Most of the world's religions consider the relationship between a woman and a man to be evil and sinful. In this regard, people who have devoted their lives to serving God take a vow of celibacy or accept celibacy. This is how religious people and monks isolate themselves from the bustle of the world.
The history of celibacy
The vow of celibacy is taken by adherents of most existing world religions. But celibacy also existed in pagan beliefs. He was one of the prerequisites for the ministry of vestals in ancient Rome. If they broke the vow of celibacy, they were punished in a special way - they were buried alive.
In Christianity, the prerequisite for the emergence of celibacy was the words of the Apostle Paul. In his speech, he mentioned that a married man would rather serve his own wife than God.
In the Roman Catholic Church, celibacy was legalized in the second half of the 6th century, and in the Byzantine Church - at the end of the 7th century. But the vow of celibacy was able to take root in the believers only by the 12th century.
Celibacy in European religions
Nowadays, all Catholic clergy, except deacons, are obliged to accept celibacy. Certain concessions are possible only for priests who came from Anglicanism. In this case, they can freely continue their family relationship.
In the Orthodox faith, God's servants are allowed to marry, but only celibate or monastic priests can become bishops.
Unlike Orthodoxy and Catholicism, Adventists and Protestants, on the contrary, honor married priests.
Celibacy in Eastern religions
In Hinduism, celibacy is called brahmacharya. It implies refraining from contact with a woman and should be observed in the last stages of a priest's life - hermitism and asceticism. In India alone at the moment there are about 5 million monks who adhere to celibacy. An interesting fact is that instead of enjoying sexual intimacy, monks want to get superpowers in return, for example, to be able to fly, walk on water or become invisible to human sight.
Likewise, the vow of celibacy is observed in Buddhism. But in some of its offshoots, monks are given the right to go to brothels.
Religions without celibacy
The two world religions do not accept abstinence and celibacy. We are talking about Judaism and Islam. Prophet Muhammad promoted sexual relations, but Jews cannot abstain from sexual intercourse by definition, since God's chosen people must multiply.
Celibacy can be practiced not only for reasons of religion. Before the competition, some athletes deliberately abstain in order to maintain their strength. Even in ancient Greece, the vow of abstinence was mandatory for athletes.