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Today is a number of significant holy-days in the yearly cycle of the Ekklesía Antínoou that are (most likely!) quite particular and specific to us. It’s been a busy day thus far, and so I’m sorry that I didn’t get to make this post until now…

Today is the date we celebrate the syncretism of Pan and Antinous; this date was determined by oracular pronouncement in 2010, and didn’t quite happen as it should have last year, but something else did on this date which created all sorts of panic, unfortunately. But, I was able to remember it properly this year, since calendrical matters have been at the forefront of my devotional mentality in recent history. So, let us celebrate it!

The above is one of few surviving images of Antinous as Pan, from a contorniate medallion; he appears in a similar manner on a number of coins. We know there were images of him as Pan elsewhere, but none of these have survived. I’ve written about this here, which was published in The Syncretisms of Antinous, and also in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina devotional volume to Pan, called Out of Arcadia.

Khaire Pan! Khaire Khaire Antinoe!

Today is also the Dies Divae, the “Day of Deified Empresses,” so called because the imperial cult calendar of Doura-Europos indicates a dies natalis of a Diva on this date, but which one is not preserved due to the degradation of the text. While it can be narrowed down who it isn’t (i.e. Diva Matidia), the question of who it actually is happens to be far more uncertain. Because several of our Divae do not have definite dates attached to them at all, this is the only date on which I feel it is appropriate that we can honor them–and, since we’re honoring a mother and a grand-daughter in several cases who could be potential candidates for having a dies natalis now, why not also honor the daughter between them? So, this has become a date on which to honor all of the Divae we recognize; I’ve noted it as a date to honor Diva Plotina in particular in Devotio Antinoo, but let us honor all of them! (I’ve been carrying all of the coins depicting them–sadly, though, not all the ones I mention below–today along with the usual coins I carry for devotional purposes, and their added physical presence has been prominent with me for much of the day therefore, always drawing my mind toward remembering them, often every time I stand, sit, or walk–what a better way to use physical things as devotional reminders!)

Ave Diva Plotina! Ave Diva Marciana! Ave Diva Matidia! Ave Diva Sabina Augusta! Ave Diva Paulina! Ave Diva Faustina Maior! Ave Diva Faustina Minor! Ave Diva Lucilla!

May the memory of these Divae and the presence of their good examples and their good works be in the hearts and minds of all who honor Antinous and Hadrian, and may their presence and praise be always upon our lips! Ignis Corporis Infirmat, Ignis sed Animae Perstat!

And speaking of that familiar phrase, it is also the dies sancti of two individuals:

First, today was the dies mortis of Paul Verlaine in 1896. Verlaine was a French symbolist poet, and was considered a major figure in French literature at the end of the nineteenth century. Arthur Rimbaud was his lover at one point, and after their rather stormy relationship ended (though it still inspired Verlaine’s poetry), Verlaine later had another young lover who was a former student.

Here is one of Verlaine’s poems, which is from his collection that included poems inspired particularly by his romance with Rimbaud, and which includes allusions to drowning–perhaps appropriate for the context of a devotional blog about Antinous!

The Shadow of Trees…

(Romances Sans Paroles: Arriettes Oubliées IX)

‘The nightingale that, high on a branch, views itself below, thinks itself lost in the river. It is perched in the oak tree’s crown and yet fears death by drowning.’
Cyrano de Bergerac

The shadow of trees on the mist-drenched river
Dissolves like vapour
While in air, among the true branches flown
The turtledoves moan.

How this pale land, oh traveller, too
Pale yourself, mirrors you,
And your drowned hopes how sadly they weep
High in the sighing leaves!

*****

Today is also the birthdate of Sanctus Graham Chapman, who was born on this day in 1941. While he was in many films over the years, the actor/comedian is best remembered for his membership in the Monty Python troupe, and the various films which that group produced, including starring as King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (which was the first thing I remember seeing him in) and as Brian of Nazareth in The Life of Brian. He was the only gay member of the Monty Python cast, and he certainly died far too early (of cancer); from all accounts, he was an extremely amiable fellow, and all of the interviews and such I’ve seen with him have shown that to be the case. I particularly liked the sketch where he–

Right, then–sorry about that, Colonel.

So, sing Ignis Corporis Infirmat, Ignis sed Animae Perstat for Paul Verlaine, the “Prince of Poets” of France, and for Graham Chapman, the Colonel of Anti- Silliness!

[Tomorrow and Tuesday have neither holy-days nor dies sanctorum to mark, at least for the Ekklesía Antínoou, so I likely won't be posting on them; I may do a film review here later today, but I'm not certain of that yet. We shall see...]

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