The earliest writings forbid the pederasty common in Greek culture ("you shall not corrupt boys") and repeat Paul's lists. 12
Clement of Alexandriac. 195 · John Chrysostomc. 392 · Augustine of Hippoc. 400Sinful
Later writers argued from nature and from Romans 1: Clement, Chrysostom and Augustine all call such acts "against nature". No early writer approves them. 567
The answers given:
ApostolicBefore NicaeaNicaea and afterMiddle AgesReformation to today
Scroll through the centuries, or tap a dot. JK move between witnesses.
Apostolic Fathers
30–150
100c. AD
Sinful
Didache c. 100 ADDidache 2.2
You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not corrupt boys; you shall not commit sexual sin.
"Corrupt boys" (paidophthoria) names the pederasty common in Greek culture. Barnabas 19.4 repeats it.
οὐ φονεύσεις, οὐ μοιχεύσεις, οὐ παιδοφθορήσεις, οὐ πορνεύσειςAnonymus Kirsopp Lake The Apostolic Fathers William Heinemann The Macmillan Company London New York 1912 1 Hathi Trust (First1KGreek TEI, urn:cts:greekLit:tlg1311.tlg001) · English: translated for this page from the Greek
135c. AD
Sinful
Polycarp of Smyrna c. 69–c. 155 ADLetter to the Philippians 5.3
Neither the sexually immoral, nor the effeminate, nor men who lie with men will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9–10), nor those who do perverse things.
Polycarp quotes Paul's list to the young men of Philippi.
οὔτε πόρνοι οὔτε μαλακοὶ οὔτε ἀρσενοκοῖται βασιλείαν θεοῦ κληρονομήσουσιν, οὔτε οἱ ποιοῦντες τὰ ἄτοπα.Polycarp Kirsopp Lake The Apostolic Fathers William Heinemann Harvard University Press London Cambridge, MA 1912 1 Internet Archive (First1KGreek TEI, urn:cts:greekLit:tlg1622.tlg001) · English: translated for this page from the Greek
Before Nicaea
150–325
155c. AD
SinfulIndirect: does not say it outright
Justin Martyr c. 100–c. 165 ADFirst Apology 27
And just as the ancients are said to have kept herds of oxen or goats or sheep or grazing horses, so now children too are kept only for shameful use; and likewise a multitude of females and of hermaphrodites and of doers of unspeakable things stands ready in every nation for this pollution.
Justin is denouncing the exposure of infants, a pagan practice, because exposed children are raised for prostitution. He calls the trade a pollution (ἄγος) and contrasts it with the Christian teaching that exposing children is wicked.
Full English of this work is being translated
καὶ ὃν τρόπον λέγονται οἱ παλαιοὶ ἀγέλας βοῶν ἢ αἰγῶν ἢ προβάτων τρέφειν ἢ ἵππων φορβάδων, οὕτως νῦν καὶ παῖδας εἰς τὸ αἰσχρῶς χρῆσθαι μόνον· καὶ ὁμοίως θηλειῶν καὶ ἀνδρογύνων καὶ ἀῤῥητοποιῶν πλῆθος κατὰ πᾶν ἔθνος ἐπὶ τούτου τοῦ ἄγους ἕστηκε.S. Iustini Aplogiae Duae Justin Martyr Gerhard Rauschen Petri Hanstein Bonn 1911 Florilegium Patristicum 2 Internet Archive (First1KGreek TEI, urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0645.tlg001) · English: translated for this page from the Greek
177c. AD
Sinful
Athenagoras fl. c. 177 ADPlea for the Christians 34
For they have set up a market of prostitution and made unlawful resorts for the young for every shameful pleasure, not sparing even males, males working the dreadful things with males, and in every way outraging the bodies that are more modest and beautiful, dishonouring the fair work of God.
Athenagoras turns the pagans' slanders back on their authors: adulterers and pederasts, he says, revile Christians, who live as eunuchs and in single marriage.
