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The Old English Sunday Letter


In 596 CE, Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine of Canterbury on a mission to establish Christianity in the Saxon kingdoms. This mission would come to be greatly successful, with the Saxons converting to the religion that they originally destroyed during their invasion. From that point onwards, Christianity and its texts, holidays, and culture promulgated itself amongst the English at the behest of the priestly class.

(The excerpt in this text was taken from The Cambridge Old English Reader)

This was unlikely to have been achieved without the instruction of Christianity from those in the religious order to the local people. It would have been important to teach the English how to be a Christian, since adherence to common ideals and practices helps cement social order and commitment to the Church. With the added supposed benefit of bringing them their salvation.

The Old English Sunday Letter, supposedly written by Christ to the clergy, is a document of such instruction. Its goal: to convey the importance of ceasing all work and resting on Sunday. This is achieved in two ways. First, by describing the wonders achieved on Sunday, from creation to resurrection, and second, by detailing the punishment inflicted on those who not not obey.

Let's dive into a part of a version of the Sunday Letter line by line.

Ðā cwæð Drihten God: ‘Sōþ is þæt iċ ēow secge, þæt iċ wæs for ēow on rōde ġenæġled and þǣr iċ þrōwade for ēow.

Then spoke the Lord God: 'Truth is that [which] I say to you, that I was nailed on a cross for you and there I suffered for you.

And iċ ārās on sunnandæġ of dēaðe, forþan þe se sunnandæġ is restendæġ and wuldorliċ dæġ and lihtnesse dæġ, and forþan þe on þām sunnandæġ ġescēop Drihten heofonan and eorðan and ealle þā ġesceafte þe on hym syndon.

And I arose on Sunday from death, because Sunday is [a] day of rest and [a] glorious day and [a] day of brightness, and because on Sunday the Lord created the heaven and earth and all the created things that are in them.

On sunnandæġ wǣron englas ġesceapene, and on sunnandæġ reste Nōes earce on þǣre dūne þe Armēnia hātte, æfter þām miclan flōde.

On Sunday [the] angles were created, and on Sunday Noah's arc rested on the hill that is called Armenia*, after the great flood.

On sunnandæġ lǣdde Drihten his folc of Ēgyptum þurh ðā Rēadan Sǣ drīum fōtum, and his fēond ādruncon in ðǣre sǣ.

On Sunday [the] Lord led his people of Egypt through the Red Sea with dry feet, and drowned his enemy in that sea.

Sōþ is þæt iċ ēow secge, ġif ġē ne healdaþ þone hālgan sunnandæġ mid rihte, þæt iċ sende ofer ēow miċele stormas and hagolstānas and flēogende nǣddran þe ġē beran ne mæġen.’

Truth is that [which] I say to you, if you do not keep your holy Sunday correct, then I will send to you many storms and hailstones and flying snakes that you will not be able to bear.'

*Armenia is not a mountain but a region, within which lies Mt Ararat, the mountain the text means to refer to.

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