ANTINOUS IN THE UNDERWORLD

ANTINOUS is dead. Hadrian is weeping over his limp body on the banks of the Nile where his beloved perished in late October of the year 130 AD.

While mourners wail in the world of the living, Antinous descends into the Underworld. The modern Religion of Antinous commemorates this descent into the Egyptian Duat on October 29th.

Flamen Antonius Subia says:

Antinous is embraced by Osiris beneath the water of the Holy Nile, and he is given over to Hermes-Anubis and led into the underworld.

He appears before the Lords of the scale of Maat, but his spirit is divine and the scales crumble at his touch.

Hermes-Anubis escorts Antinous into the Hall of the Queen of the Dead, Persephone, and because he is a witness of the Mysteries of Eleusis, he obtains from her the pomegranate of immortality.

The immortal spirit of Antinous does not taste death, and he is given to drink of the fountain that restores memory because he has learned from Orpheus that he is from the Earth but is a Child of the Stars.

Antinous conquers death and returns from darkness. At midnight Antinous the God arises from the Nile and steps onto the shore from which he fell. The spirits of the entourage of Dionysus attend his resurrection and he is reborn as the New Osiris-Dionysus.

In the Religion of Antinous, this is the last day of the Ecclesiastic Year, it is spent in darkness and in solemn devotion.

As Antinous journeys through the underworld, we confront the weakness of being without our god, we reflect on the passage of the year, and on the influence of Antinous upon our lives, and we pray for the triumph of his return.

At midnight, a pure candle is ignited to symbolize the deification of Antinous Our God.

HOMOPHOBIA MARTYRS REMEMBERED ON ANNIVERSARY OF DEATH OF ANTINOUS

ANTINOUS worshipers on three continents tonight took part via an interactive online conference call in a candlelight vigil in memory of martyr victims of homophobia.

The vigil drew Zoom participants from across the United States, as well as from South America and Europe. The ceremonies coincided with the October 28 observance of the Death of Antinous on that date in the year 130 AD.

At the Hollywood Temple of Antinous, the founder of the modern religion of Antinous, ANTONIUS SUBIA, related the true-life story of how Antinous drowned in the Nile at the end of October in the year 130 AD, and how Hadrian proclaimed him the last deity of the Classical Era.

Priest HERNESTUS, participating from Germany, solemnly read out the names of martyr saints ... and linked them to the tragic death of Antinous.

With a quavering voice, Hernestus paused from time to time to remark on individuals whose names were on the list. 

He also honoured hundreds of victims of homophobic attacks around the world.

Antonius noted that the list of names represents only the tip of the iceberg ... and only one 12-month period. Countless thousands more suffer and are murdered on a daily basis around the world.

On October 28th we commemorate the death of Antinous and his descent into the Underworld.

"Antinous passes out of the world of the living tonight and enters the Underworld, where he hears the names of all these people and gathers them to him and embraces them and saves them from oblivion," Antonius told worshipers.

"I pray to Antinous to watch over them, now as his divine spirit sinks down into the place of the dead ... and when he returns, that he will bring for hope again, that these deaths will stop," Antonius said. "This is what I wish for."

On October 30th, another international interactive online ceremony will be held consecrating newly nominated saints of Antinous for 2024 and also ritually celebrating the return of Antinous from the Underworld and the establishment of the city of   ANTINOOPOLIS by Emperor Hadrian on that date in 130 AD.

INNOCENT MARTYRS:

Jacob (Jake) Carter Jacob was vacationing with his husband when an unknown gunman shot him once and fled, leaving Jacob dead at the scene. "He died in my arms," Daniel Blagovich, Jacob’s husband and business partner, told The News Tribune. The two founded their business, Howdy Bagel in Tacoma, Washington, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

John Walter Lay, USA, aged 52. He was a gay man from Florida man who was fatally shot by a 65-year-old fellow dog owner at a Tampa area park. The shooter claims he acted in self-defence, but friends say he had been harassing the victim for months with threats and homophobic slurs.

