Endnote 37 – How It Came About: From Saturday to Sunday

In his Commentary on Psalm 91, Eusebius (ca. A.D. 260–340) writes: “It is on this day [Sunday] of the creation of the world that God said: ‘Let there be light and there was light.’ It is also on this day that the Sun of Justice has risen for our souls” (PG 23, 1169–1172). In his Life of Constantine, Eusebius states explicitly that “the Savior’s day … derives its name from light, and from the sun” (NPNF 2nd, I, p. 544). Maximus of Turin (d. ca. A.D. 400–423) views the day of the sun as a proleptic announcement of the resurrection of Christ: “This is why the same day was called day of the Sun by the pagans, because the Sun of Justice once risen would have illuminated it” (Homilia 61, PL 57, 371).