Assumptions are dangerous – especially when they are made in the realm of religion. If a theological belief is based upon a faulty assumption, the religious practice will be in error. The most common assumptions in Christendom are that Saturday is the Scriptural Sabbath, and Sunday is the day on which Yahushua was resurrected. These beliefs are built upon another assumption: that the modern week has cycled continuously and without interruption ever since Creation. The facts of the Julian calendar, however, prove these assumptions false.

The Julian calendar was established in 45 B.C. Like the calendar of the Roman Republic before it, the early Julian calendar had an eight day week! Days of the week on the Republican and early Julian calendars were assigned letters: A through H. All early Julian calendars (fasti) still in existence date from 63 B.C. to A.D. 37.

An eight-day week is clearly discernable on these stone fragments.

Reconstruction of Fasti Antiates, the only calendar of the Roman Republic still in existence.¹

As the Roman Empire expanded, it came into contact with Mithraism, which quickly became a popular religious cult in Rome. Mithraism brought a seven-day week with days named after planetary gods.

“It is not to be doubted that the diffusion of the Iranian [Persian] mysteries has had a considerable part in the general adoption, by the pagans, of the week with the Sunday as a holy day. The names which we employ, unawares, for the other six days, came into use at the same time that Mithraism won its followers in the provinces in the West, and one is not rash in establishing a relation of coincidence between its triumph and that concomitant phenomenon.” (Franz Cumont, Textes et Monuments Figures Relatifs aux Mysteres de Mithra, Vol. I, p. 112.)

“The pre-eminence assigned to the dies Solis [day of the Sun] also certainly contributed to the general recognition of Sunday as a holiday. This is connected with a more important fact, namely, the adoption of the week by all the European nations.” (Franz Cumont, Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans, p. 163, emphasis supplied.)

Sunday cannot be the day on which Yahushua arose from the dead, because Sunday did not exist in the eight-day Julian week of His day. Furthermore, Saturday cannot be the true Scriptural Sabbath because the seven-day planetary week originally began on Saturn’s day!

The Baths of Titus, in Rome, were built A.D. 79-81. A stick calendar was found there which clearly shows Saturn, god of agriculture, as god of the first day of the week.

Roman Stick Calendar

Dies Solis, or Sun’s day, can be seen as the second day of the week. Luna, the moon-goddess wearing the crescent moon as a diadem, is the third day of the week. The week ends on Venus’ day, dies Veneris, which corresponds to modern Friday, then the seventh-day of the week.

The pagan planetary week, like the Julian calendar that adopted it, is irreparably pagan. Historical facts reveal that neither the Scriptural Sabbath nor the Scriptural First Day can be found using the modern calendar. If it is important to worship on a specific day, than it is also important to use the correct, Scriptural calendar to count to that day.

The luni-solar calendar of Creation, using both sun and moon, is the only means to establish the true seventh-day Sabbath and the correct day of Christ’s resurrection.

“He appointed the moon for seasons.” Psalm 104:19

Seasons²: mo’edim. The worshipping assemblies of Yahuwah’s people.

There were two calendars available to the Israelites of Yahushua’s day:

1. The pagan, solar Julian calendar with its eight-day week;
2. The Biblical, luni-solar Hebrew calendar with a seven-day week and a weekly cycle that restarted with each new moon.

Which calendar do you think the Israelites (and Yahushua) used?

The day on which you worship, dictated by which calendar you use, reveals who you are worshipping.

¹ Palazzo Massimo Alle Terme, ed. Adriano La Regina, 1998.

² “Since the Jewish festivals occurred at regular intervals, this word becomes closely identified with them . . . Mo’ed is used in a broad sense for all religious assemblies. It was closely associated with the tabernacle itself . . . [Yahuwah] met Israel there at specific times for the purpose of revealing His will. It is a common term for the worshiping assembly of . . . [Yahuwah’s] people.” (See #4150, “Lexical Aids to the Old Testament,” Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, KJV.)

Related Content:

• The Lunar Sabbath
• International Date Line Change: The Sabbath Unchanged?

8 Days a Week? Julian Calendar History

[Verse 1]
Through the ages the days have been counted by men,
But the truth of the Scriptures stands firmly again.
When assumptions are built, they can lead us astray,
And a calendar error can darken the way.
If the cycle was changed, then the question is plain:
Can a man call the wrong day the right day again?

[Verse 2]
In the Julian days, there were eight in the round,
And the A through the H letters clearly were found.
Ancient fasti still witness what history shows,
Stone and fragments preserve what the record still knows.
If eight days were counted in Rome long ago,
Then the modern-week story has cracks that must show.

[Chorus]
Let the truth now arise, let the falsehood depart,
Let the Word be the measure that speaks to the heart.
Not the customs of men, not traditions of time,
But the calendar Yahuwah ordained in His sign.
When the heavens declare what the Scriptures reveal,
We will follow the truth, we will stand and be still.

[Verse 3]
Then the planetary week entered the scene,
With the names of the gods that the pagans had seen.
Saturn stood first in the cycle they made,
Then the Sun and the Moon followed on in parade.
Venus ended their week in the order they spun,
Yet the Scriptural Sabbath is not found in that run.

[Verse 4]
There were calendars then in the days of the King,
One from Rome and one Yahuwah gave them to bring.
One followed the sun in a pagan design,
One followed the moon with the sun in its sign.
When the new moon began, the week started anew,
And the seventh was counted as Scripture says true.

[Chorus]
Let the truth now arise, let the falsehood depart,
Let the Word be the measure that speaks to the heart.
Not the customs of men, not traditions of time,
But the calendar Yahuwah ordained in His sign.
When the heavens declare what the Scriptures reveal,
We will follow the truth, we will stand and be still.

[Bridge]
“He appointed the moon” for the seasons to shine,
For the sacred assemblies established in time.
Let the sun and the moon mark the appointed decree,
Let the heavens bear witness to what they should be.
If the day is important, the count must be right,
For the truth cannot rest on a calendar’s might.

[Verse 5]
Do not follow assumption; examine the claim,
Test the calendar’s record and search out the name.
If tradition has altered the days through the years,
Let the truth break the chains and remove all the fears.
For the worship we render reveals whom we serve,
And the day that we choose shows the path that we curve.

[Verse 6]
Not the Roman tradition, not customs of men,
But the ancient foundation we seek once again.
Let the moon mark the month as the Scriptures declare,
Let the sun mark the seasons with order and care.
Seven days in the sacred appointed array,
Let the truth guide our feet to the right holy day.

[Final Chorus]
Let the truth now arise, let the falsehood depart,
Let the Word be the measure that speaks to the heart.
We will question the claims that tradition has made,
We will stand on the truth and refuse to be swayed.
When the calendar matters, the count must be clear,
And the light of the Scriptures will conquer our fear.

[Outro]
Eight days in the record, then seven appeared,
Through the pages of history the pathway is cleared.
Let the ancient skies testify to what’s true,
Let the Word be our guide in the things that we do.
We will stand without fear, and we will not betray:
When the truth has been found, we will walk in its way.