The Discourse of the Savior and the Dance of the Savior New translations and introduction

by Paul C. Dilley

The Coptic Qasr el-Wizz Codex (Aswan, Nubian Museum, Special Number 168; former-ly Cairo, Coptic Museum inv. 6566) was an instant media 6ensation upon its discovery in 1965. The New York Times declared it one of the "great finds" and "treasures" of the UNESCO salvage excavations conducted before the flooding from the Aswan High Dam. 1

However, four decades passed before the first critical edition appeared in 2006; so its true significance is only now becoming apparent. The manuscript contains two treatises in Coptic: the Discourse of the Savior on the Mystery of the Cross (Disc. Sav.) featuring a post-resurrection dialogue between Jesus and the disciples about the nature of the cross; and the Dance of the Savior (Dance Sav.), in which Jesus leads the apostles in a hymn to the cross as they dance around it. Both texts attest to the major significance of cross piety; the second suggests that Christian ritual dancing, already attested in the second-century Acts of John, was practiced through the early medieval period. Dance Sav. is closely related to the Gospel of the Savior, an unprovenanced late-antique Coptic text now in Berlin, as well as the Strasbourg fragments of the same work. 2 Disc. Sav. has appeared in scholarship also under the name of the "Stauros-Text" and the "Discourse upon the Cross"; Dance Sav. is also known as the "Hymn to the Cross:'

Contents Both texts in the Qasr el-Wizz Codex are set on the Mount of Olives, and both are related to the cross and its veneration. The first, Disc. Sav. (fol. 2r-12r), is a dialogue between Jesus and the apostles four days before his ascension. Peter's initial question to the "Savior," a frequent title for Christ in both texts, sets the stage for the entire discourse: "Why ·will you bring ( the cross) with vou on the day wh will · d · · . , en you JU ge m righteousness, namely the sign ~f the cros_s that is honored?" (5). The Savior responds with a series of common stau-ro~gical teachmgs on the eschatological and soteriological function of the cross, which wh accompany Jesus at the Resurrection and, at the Final Judgment will take root in t e Valley of Josaphat (?-8), presumabl . , heaven There is an anti· Je . h . Y to serve as a witness, before ascending back to

· - w1s section in wh· h th S . against him including placing th ' ic e aVIor asserts various wrongs done ' e crown of thorns h · h . ed to Pilate's soldiers in the canonical G · 1 on is ead ( 6), an action attrtbut

apostles glorify the Holy Trinity (i6). ospe s (Mark 1s:17 par.; John 19:2). At the end, the

1 . . Sanka Knox, "Old Coptic MS · 15. Another such ob· · Unearthed Near Abu s· b I" dedication as h Jehct was the temple of Dendur (whi h al un e , New York. Times, 24 December 1965,

a c urc ) moved d c so contains a C . . . . d' 'ts 2. This text has bee~ an reassembled at the Metro olit optic mscnption recor mg l

ryphon. prepared for this volume by Alin S p . an Museum of Art in New York. uciu, uo<ler the title Berlin-Strasbourg Apoc·

184

The Discourse of the Savior and the Dance of the Savior

Dance Sav. is a n:iodern title for the second text (fol. 12v_17r), which lacks a title in the manuscript. It consist~ of fo~r hymns that Jesus sings to the cross as he dances around it

hile the apostles encircle him, responding '½.men:' This scene occurs on the M t r' w h "fi . (h oun o Olives before t e cruci_ lXlon. e_re ascribed to "the lawless Jews:' 4:1), and is presumably an expansion of the bnef notice m Mark 14:26/ /Matt 26:30, according to which Jesus and the apostles s~g a hymn be~ore g~ing up to_ the Mount of Olives. The hymn includes vari-ous christolog1cal exclamations ( I am the immortal bread. Eat and be satisfied:'

2:3); ex-

hortations to the cros_s to "fulfill the soteriological mission ("Receive me to you, o Cross; 3:5); and words of p~aise ( Cross, ~h_ich is full of light;' 3:2). The text ends abruptly after the fourth hymn, with_ a b~1ef description, as in Disc. Sav., of the apostles glorifying God. Like the Disc. Sav. which it follows, the Dance Sav. glorifies the cross and Jesus for their key role in salvation history (4:12).

