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[Alexandr Korol]

“A great influence on the practice of naming the days of the week was exerted by the Greek astronomer Vettius Valens. According to his teachings, celestial bodies rule successively over each hour, and this cycle continues around the clock. The celestial bodies were taken in the following order: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. These celestial bodies had been known for a long time, as they are visible to the naked eye, and their order was first established by the Greek Stoics. The celestial body ruling the first hour gives its name to the day. Let’s break it down with an example: If the first hour of the day is ruled by Saturn, then the second hour is ruled by Jupiter, the third by Mars, followed by the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. This sequence of planets repeats every seven hours. Consequently, the twenty-fifth hour, or the first hour of the next day, is ruled by the Sun, and the forty-ninth hour, or the first hour after the following day, is ruled by the Moon. Thus, if a day is marked by the planet that rules its first hour, then the day of Saturn is followed by the day of the Sun, then the day of the Moon, Mars, and so on. If we take Sunday as the beginning of the week, we get the following order: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn. The calculations can be greatly simplified using the heptagram of the days of the week. If the first day is the day of the Sun, then the next clockwise along the line is the day of the Moon, followed by the day of Mars, and so on.
Many peoples adapted the names of the days of the week to their own language and culture.”

“Names in Slavic Languages” – still used in worship services, descriptions, schedules, and calendars of the Russian Orthodox Church, which employs Church Slavonic in its liturgical practice. Sedmitsa denotes a seven-day period, with the count starting from Sunday, and Nedelya refers to the first Sunday of the Sedmitsa. The first day of the week is Sunday.