Homosexuality

"You shall not be a corrupter of boys, nor like unto such."  St. Barnabas, "Epistle of St. Barnabas" c. 70-100 A.D.

"It is well that they should be cut off from the lusts of the world, since 'every lust wars against the spirit' and 'neither fornicators, nor sodomites will inherit the kingdom of God.'"  St. Clement of Rome, "First Epistle to the Corinthians," c. 96 A.D.

"Some polluted themselves by lying with males.  The Greeks, O King, follow debased practices in intercourse with males, or with mothers, sisters, and daughters.  Yet, they, in turn impute their monstrous impurity to the Christians."  St. Aristides, "Apology," c. 125 A.D.

"Oh, if placed on that lofty watch-tower, you could gaze into the secret places--if you could open the closed doors of sleeping chambers and recall their dark recesses to the perception of sight--you would behold things done by immodest persons which no chaste eye could look upon; you would see what even to see is a crime; you would see what people embruted with the madness of vice deny that they have done, and yet hasten to do--men with frenzied lusts rushing upon men, doing things which afford no gratification even to those who do them."  St. Cyprian of Carthage, "Letters" c. 250 A.D.

"He who is guilty of unseemliness with males will be under discipline for the same time as adulterers."  St. Basil the Great, "Letters" c. 367 A.D.

"All of these affections [in Rom. 1:26-27] . . . were vile, but chiefly the mad lust after males; for the soul is more the sufferer in sins, and more dishonored than the body in diseases."  St. John Chrysostom, "Homilies on Romans" c. 391 A.D.

"Those shameful acts against nature, such as were committed in Sodom, ought everywhere and always to be detested and punished. If all nations were to do such things, they would be held guilty of the same crime by the law of God, which has not made men so that they should use one another in this way."  St. Augustine, "Confessions" c. 400 A.D.

Printed with permission from Catholic Defense.