Manuscripts and Versions Unlike many manuscripts containing apocryphal literature, the Qasr el-Wizz Codex has a secure archaeological provenance, which helps immensely in understanding how it was used and by whom. It was excavated in a monastery on November 18, 1965 by George Scanlon, a freelance archaeologist working on behalf of the Oriental Institute at the Uni-versity of Chicago, which was participating in the UNESCO rescue excavations in advance of the Aswan High Dam's flooding of the region, which became Lake Nasser. Qasr el-Wizz is about a half-hour walk north from Paras (Pachoras), the capital of the medieval Chris-tian Kingdom ofNobadia in modern Sudan. In his preliminary report on the excavations, Scanlon states that the manuscript was discovered "complete in seventeen folios, but with the cover missing, found on the floor of cell E at the Nw. corner below the platform:'3 Cell IJ-E was part of a "cell-bloc" on the ground floor, a standardized living area with "a small, raised platform which went round the cell ... and which was used for sitting and for sleep-ing pallets; and a series of arched niches in the walls, which were used for lamps, books, utensils, and clothing, and which are generally referred to in the archaeological sources as 'cupboards~'4 In addition to four wall niches, cell E had one floor-level niche, which would have been_ used for storing objects such as clothing, lamps, or books. Artur Obluski, who is publishing the results of the Oriental Institute's campaigns at Qasr el-Wizz, suggests, based on the detailed documen_tation in the excavation's notes, that the book was discov-ered in the fill of a floor-level niche.5

The Qasr el-Wizz manuscript is a complete parchment codex with 17 leaves, or 34 pages, with 31 containing Coptic text, and two depictions of the cross at the beginning and end. At 10 cm in width and 16.7 cm in height, it can be considered a large example of the miniature codex format. 6 The size of the codex indicates it was made for personal use, whether in a monastic or a church setting. The manuscript is not dated but the script ---3· Scanlon, "Excavations at Qasr el-Wizz;• 18. For a picture of the "Platform in cell 11-E from above:• see Plate IX. 1.

. 4· Scanlon, "Excavations at Qasr el-Wizz;" 16-17. For a plan of the church and monastery, see P· 8, Figure 1.

5· In the object card (Reg. No. 6s-n- lo6) at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, it is recorded th

at the rn · " " · th c 11 · t · "II E Fill 1: anuscnpt was discovered on 18 November 1965; under '.Area 1s e 10 owing no e. -OWardsNw C · · orner Flooring." aim

6· Por an extensive codicological and paleographical analysis, including a discussion of the varied, ost Whims' I . . b"

tea m101atures, see Hubai, KopHsche Apokryphen aus Nu ten, 22-47.

a a a Si& IJ&!J

71,e Discourse of the Savior and the Dance of the Savior

provides some clues about its origins. The same scribe wrote both works in the codex, in a large hand ( only 12 or 13 lines per page), tentatively assigned by Alin Suciu to "around the year 1000 CE;' based on a comparison with dated manuscripts from the monastery of Mercuri us in Edfu, southern Egypt. 7

A critical edition and translation of both texts was prepared by Peter Hubai and Pub. lished in Hungarian in 2006, which was made more widely available by Angelika Balog's 2009 German translation. 8 The texts have appeared in English in an unpublished transla-tion by George Hughes made shortly after the discovery and now held among Hughes's work at the Oriental Institute in Chicago, and alongside a new edition of the codex by Alexandros Tsakos, Christian Bull, Lloyd Abercrombie, and Einar Thomassen. 9 Dance Sav. alone was translated by Pierluigi Piovanelli in a 2012 article, 10 and by Alin Suciu in his 2013 dissertation, 11 · ·

