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The last ruling I can find is Dayne saying that it only lasted for the next battle of the Heroes that were set aside (Jan 2014).

The ruling for this card has indeed been that it only activates for the next of those Heroes to enter battle, and just for that battle.

There is a trigger on the card for "the next one to enter battle," meaning that this is when the CBN clause activates. It is not always active from the moment of return (different from Passover Preparations in this regard).  Since it triggers in that battle, the gained ability lasts until end of phase by default unless specified otherwise.  Because Passover Preparations gives a gained benefit as a blanket condition upon return, it is a different and permanent time frame.  This contrasts with Sabbath, which gives the gained ability only upon entering battle, hence the duration difference.

Quote from: Redoubter on June 20, 2016, 07:26:14 PM

The ruling for this card has indeed been that it only activates for the next of those Heroes to enter battle, and just for that battle.

There is a trigger on the card for "the next one to enter battle," meaning that this is when the CBN clause activates. It is not always active from the moment of return (different from Passover Preparations in this regard).  Since it triggers in that battle, the gained ability lasts until end of phase by default unless specified otherwise.  Because Passover Preparations gives a gained benefit as a blanket condition upon return, it is a different and permanent time frame.  This contrasts with Sabbath, which gives the gained ability only upon entering battle, hence the duration difference.

See, I disagree. It is active, if only as a pending trigger as to who gains the ability. But even if I'm wrong, entirely possible, your logic in saying that the ability only lasts for the battle because it has to wait for the battle to start fails in that it is a gained ability that has no duration attached to it. So how can you retroactively give it a duration based on when it starts when the REG says nothing of the sort (unless I missed something, but a search for gained ability shows no evidence for your argument)?

For The Sabbath, it is a delayed trigger; the ability 'completes' (and is gained) upon the character entering battle.  There is a trigger waiting to activate, and as with triggers the ability completes at that moment.  Since it completes at that moment (and must do so, as the ability cannot complete until a character enters battle and activates the trigger), we have to look to see whether there is any change to the default length of time to have the modifier applied.  There is nothing on the card to indicate that it is permanent, and just like all ongoing effects, modifiers like Cannot Be Negated end at the end of the phase unless otherwise indicated:

Quote from: REG 3.1.0 > Modifiers

If a modifier is granted to abilities that are on other cards, the ability to gain the modification granted by the modifier persists until end of the current phase by default.

So the triggered ability activates in battle (upon the Hero entering), and completes at that moment.  As we have no other indication that this card has an extended, let alone permanent, duration from the time of its completion, the ability lasts until end of phase, in this case the current Battle Phase.

Sabbath Completes on the turn that it was played

Quote from: Redoubter on June 20, 2016, 10:14:26 PM

For The Sabbath...

See, the problem with your quote is that Sabbath isn't granting a modifier to an ability. Sabbath is granting a character the ability to grant a modifier to abilities. There is a difference. Ezekiel grants a modifier. Besieged grants a modifier. Heck, Jericho grants a modifier. Sabbath does not.

Sabbath is not worded the same as PP. There is a trigger not yet completed on Sabbath, which is the reason it functions differently. PP is done once the character returns, but Sabbath is waiting to trigger until battle. That is when it finishes, and granting CBN there lasts until end of phase. It is frankly different from other set aside cards in this respect; it does not give a gained ability on return that just is permanent, instead waiting for a trigger, which then activates the CBN for that battle phase.