Why is Sunday the first day of the week?

Several sources indicate that the seven-day week stems from the ancient idea that there were seven planets, with many pointing to Egypt as the origin of this division of time. For example, this article (which appears to be the plagiarized source for the Wikipedia article):

Sunday (Day of the Sun), as the name of the first day of the week, is derived from Egyptian astrology. The seven planets, known to us as Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon, each had an hour of the day assigned to them, and the planet which was regent during the first hour of any day of the week gave its name to that day.... During the first and second century the week of seven days was introduced into Rome from Egypt, and the Roman names of the planets were given to each successive day. The Teutonic nations seem to have adopted the week as a division of time from the Romans, but they changed the Roman names into those of corresponding Teutonic deities. Hence the dies Solis became Sunday (German, Sonntag). Sunday was the first day of the week according to the Jewish method of reckoning, but for Christians it began to take the place of the Jewish Sabbath in Apostolic times as the day set apart for the public and solemn worship of God. The practice of meeting together on the first day of the week for the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice is indicated in Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2; in Apocalypse 1:10, it is called the Lord’s day. In the Didache (14) the injunction is given: “On the Lord’s Day come together and break bread. And give thanks (offer the Eucharist), after confessing your sins that your sacrifice may be pure”. St. Ignatius (Ep. ad Magnes. ix) speaks of Christians as “no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord’s Day, on which also Our Life rose again”. In the Epistle of Barnabas (xv) we read: “Wherefore, also, we keep the eight day (i.e. the first of the week) with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead”.

St. Justin is the first Christian writer to call the day Sunday (I Apol., lxvii) in the celebrated passage in which he describes the worship offered by the early Christians on that day to God. The fact that they met together and offered public worship on Sunday necessitated a certain rest from work on that day. However, Tertullian (202) is the first writer who expressly mentions the Sunday rest: “We, however (just as tradition has taught us), on the day of the Lord’s Resurrection ought to guard not only against kneeling, but every posture and office of solicitude, deferring even our businesses lest we give any place to the devil” (”De orat.”, xxiii; cf. “Ad nation.”, I, xiii; “Apolog.”, xvi).

These and similar indications show that during the first three centuries practice and tradition had consecrated the Sunday to the public worship of God by the hearing of the Mass and the resting from work. With the opening of the fourth century positive legislation, both ecclesiastical and civil, began to make these duties more definite. The Council of Elvira (300) decreed: “If anyone in the city neglects to come to church for three Sundays, let him be excommunicated for a short time so that he may be corrected” (xxi). In the Apostolic Constitutions, which belong to the end of the fourth century, both the hearing of the Mass and the rest from work are prescribed, and the precept is attributed to the Apostles.^[1]

In summary, Egyptian astrology likely originated the practice of the seven day week and Sunday as the first day of that week. This was adopted by ancient Israel (who perhaps learned it while in captivity in Egypt), with the Sabbath (seventh day) potentially seen as a day of preparation for the first.^[2] This then found its way into Hellenist astrology, and Christians adopted Sunday from the Roman calendar, which originally dedicated the day to sun worship. Over time, the characteristics of worship and rest became intertwined.

Early Christians began using the first day of the week as their primary day of worship, replacing the Jewish Sabbath. This was particularly significant because it was the day of Christ’s resurrection, the day of most of His post-resurrection appearances, and the day the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost. The New Testament refers to this day as the "Lord’s day," signifying that it especially belongs to Jesus Christ. It became a day of joyful celebration of the living Savior, commemorating His resurrection.

By the fourth century, both ecclesiastical and civil legislation began to formalize Sunday as a day of public worship and rest, with early church documents prescribing Mass attendance and work cessation.

The Roman emperor Constantine I (died 337), a convert to Christianity, introduced the first civil legislation concerning Sunday in 321, when he decreed that all work should cease on that day, except that farmers could work if necessary. That law, aimed at providing time for worship, was followed later in the same century and in subsequent centuries by further restrictions on Sunday activities.^[3]

This dual understanding of Sunday as both a day of worship and the week's beginning represents a unique synthesis of ancient Egyptian and Jewish timekeeping, Hellenistic astronomy, early Christian theology, and Roman civil authority that has persisted throughout a large part of the world for several millennia.

Why do Quakers refer to Sunday as "the first"?

Quakers specifically refuse to give Sunday any other title than "the first day of the week." This stems from their belief that all days are equally sacred and that the traditional Sabbath law is no longer a requirement.

Quakers refuse to give this day any other title than that which is founded on its numerical order among the days of the week. They suppose that all days are alike in sanctity; that the law of the Sabbath, as contained in the fourth commandment, is no longer obligatory; that this being the case, to call any day "the Lord's day," is adapted to mislead; and that the title of Sunday, being of Pagan origin, ought not to be employed by professing Christians. They, therefore, uniformly designate it, in all their communications, as the first day of the week.^[4]

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