 

Nex Benedict, USA, aged 16. They were a non-binary, Native American, sophomore who was reportedly beaten to death by three older female students in the restroom of Owasso High School in Oklahoma. The school neither called an ambulance for the injured teen nor informed police of the attack until Nex was later admitted into the hospital — Nex died the next day.

 

Jesse Baird aged 26 and his boyfriend Luke Davies aged 29, Australia. The two men were murdered in their home near Sydney Australia.

 

Dime Doe, USA, age unknown. Black transgender woman Dime Doe became the subject of the first federal hate crimes trial for a hate crime based on gender identity.

 

Diamond Brigman, USA, aged 36, was a black transgender woman who was gunned down in the United States.

 

Semsem, Iraq, age unknown. Semsem was a young trans woman who was brutally stabbed to death in the streets of Diwaniyah in Iraq.

 

Gerald Don Henderson, USA, aged 72. He was a gay man who was slain by a 28-year-old and a 31-year-old who were members of the Aryan Knights prison gang who were later arrested by police in Twin Falls, Idaho.

 

 

Cecilia Gentili, USA, aged 52. Cecilia was an Argentinian trans woman who founded a drug treatment center for trans people in New York City and who appeared in the TV series “Pose”. She was murdered by two men.

 

Carlos Collins, USA, aged 25. Carlos was a gay man who died from gunshot wounds, and an axe wound inflicted by his 33-year-old ex-boyfriend in Louisiana.

Kawaski Trawick, USA, aged 32. Kawasaki was a dancer and personal trainer killed by police in his own apartment in what was called an act of police brutality. 

 

River Nevaeh Goddard, USA, 17. River was a non-binary 17-year-old who was found dead in New Hampshire, USA.

 

 

Andrea Doria Dos Passos, USA, aged 37. Andrea was a homeless transgender woman who was brutally beaten to death in while sleeping near the entrance to Miami City Ballet in South Beach Florida.

 

Pamela Cobas, Argentina, age unknown. She was a lesbian woman. She, her partner and two other lesbian were attacked when a man set fire to the room the four women were sharing in a Buenos Aires boarding house.

 

Starr Brown, USA, aged 28. She was a Black trans woman in who was found dead inside of a crashed car in a Memphis, Tennessee neighborhood.

 

Jazlynn Johnson, USA, aged 18. She was a transgender woman from Las Vegas, Nevada, She was allegedly shot by 17-year-old. He called his parents and said he accidentally shot his friend. He begged his parents not to tell the police, but they did. He told police he didn’t know where the gun was. Police have charged him with murder with the use of a deadly weapon and destroying or concealing evidence.

 

Tay Dior, USA, aged 17. Tay was a trans girl in Mobile, Alabama. She was killed by an assailant who has not yet been identified in the press.

 

Pauly Likens, USA, aged 14.  Police discovered the dismembered body parts of Pauly scattered around Shenango River Lake in Sharpsville, Pennsylvania.

Dylan Gurley, USA, aged 20. Dylan was a trans woman from Little Elm, Texas and was just a few weeks shy of her 21st birthday when police found her unconscious in a Denton, Texas, home.

 

Nombulelo Bhixa, 28, and Minenhle Ngcobo, 22, South Africa. Nombulelo and Minenhle were a lesbian couple who both worked together at a store in Edendale city center. They were shot to death as they were getting into a taxi in an act of violence being investigated as a hate crime.

 

Micah Laureano, USA, aged 19. He was a Black gay man who was killed by a 24-year-old white man who had been placed in a cell with the Green Bay Correctional Institute.

 

Savannah Williams, USA, aged 39. She was a trans woman in Georgia, who was paid to have sex with her killer.

Kesaria Abramidze, Georgia (the nation), aged 37. Kesaria was a transgender woman and a popular influencer. She was stabbed to death in her apartment in a “premeditated” attack, according to authorities, a day after Parliament passed a sweeping bill aimed at erasing LGBTQ+ identity in the former Soviet republic.

 

Honee Walker, USA, aged 37. Honee was a Black transgender woman was killed in a hit-and-run incident in New York State.

