Sodomite - the etymology of this word goes back to biblical parables and is directly related to the infamous city called Sodom. But over the centuries, the essence of the word, its semantic content has changed a little.
Sin of Sodomy
Probably, everyone knows the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities destroyed by the creator for the many sins of their inhabitants, the main of which were various sexual perversions. God sent two angels to the only Sodomite righteous Lot, in order to find out if the city really does obscenity.
Lot persuaded God's messengers to spend the night in his house, and when the Sodomites surrounded his house and began to demand the extradition of strangers in order to “know them, ” Lot offered an excited crowd of his two virgin daughters in exchange for the peace of distinguished guests. So the righteousness of this character is seriously exaggerated, but this is a completely different story. As a result, both cities were burned to the ground, only Lot and his daughters escaped - they were taken out by the angels.
Since then, the word "sodomite" has appeared in many languages, meaning a person prone to unnatural intimate relationships. Any sexual activity, except for the traditional copulation of a man and a woman for the sake of conception of offspring, was condemned and prosecuted.
No need to think that this meant exclusively homosexuals. The church actively fought against extramarital affairs, "detractors", bestiality, necrophilia and others. Negligence in relationships always, but especially in that era of low level of medicine and endless migrations, was fraught with incurable diseases, and sometimes epidemics.
The fight against sodomy
The term "Sodomy" was widely used in criminal and church law of various European states of the Middle Ages. The laws were harsh, and any form of deviant sexual behavior was punished in one way - death.
According to the church version, in Russia of the 15th century, sodomites and heretics almost seized control posts of the state. The metropolitan was an “evil wolf, ” the people closest to the tsar were also engaged in “Judaism, ” they followed the Old Testament rules of religion and, of course, led an immoral life. Many husbands held high posts, wealthy merchants hired boys for sexual pleasures.
The worried church relied on Joseph Volotsky, the great ascetic, who created a special spiritual school, which later raised a huge number of enlighteners, missionaries and preachers. The Josephites began to call the followers of the holy inquisitor Volotsky, and they fought with all their might against immorality in the highest circles of power, calling for "executions of the heretical heretics (which included the Sodomites) with cruel executions" - through burning.
The extreme, cruel severity and strength of the Volotsky school balanced the licentiousness of the morals of high society and led to the eradication of any blasphemy for many years. Fortunately, the Inquisition was not widespread, because it was contrary to the spirit of Orthodoxy. Later, when the passions subsided, the term "sodomy" remained "among the people", changing its meaning and began to mean only clutter, panic, the noise of the crowd.
