BIRTH OF THE DIVINE LUCIUS VERUS

ON December 15th the Religion of Antinous celebrates the birth of the Divine Lucius Verus, who was born 48 days after the death of ANTINOUS in the year 130 AD (Year 19 of Antinous). As an 8-year-old boy he was hand-picked by Hadrian to become future co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius.

And Hadrian's wisdom in choosing him was realized when Lucius Verus proved to be a wise and diligent leader who combined efficiency in government along with a sense of charisma and high-drama style.


A handsome young man with naturally sandy-blond hair, he instructed his team of imperial stylists to sprinkle gold dust in his carefully coiffed hair and beard to highlight the natural blond sheen. 

Verus led a high-stepping lifestyle and kept a coterie of glitterati, actors and favourites with him. He had a replica tavern built in his house -- a sort of in-house Studio 54 -- where he staged lavish parties with his friends until dawn. 

He also enjoyed roaming around the city among the population, without acknowledging his identity. The games of the circus were another passion in his life, especially chariot racing.


Lucius Ceionius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus was the son of Lucius Aelius Caesar, His mother's name was Avidia. After the unexpected death of young Lucius's father, Lucius Aelius Caesar, Hadrian then adopted Antoninus Pius to be his successor, and ordered that Antoninus adopt Marcus Aurelius, Hadrian's 17-year-old nephew, and the 8-year-old Lucius who took the name Lucius Verus.

As a boy Lucius Verus was educated by the foremost Roman scholars including the historian Marcus Cornelius Fronto. He was watched over by a devoted freedman of his father named Nicomedes, a name with Bithynian connotations and of almost homosexual allusion.

Originally Hadrian desired that Lucius should marry Faustina the Younger, daughter of Antoninus, but then Antoninus canceled this arrangement and Faustina married Marcus Aurelius instead. Lucius married Lucilla, the daughter of Marcus Aurelius, in 161 a year after becoming Emperor in 161.

War broke out with the Parthians and Marcus Aurelius sent Lucius Verus to head the Campaign, but he is said to have spent his time drinking and banqueting, leaving the war in the capable hands of his  generals. It was a wise decision. For this victory, he was awarded a triumph.


In general, the duties of running the government were left in the hands of Marcus Aurelius, while Lucius Verus spent his time with actors and musicians, and at the chariot races. 

He is said to have excelled his eccentric father Lucius Aelius in ostentatiously exhibiting his pleasures on an Imperial scale, much to the disapproval of the stoic Marcus Aurelius. The two co-emperors, however, always maintained cordial relations.

Lucius Verus was born in the year 130, only 48 days after the Death of Antinous. This is of course very important to consider, and certainly must have left a life-long impression of Lucius Verus. Considerations of reincarnation are open for contemplation.

His death in the year 169 was sudden and unexpected, occurring during a military inspection, likely due to dysentery or possibly smallpox, as he died during a widespread epidemic known as the "Antonine Plague". 

Despite the minor differences between them, Marcus Aureliusgrieved the loss of his adoptive brother. He accompanied the body to Rome, where he offered games to honour his memory. After the funeral, the senate declared Verus divine to be worshipped as Divus Verus.

Many people (even modern-day pagans) balk at believing in the divinity of the emperors, preferring instead the Classical deities of the Roman Republic.

Pagans find it extremely difficult to worship human beings as legitimate gods, because they have no believable supernatural powers, it's too obvious. There are other reasons of course, but this is one.

Why not Worship Lucius Verus and Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius and all the Antonines, why not call out to them, why not praise them and declare our loyalty to them and hope for whatever benefit we might gain? 

The odds seem as favorable with them as with anything else that people call Gods.

For this reason, among others...we turn to ANTINOUS...because he IS a human being...and he WAS deified...ANTINOUS is in every way Both God and Man...we can believe whatever we want about him...but only so long as we do not delude ourselves into thinking that we can placate ANTINOUS, that by worshiping HIM, that we will somehow purchase his good favor...that we will be rewarded for our good faith.

We don't see any harm in asking ANTINOUS to give us the Moon and the Stars and the Beautiful Things of the Land and the Sea...and we are proud to ask ANTINOUS to watch over His People, all the Homosexuals of the World, to protect them and Guide into the Future.

This may seem to be a violation of our personal creed of not asking for fulfillment of our selfish whims...but it is not a violation of that creed...perhaps because it is not for ourselves...and also because we  do not expect ANTINOUS to respond in any way or form...it is not so much a response from ANTINOUS Himself that we are seeking, but a Response from the Antinous within Our Hearts and from the Antinous within All of Our Hearts.

It is We who must watch over ourselves and the whole world...through the Power of Antinous Love within us all. 

Lucius Verus IS a god and he represents the Power of the Antinous Love which resides within us all.

