The first mention of a homosexual act is found in the Old Testament Book of Leviticus. And it is said there about this in a prohibitive manner: “Do not lie down with a man as with a woman: this is an abomination.” (Leviticus 18:22) The Apostle Paul says the following: “Just as men, having rejected natural intercourse with women, burn with lust for one another: men do shameful deeds with men, preparing for themselves the retribution that they deserve, having gone astray.” (Rom 1:27) First of all, when talking about homosexuality – the scriptures talk about “intercourse” or “lust,” but not about orientation in the sense that homosexual people today have in mind – an equal love relationship between two partners of the same sex. Homosexual relationships have been shared at all times and in all societies. However, the idea of ”orientation” as a property inherent in a particular person is relatively new; it appears only towards the end of the 19th century, making it difficult to directly compare the phenomenon of homosexuality in the context of Christianity (Kuefler 1256). The second important point is comparing religious books of homosexual relationships with a relationship with women. Homosexuality existed in the ancient world and the Middle Ages – but it was never understood as an equal union.
In the Christian world, the execution was supposed to be for sodomites. In England, sodomites were executed until the New Times; for a long time, homosexuals were one of the targets of the Inquisition. The Code of Justinian in Byzantium provided severe punishments for them: up to castration and the death penalty. Given the high religiosity in the authorities, such persecution was supported by religious overtones. However, there was no equal modern understanding of the union, even at the level of a philosophical idea: such events were a deviation from the norm and were not perceived fundamentally.
Works Cited
Holy Bible. New International Version, Zondervan Publishing House, 1984.
Kuefler, Mathew. “Homoeroticism in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Acts, Identities, Cultures Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century, by John Boswell.” The American Historical Review, vol. 123, no. 4, 2018, pp. 1246-1266. Web.