СОДОМСКИЙ ГРЕХ

God usually sends punishments to one and another and through them inspires to everyone else what disasters await them. But I will express more clearly what I said. The inhabitants of Sodom once committed grave sins and were subjected to extreme punishment when fire descended, and the cities, and the people, and the earth with their bodies - everything was burned. So what? After them, didn’t anyone dare to do the same things? On the contrary, many and in many places in the universe. Why didn't they tolerate anything like this? Because they are observed for another, graver punishment. Therefore, God, having done this once, did not do it again, so that those who dare to commit such deeds clearly saw that they would never escape punishment, even if they were not subjected to it here. In fact, would it be consistent with reason if those who lived before grace and the law and did not listen to the prophets or anyone else suffered such punishments for their sins, and those who after them were rewarded with such care of God and did not come to their senses by their example - which makes the sin much more serious - would escape the punishment assigned for this? (4) If you laugh and don’t believe when you hear about Gehenna, then remember the fire of Sodom. After all, we see, even in real life we ​​see a resemblance to Gehenna. Since many were ready not to believe at all those who appeared after the resurrection and proclaimed that even now there is an unquenchable fire, God enlightened them with the events of real life. Such was the burning of Sodom and its destruction by fire, as those who were there know and saw with their own eyes the traces of divine punishment and heavenly lightning. Understand how great was the sin that prompted Gehenna to appear prematurely. On the other hand, since many despised speech [about Gehenna], God actually showed them its likeness in some new form. That rain was extraordinary, just as the mixing of the Sodomites was unnatural; he flooded the earth, just as lust flooded their souls. This rain was in its effect the opposite of ordinary rain: it not only did not arouse the womb of the earth to grow fruits, but also made it incapable of receiving seeds. Such was the confusion of the men of the land of Sodom, which made their bodies more barren. What is dirtier, what is more disgusting than that man who became a harlot? What fury, what madness! Where did this lust invade, which offends human nature, like enemies, or rather, as much more terrible than enemies as the soul is superior to the body? Oh, you are the most senseless and dumb, the most shameless and dogs! And among them such confusion never occurs, since nature knows its limits, and you, by disgracing your sex, have made it more dishonorable than irrational creatures. So where did this evil come from? From a luxurious life, from ignorance of God: whenever people reject the fear of God, then all goodness leaves them (11). You might be interested in: