From the Acts of John

The Hymn of Jesus is a mystical ritual-hymn preserved in the apocryphal Acts of John, a second-century Gnostic text attributed to Leucius Charinus, a disciple of John. In the hymn, Jesus gathers his apostles in a ring on the night before his arrest and leads them in a sacred cosmic dance — a call-and-response liturgy in which the divine and human poles of existence mirror one another. "I would be saved; and I would save." "I would be wounded; and I would wound." "Who danceth not, knows not what is being done." The hymn is unique in early Christian literature: a rite of movement, paradox, and union.

The text survived because the Priscillianists of fourth-century Spain treasured it; Augustine attacked it by name. It was preserved in a fourteenth-century Greek manuscript in the Vienna Imperial Library, discovered and published by M. R. James in 1899. G. R. S. Mead published his English translation with extensive commentary in 1907, arguing that the text is not a hymn at all but the earliest surviving Christian mystery-ritual — a liturgical dance in which the initiate enacts the Passion of Man.

Translation from the Greek by G. R. S. Mead, in "The Hymn of Jesus: Echoes from the Gnosis" (Theosophical Publishing Society, London, 1907). Digitised from the Gnostic Society Library at gnosis.org.

Now before he was taken by the lawless Jews — by them who are under the law of the lawless Serpent — he gathered us together and said:

"Before I am delivered over unto them we will hymn the Father, and so go forth to what lieth before us."

Then bidding us make as it were a ring, by holding each others' hands, with him in the midst, he said:

"Answer Amen to me."

Then he began to hymn a hymn and say:

Glory to thee, Father!

And we going round in a ring answered to him: Amen!

Glory to thee, Word! Amen!

Glory to thee, Grace! Amen!

Glory to thee, Spirit! Glory to thee, Holy One! Glory to thy Glory! Amen!

We praise thee, O Father; we give thanks to thee, O Light, in whom darkness dwells not! Amen!

I would be saved; and I would save. Amen!

I would be loosed; and I would loose. Amen!

I would be wounded; and I would wound. Amen!

I would be begotten; and I would beget. Amen!

I would eat; and I would be eaten. Amen!

I would hear; and I would be heard. Amen!

I would be understood; being all Understanding. Amen!

I would be washed; and I would wash. Amen!

Grace leadeth the dance.

I would pipe; dance ye all. Amen!

I would play a dirge; lament ye all. Amen!

The one Ogdoad sounds with us. Amen!

The Twelfth number above leadeth the dance. Amen!

All whose nature is to dance doth dance. Amen!

Who danceth not, knows not what is being done. Amen!

I would flee; and I would stay. Amen!

I would be adorned; and I would adorn. Amen!

I would be at-oned; and I would at-one. Amen!

I have no dwelling; and I have dwellings. Amen!

I have no place; and I have places. Amen!

I have no temple; and I have temples. Amen!

I am a lamp to thee who seest me. Amen!

I am a mirror to thee who understandest me. Amen!

I am a door to thee who knockest at me. Amen!

I am a way to thee, a wayfarer. Amen!

Now answer to my dancing!

See thyself in me who speak;
and seeing what I do,
keep silence on my mysteries.

Understand, by dancing, what I do;
for thine is the Passion of Man
that I am to suffer.

Thou couldst not at all be conscious
of what thou dost suffer,
were I not sent as thy Word by the Father.

Seeing what I suffer,
thou sawest me as suffering;
and seeing, thou didst not stand,
but wast moved wholly,
moved to be wise.

Thou hast me for a couch; rest thou upon me.

Who I am thou shalt know when I depart.
What now I am seen to be, that I am not.
What I am, thou shalt see when thou comest.

If thou hadst known how to suffer,
thou wouldst have power not to suffer.
Know then how to suffer,
and thou hast power not to suffer.

That which thou knowest not, I myself will teach thee.

I am thy God, not the Betrayer's.

I would be kept in time with holy souls.

In me know thou the Word of Wisdom.

Say thou to me again:
Glory to thee, Father!
Glory to thee, Word!
Glory to thee, Holy Spirit!

But as for me, if thou wouldst know what I was: in a word I am the Word who did dance all things, and was not shamed at all. 'Twas I who leaped and danced.

But do thou understand all, and, understanding, say:

Glory to thee, Father! Amen!

And having danced these things with us, Beloved, the Lord went forth. And we, as though beside ourselves, or wakened out of deep sleep, fled each our several ways.

Colophon

The Hymn of Jesus is a Gnostic ritual-hymn preserved in the Acts of John (second century CE), a text attributed to Leucius Charinus. The hymn survives in a fourteenth-century Greek manuscript in the Vienna Imperial Library, first published by M. R. James in 1899. Augustine of Hippo attacked the hymn by name in his letter to Bishop Ceretius (c. 400 CE), confirming its wide circulation among Gnostic communities, particularly the Priscillianists of Spain. G. R. S. Mead argued in his 1907 edition that the text is not a hymn but the earliest surviving Christian mystery-ritual.

Translation from the Greek by G. R. S. Mead, in The Hymn of Jesus: Echoes from the Gnosis (Theosophical Publishing Society, London, 1907). Digitised from the Gnostic Society Library at gnosis.org. Hand-read, extracted from 734 lines of web-scraped material, and restored by the Sub-Miko of Tianmu. Work done: separated the ancient hymn text from Mead's extensive preamble and commentary (which together constituted ~90% of the file), removed duplicate web-scrape blocks (every section appeared twice — once compressed, once expanded), stripped Mead's editorial brackets and textual-critical notes from within the hymn, formatted the call-and-response liturgical structure with proper line breaks, restored the poetic passage ("See thyself in me who speak...") to verse form, and wrote the blockquote and colophon. Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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