There is a1so an Old Nubian version of the Disc. Sav., in a manuscript (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Orientabteilung, Ms. orient. quart. 1020, fol. 1-i8)

found in nearby Serra East, a Christian settlement in a Pharaonic-era fort, and purchased by the German scholar Carl Schmidt on the Cairo antiquities market in 1906. In this manuscript, first edited by F. L. Griffith in 1913, 12 Disc. Sav. is followed not by Dance Sav. but by: a similar set of addresses to the cross taken from Ps. -Chrysostom's Greek homily In venerabilem crucem, the full version of which was found in another Old Nubian manu-script at Serra East during the 1963-1964 excavations·of the Wniversity of Chicago. Like the Qasr el-Wizz-Codex, the Old Nubian manuscript is also a "handbook:' measuring

I approximately 12 cm in height and 18.1 cm in length. Although the manuscript is without archaeological context, the scribal colophon notes that its donors had it placed in the Jesus Church of Serra East. 13

The Qasr el-Wizz and Serra East manuscripts reflect the complex linguistic situation of the Christian kingdoms of medieval Nubia. Old Nubian was spoken by most inhabit-ants of Nobadia, Makuria, and Alodia; a relatively small corpus of texts, mostly biblical, apocryphal, and homiletic, have been recovered in southern Egypt and Nubia since the late nineteen~h century. Greek was still used in the liturgy, as was Coptic, the language of many monks who had arrived from southern Egypt. 14 While both Disc. Sav. and Dance

• Sav. are developments of literary traditions originating ultimately in Greek texts ( see be-I low), in their current form they are best understood as Coptic compositions; the Disc.

7. Suciu, ''.Apocryphon Berolinense/ Argentoratense;' 32. Note, however, the ninth-centu date ro-posed in Hubai, Koptische Apokryphen aus Nubien, 36. ry p

8. Hubai, Koptische Apokryphen aus Nubien. 9. Tsakos et al., "Miscellanea Epigraphica Nubica IV." 10. Piovanelli, "Thursday Night Fever;' 240-41. 11. Suciu, ''.Apocryphon Berolinense/ Argentoratense:•

170_

71_

12. Griffith, Nubian Texts, 41-53; reedited by Browne, "Griffith's Stauros Text:' · 13. Gerald M. Browne, Chrysostomus Nubianus· An Old Nubian Vi • p

bi/em crucem sermo (Papyrologica Castroctaviana ~o· Rome and Bar el'.l s1on pof s. Chrysostom, In venera-, ce ona: apyrologica Castroctaviana, 1984), 97-98,

14 A trilingual inscription (Greek and Old Nubian wi·th a si·gn ·tu . . . , a re in Co r ) f D . the church baptistry at Qasr el-Wizz demonstrates the complex 1. . . P ic O an 3:57-81 m

mgu1stic enviro . h th Nubian kingdom of Makuria: see John Barns, ''.A Text of the 'Bened· 't , . nment m t e nor em K~r el-Wizz;' JEA 60 (1974): 206-11. For more on monasticism in Greek and Old Nubian from

· " · Ch · · · d na, see Wlodzim• G dl ki "M nastic Life in Makuna, m rtsttamty an Monasticism in Asw d 1erz o ews , o . . . . . an an Nubia ( d G Hany Takla; Cairo: American University m Cairo Press, 2013), 157_

74_ e · awdat Gabra and

186

The Discourse of the Savior and the Dance of the Savior

Sav at least, was later translated from Coptic into Old N b' Th . cl . •

1

• u 1an. em us1on of both texts in the same codex with no explicit demarcation between them no d bt b . . . , ou ecause of similarities m content, shows how malleable was the structure of these noncanonical compositions.

Genre, Structure, and Prosody Disc. Sav. and Dance Sav. were placed together by the scribe of the Qasr el-Wizz Codex because they both contain exchanges between Jesus and the apostles about the cross. Disc. Sav. is a brief post-resurrection revelation dialogue between Jesus and the apostles, a lit-erary form that was widely used in early Christian literature from the beginning of the second century.