Full English of this work is being translated
Οἱ γὰρ ἀγορὰν στήσαντες πορνείας καὶ καταγωγὰς ἀθέσμους πεποιημένοι τοῖς νέοις πάσης αἰσχρᾶς ἡδονῆς καὶ μηδὲ τῶν ἀρσένων φειδόμενοι, ἄρσενες ἐν ἄρσεσι τὰ δεινὰ κατεργαζόμενοιAthenagorae Philosophi Atheniensis Opera Athenagoras Johann Karl Theodor von Otto Mauke Jena 1857 Corpus apologetarum christianorum saeculi secundi 7 Internet Archive (First1KGreek TEI, urn:cts:greekLit:tlg1205.tlg001) · English: translated for this page from the Greek
195c. AD
Sinful
Clement of Alexandria c. 150–c. 215 ADThe Instructor 2.10.83
Seed, the substance that begins generation, must not be outraged, since it has the principles of nature sown in it; and to bring shame on the natural principles by turning them unreasonably to unnatural ways is utterly godless.
Clement's argument from nature, close to the Stoics, covers all non-procreative acts.
Full English of this work is being translated
οὐδὲ καθυβριστέον τὸ σπέρμα, ἀρχηγὸν γενέσεως οὐσίαν, συνεσπαρμένους ἔχουσαν τῆς φύσεως τοὺς λογισμούς· τοὺς δὲ κατὰ φύσιν λογισμοὺς ἀλόγως εἰς τοὺς παρὰ φύσιν καταισχύνειν πόρους ἄθεον κομιδῇ.Clement of Alexandria Otto Stählin Protrepticus und Paedagogus Hinrichs Leipzig 1905 Clemens Alexandrinus Volume 1 Internet Archive (First1KGreek TEI, urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0555.tlg002) · English: translated for this page from the Greek
Nicaea to Chalcedon
325–451
392c. AD
Sinful
John Chrysostom c. 349–407 ADHomilies on Romans 4.2, on Romans 1:26–27
What women who prostitute themselves suffer, these suffer too, or rather something more wretched. For with them, even if the union is unlawful, it is according to nature; but this is both unlawful and against nature.
Chrysostom notes that Greek law and philosophers had tolerated such relations.
Full English of this work is being translated
Ἃ γὰρ αἱ πορνευόμεναι πάσχουσι γυναῖκες, ταῦτα καὶ οὗτοι· μᾶλλον δὲ ἐκείνων ἀθλιώτερα. Ταῖς μὲν γὰρ εἰ καὶ παράνομος, ἀλλὰ κατὰ φύσιν ἡ μίξις· αὕτη δὲ καὶ παράνομος, καὶ παρὰ φύσιν.Migne PG 60; Khazarzar Digital Patrology text, checked against the PG scan · English: translated for this page from the Greek
400c. AD
Sinful
Augustine of Hippo 354–430 ADConfessions 3.8.15
So the shameful acts that are against nature, such as those of the Sodomites, are everywhere and always to be detested and punished. Even if all nations did them, they would all be held guilty of the same crime by God's law, which did not make human beings to use one another in this way.
Augustine contrasts acts wrong by custom with acts wrong everywhere.
Full English of this work is being translated
itaque flagitia, quae sunt contra naturam, ubique ac semper detestanda atque punienda sunt, qualia Sodomitarum fuerunt. quae si omnes gentes facerent, eodem criminis diuina lege tenerentur, quae non sic fecit homines, ut hoc se uterentur modo.Pius Knöll Augustine Sancti Aureli Augustini Opera F. Tempsky G. Freytag Prague Vienna Leipzig 1896 Sectio I, Pars I Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 33 Internet Archive (OGL CSEL TEI, urn:cts:latinLit:stoa0040.stoa001) · English: translated for this page from the Latin
Witnesses not in the library yet
These writers also matter for this question. Their texts will join the timeline above once they are translated.
306
Council of Elvira; Basil, Elvira canon 71; Basil Letter 217 canon 62
Church penalties.
How this page was made
Every early quote was read in its Greek or Latin and translated for this page by Claude (Opus 5.5) on 13 October 2026. Each line names the printed edition it was read from. A quote marked indirect does not state the answer outright; read its note. A writer's silence is never counted as an answer.