Sabbatarians and Adventists — Part 2

The lecture discusses the Sabbatarians and the Adventists and shows that their roots are Judaizing, meaning an attempt to retain Jewish customs literally (feasts, food and drink, new moons, sacrifices, the Sabbath). The father notes that the Apostle Paul analyzed these issues and considered some of them “shadows” that people should not be judged on (Colossians 2:16), and he explains how Christ transferred the meaning of the Sabbath to a spiritual dimension and showed that doing good is permissible even on the Sabbath to confront Jewish literalism.

Primary critique focus
The critical approach focuses on the Sabbatarians maintaining the literalness of the commandment so that detailed rituals and practical calculations dominated them (what is permissible on the Sabbath, how much carrying, permitted walking distance, circumcision on the eighth day if it falls on a Sabbath, etc.). Also, some of them in certain countries hide behind the name “Adventist” to avoid being associated with Judaism.

The Sabbath in the Orthodox Christian thought
The father clarifies that the Sabbath in Scripture was the rest of creation, not an everlasting rest from all activity; the Lord rested from the work of creation but remained shepherd and savior. True rest from sin and death was achieved in Christ by his death and resurrection, so Sunday became “the new Sabbath” to celebrate redemption and the resurrection, while the literal Sabbath should not bind the believer as it bound the Jews.

Three rings of rest
The lecture explains three rings: rest of creation (the Sabbath), rest of redemption and atonement (Sunday because of the resurrection), and the full eternal rest (the eternal Sabbath in the kingdom). This view links Sunday to Christ’s resurrection and considers it the beginning of rest from the effect of sin.

Critique of the material conception of the kingdom among Sabbatarians
The father criticizes the conception of some Sabbatarians and similar groups of a literal earthly kingdom: that Jerusalem will be the capital of an earthly kingdom, and that people will build houses and plant vineyards and eat from them materially in eternity, and that the system of days and moons will continue as is. He says these interpretations mix temporal promises (like the return from exile) with the eternal promise, and emphasizes that prophetic texts about a “land flowing with milk and honey” or “honor your father and mother” were symbols of the eternal, not literal promises of sensual life in eternity.

Biblical arguments: spiritual not literal
The father cites the words of Christ and examples from the New Testament: healing the sick and raising the dead on the Sabbath to change literalism, and Paul’s talk of “a house not made with hands” and “we seek the things above not the things on earth.” He also acknowledges that descriptions of the heavenly city and its dimensions and visions of bliss should be read spiritually rather than as simple material literalism.

Spiritual and educational message
The spiritual core of the lecture is a call to free oneself from literalism and return to a spiritual understanding of the commandments and prophecies: appreciating the value of the Sabbath in its spirit (rest and remembrance of the Creator’s work and redemption) and not shackling people with practical laws that diminish the spirit of love, mercy, and good works. The lecture also urges distinguishing between symbolic images tied to a time of historical promises and the eternal hope the Scripture promi

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