 

Andrew Wagstaff, Belgium, aged 69. Andrew was a British priest. His apparent killer was a 60-year-old Anglican priest stationed in Kalmthout, Belgium. He was arrested after his male partner, died during a drug-fuelled night of gay sex together.

 

Janne Puhakka, Finland, aged 29. Janne was a gay man who came out in 2019. He was the first Finnish hockey player to speak about his sexuality and discussed having to hide his it from teammates because of the homophobia in the sport. Finnish news outlet Ilta-Sanomat reported that he was murdered at his home in the southern city of Espoo.

AS HEROIC MARTYRS:

Ulises Salvador Nava, Mexico, 29. was head of the department of sexual diversity of the UAGro, was assassinated in the central state of Aguascalientes, on July 15, 2023, where he had participated in the country’s first National Congress of Strategic Litigation for the Defense of the Rainbow Quota.

Jesús Ociel Baena Saucedo (9 December 1984 – 13 November 2023) was a Mexican activist for non-binary and LGBT+ rights and electoral magistrate at the State Electoral Court of Aguascalientes. On 1 October 2022, they became the first non-binary magistrate in Latin American history

Baena was a prominent activist of non-binary and LGBT+ rights. Baena and their partner, Dorian Daniel Nieves Herrera, were found dead in their home by Baena's housekeeper on 13 November 2023.

 

ANTINOUS DIES AS A MORTAL RISES AS A GOD AT THE FEAST OF THE BENNU PHOENIX

ON October 28th we commemorate the tragic death of Antinous in the Nile in October 130 AD. October 28th is also the Egyptian Day of Transformation into the Bennu Bird. 

This festival is the conclusion of the Mysteries of Osiris ... a festival which Antinous and Hadrian witnessed in Hermopolis during the final days of the mortal life of Antinous. 

They had already visited the Shrine of the Bennu (phoenix) Bird in Heliopolis Egypt. 

Now in Hermopolis, during the passion play, Antinous and Hadrian see how Isis and Nephthys search for and finally find the body of Osiris. 

Then, using the Scroll of Thoth from the sacred library at Hermopolis, Isis raises Osiris from the dead and transforms him into a spirit which can pass from the Underworld into the world of the living.

At the end of the Festival of the Passion of Isis and Osiris, Antinous plunges into the Nile under mysterious circumstances. Grieving Hadrian proclaims him a god ... he is worshiped throughout the Empire as Antinous in the form of Osiris. And Antinous is worshiped as a lunar deity. 

There is a spell of Transformation in the Book of the Dead, Chapter 83 (LXXXIII): 

I fly up and out of the Primeval Waters 

I come into being as the God Kheper

I am the Bennu, the Soul of Ra,

and the guide of the gods in the Tuat.

I become a Shining One, 

I am Mighty,

I become sacred among the Gods,

I am the Moon God

who vanquishes all darkness.

The OBELISK OF ANTINOUS speaks of Antinous becoming "a shining one" and also of being full of the "Semen of the First God" which is the creative force of the universe. That means Antinous can assume "any form his heart desires" since he (like Osiris) is one with the First God ... and one with the Bennu Bird.

Antinous IS the Phoenix.

THE DEATH OF ANTINOUS

ON October 28 the Religion of Antinous commemorates The Death of Antinous.

Near the village of Hir-wer, Antinous fell into the Nile and drowned.

There are those who believe that he was murdered, or that he willingly gave himself over to human sacrifice to prolong the life of his beloved Hadrian, or that his death was the suicidal effect of teenage melodrama, or that is was merely an accident, but there is no way to know, no way to be certain.

Grief-stricken Hadrian only said he "plunged into the Nile" but never elaborated on the circumstances of the death of his beloved.

Flamen Antinoalis Antonius Subia says:

We priests of Antinous do not take a definite position and leave the matter as an unknowable mystery. The manner in which Antinous died is not important, only the effect that his death had upon the world has significance.

On this day, we solemnly and silently mourn the Death of Antinous whom Hadrian loved and for whom he wept, and we sorrow for the loss of such great beauty at so young an age.

