22. The Round Dance of the Cross
T
- mbedded in the Acts of John is a famous song, with instructions for
I liturgical dance to accompany the hymn, here called the Round Dance
_JL. of the Cross. This hymn has long attracted the attention of a variety of
creative people. The novelist Marguerite Yourcenar wrote about it in L'oeuvre
au noir (translated as The Abyss), the composer Gustav Hoist set it to music as
The Hymn of Jesus, and the film director Luis Bunuel incorporated a version of
it in his film La vote lactee (The Milky Way). The Round Dance of the Cross is
followed in the Acts of John by the Revelation of the Mystery of the Cross (not
translated here). Both have a distinctive character and a gnostic—even a
Valentinian—flavor.
The Round Dance of the Cross employs themes familiar from the tradition
of John and the Gospel of John (for example, Jesus is the word of god who re-
counts the mystery of suffering) within a hymn that is performed by Jesus and
his followers. The hymn illustrates features familiar from gnostic texts; some
scholars believe it may constitute a gnostic ritual in song and dance. The
verses sung by Jesus the leader include self-declarations, some of which recall
the riddlelike and paradoxical declarations of Thunder. The chorus of follow-
ers responds to the leader's verses antiphonally by singing "Amen" and dance
in a circle around him. Jesus' assertion that he will both save and be saved par-
allels the roles of god and the revealer in other gnostic texts in which god and