MULLED SPICED WINE MADE LIFE SWEETER FOR ROMAN SOLDIERS AT HADRIAN'S WALL

NEW research has revealed how life was made a little sweeter for the Roman troops patrolling Hadrian’s Wall ... with hot mulled wine and honey mead.

Examination of the pottery collections at English Heritage’s Corbridge Roman Town and Housesteads fort in Northumberland has shown that as well as beer and wine, mead was also made and drunk.

Mead is a beverage created by fermenting honey with water, sometimes with various fruits or spices, and is thought to be the world’s oldest alcoholic drink.

In an age without sugar, the natural sweetness of honey would have been a welcome change of tipple from beer and ... if it could be afforded ... imported wine.

Cameron Moffett, English Heritage collections curator who carried out the research, said: "English Heritage's collections from Wroxeter Roman Town in Shropshire and Hadrian's Wall shows that mead was being made in the Roman period in Britain. 

"Once wine started being imported honey was also used to make mulsum, a popular sweetened wine drink.

"There's evidence of mead being consumed thousands of years ago and it was the power drink of ancient Europe before wine-making had developed."

And Dr Frances McIntosh, English Heritage curator of Hadrian's Wall and the North East, said that jars for storage of honey and of mead and mulsum, plus specific lids which would have been sealed in place with wax, have been identified in the Corbridge and Housestead collections.

"Cameron’s research identified 15 stoppers used to seal the jars used to make mead and mulsum, and 21 bungs used to seal the flagons and jars for temporary transport of the liquids," she said.

"It was probably also the case at Roman bases on the Wall such as Chesters and Birdoswald. While wine had to be imported, the advantage of mead was that all the ingredients were to hand."

Today, with a revival of interest in a craft ales and drinks like gin, mead is also making a comeback.

It was also the drink of choice for Vikings, and was given to newlyweds on what is now known as their "honeymoon".

Cameron said: "We've also found evidence of mead being produced and stored at Tintagel Castle, Cornwall, in the 5th and 6th Centuries AD for use in great feasting events."

ANTINOUS WORKS MIRACLES FOR YOU By Our Priest Michaelus Isom

THE Obelisk glyphs state that "the semen of the first god TRULY is in his body," which empowers Antinous to perform any and all miracles and to assume "any form his heart desires" to do so.

By implication, the process of HOMOTHEOSIS (for it is a process, not a method) means that by becoming one with Antinous, the semen of the first god is also in our bodies."

As we all face uncertain times, take a moment close your eyes and remember that Antinous (HE) can perform any and all miracles. Those that came before us knew this. Be still, calm yourself and focus on Antinous. Ask HIM to help you. HE is always with you through Homotheosis.

MICHAELUS

Priest of Antinous

CARDINAL ALESSANDRO ALBANI SAINT OF ANTINOUS

ON December 11th the Religion of Antinous honors SAINT ALESSANDRO ALBANI, who was an Italian aristocrat and cardinal, and a collector and patron of the arts. 

It is largely thanks to Cardinal Albani that Antinous experienced a resurgence of interest in the 18th Century which continues to this day.

It is also believed that Albani secretly worshiped the Beauteous Boy as a gay god.

Albani became a trend-setter and an arbiter of taste. Albani, whose sexuality was ambivalent, and the openly gay Winkelmann more or less single-handedly launched a craze throughout the European aristocracy for Classical art.

When he was 29, by special dispensation from his uncle Pope Clement XI, Alessandro Albani was made a Cardinal, although he had never been a priest or member of a lower order. 

Indeed, he would have preferred to pursue a military career. But chronic eye problems, which eventually resulted in total blindness in old age, convinced him to take up his uncle's generous offer.

He is said to have been a continuing cause of great concern to his uncle, due to his worldly and irreligious obsessions, first among these his passion for art.

Cardinal Albani used his vast wealth to collect Classical art, and to patronize artists of his day, such as Anton Raphael Mengs, and the "Father of Archaeology" Johann Joachim Winckelmann, who was an open homosexual.

The art collection of Cardinal Albani contained an extraordinary number of statues of Antinous, and these were studied by Winckelmann, who had taken up residence in the sprawling and very lavish Villa Albani outside of Rome (pictured at left).

And Antinous was the pre-eminent example of male beauty in Classical art. Every aristocrat in Europe wanted a statue or Antinous. And monarchs such as Frederick the Great of Prussia (who never married and favored intimate friendships with males) sent out experts to find statues of Antinous.

Thus, the science of archaeology was born largely through a desire by aristocrats to furnish their palaces with the sort of Antinous-style Classical art which Albani had made fashionable.

By the time he died on December 11th in the year 1779, it was rumored that Cardinal Albani, along with his intimate friends Winckelmann and neo-classicist painter Anton Mengs, had been secret worshippers of Antinous and Priapus.

It was asserted that they reinstated the religion of the Beloved Boy as a kind of underground cult along with other, unnamed persons.