We pray for the Bithynian boy who died so far from home.

With his death, our religion was set in motion.

We lament and exalt in the grief of Hadrian that was so strong and so powerful that it spread to the whole face of the world, and affects us still today.

We pray also for all those homosexuals who have died in youth as a consequence of repression, we mourn the suicides, and commit them to the soothing arms of Antinous, who was assumed into the Nile for all of us.

It is one of the great ironies of history that, by dying dramatically, a  young person who was unremarkable except for his beauty became irrevocably bound with the most powerful man in the world. 

Emperor Hadrian proclaimed Antinous a God. He established a city on the bend of the Nile where the young man died — Antinoopolis. 

He named a constellation in the heavens after Antinous.

And without gentle Antinous at his side, Hadrian became an embittered and broken man. He became capricious and at times cruel. A reign which had been marked by Hellenistic principles of tolerance descended into bloodshed.

It is indeed remarkable how one young man, a commoner with no wealth or political influence, changed the course of history simply by dying. And the thousands of statues sculpted on orders of grieving Hadrian became the iconic image of Classical beauty — the last deity of Ancient Greece and Rome.

Antinous fell into the Nile, beneath the swirling waves, but when his body was pulled from the water ... a God emerged. Antinous is our God, he has accomplished the salvation of all lovers of his beauty. His is our salvation. He is Antinous the Gay God. He is the last pagan God of Classical Rome.

For centuries, he was worshiped in secret by gay men who were afraid to worship him publicly. Men such as Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman sang his praises. When the Nazis marched into the offices of gay-rights advocate Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin, they smashed a ceramic wall relief of Antinous which Dr. Hirschfeld had set in a place of reverence over the doorway.

And now, in the 21st Century, the "Most Great and Good God" (as he was known among his followers) is being discovered by a whole new generation of people seeking gay spirituality.

We dedicate our lives and our souls to fulfilling the Divine Hadrian's command to establish the Religion of Antinous for all who seek gay spirituality. We dedicate our lives and our souls to serving Antinous the Gay God.

ANTINOUS AND THE SCROLL OF THOTH BY WHICH ISIS RAISED OSIRIS FROM THE DEAD

AS we commemorate the death of Antinous on October 28th, we need to remember what likely transpired during the hours leading up with his demise and deification.

On October 27th Antinous and the Imperial entourage were in the ancient city of Hermopolis, the Sacred City of Thoth/Hermes during the celebration of the Death and Resurrection of Osiris.

We believe that the spiritual forces of this occasion, and the Mysteries divulged to him by the Hermetic priests of the god Thoth, were the inspiration for this ascension into godliness.

The Passion of Isis and Osiris was played out annually in Ancient Egypt and formed the cornerstone of the Egyptian belief system, a belief system which taught that you could die horribly and tragically and yet you could be revived and restored and in fact you could become a god.

Sacred players acted out the roles of Osiris, his murderous brother Set and his faithful consort Isis. It was through the magical spells contained in the fabled "Scroll of Thoth" that Isis brought Osiris back from the dead.



At Oxyrhynchus Antinous had seen just how potent the magical spells of Isis were.

The festival of Osiris celebrated at Hermopolis and observed by Hadrian and Antinous commemorated the rending of the body of Osiris and the searching of Isis for each of the parts.

We believe that something of a cathartic nature happened within the soul of Antinous at Hermopolis just before he plunged into the Nile on the opposite bank across from Hermopolis.

We will never know precisely what happened. Did Antinous get a glimpse at the fabled Scroll of Thoth? Did some Egyptian magician-priest teach him a bit about spellcasting? Did Antinous perhaps believe that he could use a spell to prolong Hadrian's life?

The Egyptians believed anyone who drowned in the Nile would become "a deified Osiris". Some Egyptian magical spells call for the magician to "deify a scarab beetle" -- which means to drown it in Nile water and thus make it sacred and magical.

We will never know for sure what happened as a result of the ceremonies on October 27th, the last day and the last sunset of the brief mortal life of Antinous. The sun would rise on October 28th and, although the mortal Antinous would die, there would never be another setting of the sun for Antinous the Gay God!

