but preachers of Antichrist, who when he comes will cause the Sabbath day as well as the Lord’s day to be kept free from all work. For because he [the Antichrist] pretends to die and rise again, he wishes the Lord’s day to be held in reverence; and because he compels the people to Judaize that he may bring back the outward rite of the law, and subject the perfidy of the Jews to himself, he wishes the Sabbath to be observed. For this which is said by the prophet, ‘You shall bring in no burden through your gates on the Sabbath day’ [Jer. 17:24] could be held to as long as it was lawful for the law to be observed according to the letter. But after that the grace of almighty God, our Lord Jesus Christ, has appeared, the commandments of the law which were spoken figuratively cannot be kept according to the letter. For if anyone says that this about the Sabbath is to be kept, he must needs say that carnal sacrifices are to be offered. He must say too that the commandment about the circumcision of the body is still to be retained. But let him hear the apostle Paul saying in opposition to him: ‘If you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing’ [Gal. 5:2]" (Letters 13:1 [A.D. 597]).
Sabbath or Sunday?
Some religious organizations (Seventh-Day Adventists, Seventh-Day Baptists, and certain others) claim that Christians must not worship on Sunday but on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. They claim that, at some unnamed time after the apostolic age, the Church "changed" the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday.
However, passages of Scripture such as Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2, Colossians 2:16-17, and Revelation 1:10 indicate that, even during New Testament times, the Sabbath is no longer binding and that Christians are to worship on the Lord’s day, Sunday, instead.
The early Church Fathers compared the observance of the Sabbath to the observance of the rite of circumcision, and from that they demonstrated that if the apostles abolished circumcision (Gal. 5:1-6), so also the observance of the Sabbath must have been abolished. The following quotations show that the first Christians understood this principle and gathered for worship on Sunday.

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From: Ray Reid To: Friar Bloom Subject: Saturday Sabbath keepers, Patrick Columbas

The passages in these historical book are quite clear to the respect of Sabbath keeping of these early christians! [T.Ratcliffe Barnett. p.97. [The Scots kept up the traditional usage of the ancient Irish church which obseved Saturday in stead of Sunday as rest day] Patrick never mentions Rome, he only recognises the bible, no other authority. Historian [A.C Flick writs. [ the Celts used a latin bible not alike the vulgate, and kept Saturday as day of rest] Fact, Ireland lay outside the bounds of th Roman Empire, B.GWilkingson] [Columbas himself having continued his labour in Scotland 34 years clearly and openly fortold his death on Saturday 9th June, He said to his disciple Deirmit. ;This day is called the Sabbath, thereof is the rest day and such will it be truly to me.] [The primitive church also kept Pasch on the 14 Nisan. James Kenney. The Source for the Early history of Ireland vol.pp.211-212] There is so much evidence for Sabbath keeping the list goes on for ever, as I said look up the history books or [ Google Patrick Columbas were sabbath keepers.] Susan

Sorry could'nt get everything on the last e-mail. Please also read Rome's Challenge, also Father Enright, on the Sabbath, also, [ Arthur Weigall, Paganism in our Christianity. 1928. p.145] also [William Gildea. 'Pashale Gaudiurn] The Catholic World March 1894 p809. He was rector of St.Jmes Catholic church London. Catholic Encyclopedia vol.14, p 336 Also A Learned Treatise of the Sabbath p,77 . also Louis Duchesne. Christian Worship, Duchesne [1844-1022] also Ecclesiastical History Socrates bk.5 chap.22. Emperor Constantine made law to keep Sunday instead of Sabbath in 321ad, [not God] Encyclopedia article Sunday. The above are all written by your people! Please open your eyes, how much more evidence do you require that one should live by the inspired word of God, not man's ideas of religion and traditions,the pharisees did the same with their oral law of tradition, even to this day, with extra added laws and traditions in the Talmut.Matt:15;3 KJV [But he answered and said unto them,Why do ye also transgess the commandment of God by your tradition? ]Mark;7;6-9 KJV. [He answered and said unto them,Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites,as itis written.This people honoureth me with their lips,but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, TEACHING FOR DOCTINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN. FOR LAYING ASIDE THE COMMANMENT OF GOD, YE HOLD THE TRADITION OF MEN. AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, FULL WELL YE REJECT THE COMMANDMENT OF GOD,THAT YE MAY KEEP YOUR OWN TRADITION.] The catholic church follows the ancient Mystery Babylonian Religion, in place of the written word of God, do you not think that this is keeping man's tradition over the inspired scriptures of God? How can you believe such a thing, that man can change time and make it holy? Dan;7;25,KJV [And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and THINK TO CHANGE TIMES AND LAWS! ] We christians who follow the bible as our guide for life, have not changed any of the times or laws of that book, so can't you see who has changed it, and have twisted the scriptures to suit their own ideas of religion [paganism]. You continue to follow a man, the pope, I will try my best to follow Christ according to His word. Please try and see for yourself, with an open mind, don't be afraid to study to proove all things as the scripture tells us to do! Not only catholic history!

Susan

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Dear Susan,

I wouldn't be upset to find out St. Patrick kept the Sabbath. I am just trying to find out what the evidence is. As I understand it, only two authentic documents have come down to us from him: his Confession and his Letter to Coroticus. I re-read them, but did not see a reference to the Sabbath. However he does state that he and his people were punished because "we did not obey our priests." Also his profession of faith in the Trinity squares with Nicene orthodoxy. In fact, I did not see anything in his Confession or Letter to Coroticus which goes against the Catholic faith. (It is a small point, but in the Letter to Coroticus, he makes approving reference to " holy Romans" and "the custom of the Roman Christians of Gaul".)

You have obviously studied this question a lot more thoroughly than I. I would appreciate if you give me the specific evidence that St. Patrick kept the Sabbath. Maybe something like the quotes from early Christian writers which I sent to you previously.

I did read the Catholic Encyclopedia article, as you suggested. It explains that Sunday was observed by Christians way before Constantine. In fact the quote from St. Justin indicates that Sunday observance was quite well established by the middle of the second century:

"But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead" (First Apology 67 [A.D. 155]).

Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Phil Bloom