For this reason, though based largely on rumor, Cardinal Alessandro Albani is sanctified as a Saint of the Religion of Antinous.

Although he was a Cardinal of the Catholic Faith, he may in fact have been the first High Priest of Antinous since the extermination of the ancient religion 1,300 years before.

Albani's secret cult ... assuming it truly existed ... is the only known predecessor since ancient times to the current Religion of Antinous.

LOOKING FOR ANTINOUS By Our Priest Michaelus Isom

YOU may think that Antinous is too complex a God to understand. He is. I will be the first to admit that. However, that should not deter you from knowing HIM. 

In fact, that should make you even more curious. Where to begin, you ask. Anywhere you like. 

Much of what we know about the life of Antinous is really very little. There are many books and websites that claim to have the answers when in fact most are just guesswork and assumptions, and that includes Royston Lambert's book "Beloved and God." 

I will tell you that the Temple of Antinous is conducting "original research". That means spending countless hours pouring over ancient text. Having conversations with historians and archeologist to piece together the story that is Antinous.

I encourage you to visit our websites, The Temple of Antinous the Gay God which is a great place to start. Also, there are two blogs: Antinous the Gay God and Antinous and the Stars. 

Lastly join our on-line ceremonies where devotees of Antinous from all over the world attend to worship together. These are posted as an event. You are welcome here. 

May we all honor and worship Antinous the Gay God together.

MICHAELUS

Priest of Antinous

ANTINOUS GUADALUPE AND THE MIRACLE OF THE PINK LOTUSES

THE Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe (Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe) is a Catholic feast that celebrates the belief that a man encountered the Virgin Mary, Mexico's patron saint, in Mexico City on December 9 and 12, 1531.

It was said that she was the reincarnation of the Aztec goddess Tonantzin.

Born on the banks of the Rio Grande between the US and Mexico, Antonius Subia was inspired to paint this portrait of Antinous as Guadalupe. 

Antonius says:

I told them I had seen Antinous on the hilltop but they didn't believe me, something about drugs and alcohol and that I am a Mexican, and must be delusional.

So I let my poncho unfold and pink lotus flowers fell to the floor and behold there was a miraculous image of ANTINOUS on my poncho, by no means painted by human hands!

"Rebuild my Temple, Antonius," he said to me in Nahuatl.

~ANTONIUS SUBIA

MARTIN CAMPBELL'S HISTORICAL NOVEL 'QUEEN JULIUS CAESAR' IS A TRIUMPH

LOOKING for a holiday gift? We can most assuredly say that, if you loved THE LOVE GOD, Martin Campbell's historical novel about the life of Antinous ... now you must read his new novel about the early life of Julius Caesar entitled "Queen Julius Caesar" ... now available in Kindle and paperback. ORDER HERE! 

This meticulously researched book (with 40 pages of glossary and appendices) is a fast-paced page-turner with swashbuckling pirates, orgies and political intrigue. And it has already spawned pre-publication controversy with its provocative title and the tag-line "Rome's greatest ruler was bisexual." 

But far more interestingly, Campbell shows how a cocky, privileged young Patrician, accustomed to getting his way, is forced through adversity and deprivation ... and the intervention of Eastern potentates ... to develop the qualities of character that will make him a great leader.

Along the way, he parlays physical and emotional disabilities (epilepsy, obsessive-compulsive tendencies and self-injury to allay emotional pain) into strengths which will enable him to outwit and outmaneuver his adversaries.

His lessons begin at sea on a galley loaded with gold when pirates commandeer his vessel and hold him for ransom. Cunningly, he informs his captors the ransom is too low, and he finagles and entraps the pirates.

Another man in such a hopeless and helpless situation would give up. But Campbell skillfully shows how Caesar used his wits and his obsessive-compulsive discipline and determination not only to save himself and his adjutants, but also to emerge victorious and to exact cruel vengeance which would earn Caesar a place in the history books as a man not to be trifled with. 

In addition, in Campbell's brilliant historical novel, 20-year-old Caesar's education in leadership comes in the arms (literally) of Nicomedes IV, king of Bithynia, and his consort Nysa. 

Prudish Victorian historians quibbled over the three-way relationship. But Julius Caesar's own troops lustily chanted: "Gallias Caesar subegit, Caesarem Nicomedes," (Caesar laid the Gauls low, Nicomedes laid Caesar low). Hence, the title of this book!

Campbell shows how young Julius Caesar observed the way Nicomedes charmed and coaxed and coerced his courtiers and his naval and land forces into doing his will ... without having to resort to blunt force in the traditional Roman way.

By the end of this at once charming and illuminating book, the reader has accompanied Julius Caesar from bumptious adolescence to manhood as a mature leader who can meet ... and defeat ... anything or anybody who gets in his way.

Through it all, the goddess Minerva provides off-stage asides to the reader in the tradition of the chorus in a Classical stage comedy.

Campbell is working on two more novels ... and we can't wait!