FLAMEN ANTONIUS SUBIA tells us:

Like Osiris, Antinous descended into the Nile, and arose to bring the blessing of eternal life to the world. The Religion of Antinous, like the body of Osiris was scattered over the face of the world, and we who worship him, are like Isis, gathering the fragments together again.

Hermopolis was the last city that Antinous ever saw, and the Passion of Osiris was the last religious ceremony in which he took part. Certainly it was here and at this time that an Awakening occurred, dark in its implications, causing Antinous to relinquish his life.

But it was of splendid power in that, from the death of the boy, a god emerged. We observe that in Hermopolis, the scattering of the body of Osiris was the moment when the sperm of the blessed one was planted in the immortal spirit of Antinous, Our God.

The Sacred Nights of Antinous begin tomorrow ....

ANTINOUS IN HERMOPOLIS By Our Flamen Antinoalis Antonius Subia

THE  Ancient city of Hermopolis was the center of the religion of Thoth, the ibis-headed the scribe god, which held a cosmology that is believed to have been much older than those of other Egyptian cities. 

It was said that Thoth laid an egg in the void from which emerged eight beings in the form of frogs and snakes, who together are called the Ogdoad, and are the creators of the universe. 

Their names are Naun and Naunet (initial waters-inertia) Heh and Hehet (spatial infinity) Kek and Keket (darkness) and Amun and Amunet (That which is hidden.) 

The Ogdoad created a lotus flower which rose up from the primordial waters and when the lotus blossomed, the god Re was born. Re then proceeded to bring order to the universe, which is where the other cosmologies are concerned. 

The Greeks called Hermopolis "The City of Hermes" because they identified Hermes with Thoth, and from this union was born the mystical religion called Hermeticism whose patron deity was the teacher of knowledge known as Hermes Trismegistus. 

Hermopolis was the last city that Antinous ever saw. He was present during the festival of the Passion of Osiris, and was mystically consecrated to become Osiris. 

We celebrate the visitation of Antinous to Hermopolis as the moment in which our religion became infused with the mysteries of Hermes Trismegistus.

~ANTONIUS SUBIA

HOW DID ANTINOUS DIE? AND WHY? By Our Flamen Antinoalis Antonius Subia

I go over this question again and again,
I haven't stopped wondering... and quite honestly,
I still don't know what to think...about how Antinous died.
Any possibility is probable...even Human sacrifice.
The ancients alluded to the rumors...so anyone who repeats them
...is being a scholar.

Dio Cassius suggested (or rather claimed) that Hadrian
Had the body of Antinous cut open for the examination of his organs,
Not to find the cause of death, as in an autopsy
But to examine the organs...for divination.
These were the organs of a god to be.

Horrible, and macabre
but why wouldn't Hadrian have every inch and morsel
Of his beloved Antinous examined and studied,
...Treated like sacred jewels from the depths
Of the most beautiful corpse?

I think we are all in agreement that,
The Body of Antinous was very likely Mummified.
That it was not buried in the earth...like a Greek of a Christian,
Nor laid in the tomb, covered in oil and herbs like a Jew
Nor burned on the pyre...like a Roman,
But that Antinous was very likely given the burial rites
Of an Egyptian King...a fashion still popular
Among the rich Hellenistic- Roman Nobility.
We have all seen the fayoum funereal paintings.
If you could afford it...you would be given the very best version
Of an ancient Egyptian Royal burial,
Your Body would be preserved to the very best of Mummification
Possible at that time...not quite as well as the ancients, but basically well preserved.

Hadrian, I imagine, paid top Sesterses
To have the Body of Antinous treated with the greatest and most sacred respect
Due the highest of kings
The best of the best were brought to Antinoopolis to Mummify the body of Antinous.
It seems very likely to think that the Roman Augurs,
Who were always part of the court, would want to examine
The organs of Antinous, before they were preserved in salt and nitron,
And gain whatever spiritual significance they might reveal,
...like a sacrificial Animal.
Why wouldn't they want to know if there was anything to be known
From the lobes of his liver and spleen,
Ridiculous as it may sound to us now,
And scandalous as it might seem to a Roman...and especially to a Christian.
Why wouldn't they make their examination,
Before his beautiful organs were dried and placed in their eternal alabaster urns?
Hadrian would have wanted to know why.

Maybe the slander came from the fact that his organs were examined,
Like a sacrificial lamb, or a bull.
Many of the coins of Antinous have a bull or a ram on the reverse,
Perhaps because Antinous was the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world."
In slanderous minds...some would say
That he died..for no other reason than to be examined,
...as though Hadrian slit his neck.

Antinous threw himself into the Nile...he died,
But even Hadrian had no idea why,
Hadrian only said that Antinous fell,
...if we are going to be scholars,
The ancient suggest that he drowned to prolong Hadrian's life,
Or rather...if Hadrian represents the Empire,
Then Antinous died for the benefit of the Roman Empire.
Dio Cassius, in his effort to belittle Hadrian,
Made the death of Antinous out to be a sacrifice to Hadrian's vanity,
But avoided the relevance of Hadrian's life to the benefit of all Romans.
If Antinous gave his life to prolong the life of Hadrian,
He was actually giving his life...in human sacrifice,
To prolong the benefit that Hadrian had brought to mankind,
To the whole of the Roman Empire.
If it was suggested to Antinous that by the sacrifice
Of that which was most dear to Hadrian,
That Hadrian would continue to live beyond his natural years,
If Antinous Loved Hadrian...as I feel that he did,
And if Antinous believed in Hadrian...what he meant to the world,
What he had done for Rome...for all mankind,
And what he could do in the future,
If someone were to suggest that through his own death,
Antinous could benefit Hadrian and ensure that Hadrian would continue to reign,
Do you think that Antinous would hesitate?

Of course he would hesitate.
There was more involved than we know,
Something happened...there was some kind of separation of the heart.
Antinous would have found some other way to benefit Hadrian,
With his life...by living...unless there was no other way.
If Antinous gave his life as a human sacrifice,
It would have been a very extreme psychological despair
That led him to take his own life...what could that have been?

Knowing what I know about Love,
I would say that it was simple acts of cruelty
That led to the end of Antinous.
Hadrian must have treated Antinous in a cruel manner
leading up to that sacred night in October of 130.
Antinous must have felt worthless to Hadrian,
Ruler of the Known World,
Hadrian might have said something that pushed Antinous
Over the edge.

Antinous was only a boy of 18 or 19,
Full of emotional turmoil,
The slightest word from Hadrian
Might have set Antinous...full of teenage hormones,
into an unbalanced, irrational state,
in which he was capable of anything.

Their relationship had no equality,
Hadrian was ruler of the world,
Antinous was nobody...a pretty boy
With thousands of rivals, an Empress who probably didn't approve,
And a rival in Lucius Verus...Antinous was harassed
On all sides by everyone who had something to gain,
And then there was that person who suggested 
That if Antinous gave his life,
That the reign of Hadrian would continue.

Hadrian cried as woman because he knew the real reason why 
Antinous died...Hadrian knew...and he cried...because he knew.

There must have been a final moment between them,
A final goodbye....that left Hadrian full of regret,
Our Religion is founded on Hadrian's regret


I think Antinous drowned for his own personal reasons,
He fell into the Nile by accident,
Maybe he was drunk,
Maybe he was suicidal...drowning off a boat is
A hard way to kill your self on purpose,
But there are others who have slipped into the river
And drowned...who were considered gods.
Who knows...rivers have no answers.

In Antinous...I feel that he gave himself to the Nile
He gave himself to such an extent that he died,
Whether by accident.... drunk...or visionary,
Antinous died in the Nile...he drowned.

So why do we worship him?
because Antinous is the god of the gays
There is no other gay god except Antinous,
Find fault in H.I.M. if you wish,
But Antinous is great and strong....
For those who see and know HIM,
There is no such thing as weakness,
Nor strength.
~ANTONIUS SUBIA