15 Peter is the only speaker throughout, although the Savior also addresses

the apostles as a group. After a preface setting the scene on the Mount of Olives, the Savior discusses several "mysteries" about the cross, ending with an apostolic commission. The concluding doxology and prayer for mercy situate these topics in the context of worship: "may we find mercy and grace on the day when he will judge in righteousness, now and in every time, forever and ever, amen:' Indeed, the Savior notes that anyone copying a book praising the cross will be rewarded at the Last Judgment (7), and the "handbook'' size of the Qasr el-Wizz Codex suggests that it was commissioned and read by worshippers.

This liturgical connection is shared with Dance Sav., which contains a four-part hymn to the cross delivered by Jesus (again called "the Savior"), as the apostles form a moving circle around him on the Mount of Olives. Jesus addresses the cross by various titles ("O Cross which is full of light:' 3:2), commands it ("receive me to you, 0 Cross:• 3:5), and at the same time reveals aspects of his own identity in phrases that recall the Johannine gos-pels ("I am rich, amen. I will climb up on you, 0 Cross:' 1:8-9). At one point, Jesus explic-itly mentions that he is dancing ("I will dance for the Cross the third time:· 3:1). The sub-sequent, final section is called the "fourth dance of the cross:' The text is probably adapted from a liturgical hymn to the cross, with Jesus featured as the primary speaker, followed by a series of "amen" responses from the audience, represented by the apostles. Similar glorifications of the cross are found throughout the late-antique Mediterranean world. In Italy, for example, Paulinus of Noia's Carmina 19, a poetic work likely designed for the liturgy, contains a similar series of epithets for, and addresses to, the cr~ss. _Such addre_sses are also found in homilies, which might have been accompanied by penod1c acclamati~ns of "amen" from the audience-for example, they are embedded in the Pseudo-Athanas1an Easter sermon, De passione domini (PG 28:1056B). Pseudo-Chrysostom's In venerabile~ crucem, which accom.panies Disc. Sav. in the Old Nubian manuscript from Serra East, 1s less a homily than a series of addresses to the cross. 16 ·

Literary Context f cl • Time Magazine Immediately after the discovery of the Qasr el-Wizz Codex, an ar 1Ge mti' »11 However lik hal 1 omposed by the nos cs. , en_ed the texts within it to "apocryp gospe s c uch as the Sophia

0j Jesus

despite similarities in literary form to second-century texts s

---,-_ -- . . l . The Earlv Church and the Crisis P kin The Gnostic Dia ogue. '/ 15-For a good overview, see, e.g., Pheme er s,

of Gnosticism (New York: Paulist, 1980). b th ly fifth century, and was known by 6 Th · 'b d J h Chrysostom Y e ear 1

• e homily was already attn ute to O n ,, 6 with notes). Augustine (Suciu "Apocryphon Berolinense/Argentoratense,. 64- 56,6) · 32 See also Emmel, "Preliminary

' ( January 19 · · 17-"New Words of Jesus?" Time Magazine 87, no. 1 7 Reedition," 22-24 for a summary of the discovery of the codex.

187

The Discow·se of the Savior and the Dance of the Savior

Christ and the Apocryphon of James (so~etimes described as "gnostic"), Dance Sav, '1ld Drsc. Sav. were composed several centunes later. As such, they are developments of Old apocryphal traditions, and, as I will argue, were sometimes deliberately positioned in er position to certain themes that had been deemed heretical, including secret revelation op.

Like other late-antique apocryphal texts, Dance Sav. and Disc. ~av. "'.ere frequen~ copied and redacted. Indeed, Alin Suciu has argued that Dance Sav. IS a slightly abbrel'iy ated excerpt from a larger work, the Berlin-Strasbourg Apocryphon, of which substantial fragments have been published Ullder the modern name the Gospel of the Savior," lJ situates this text within a group of late-antique Coptic apocryphal texts usually attribute: to famous bishops, who are said to have discovered memoirs of the apostles detailing th .

e1r dialogues with Jesus; these dialogues are then embedded in the bishop's homily." While the Qasr el-Wizz Codex does not contain this homiletic framework, Suciu notes certau, characteristics that B-S Ap. shares with these "apostolic books;' especially the phrase "o my holy members" to refer to the apostles, a term also used by monks in late-anuqUe Egypt.20

In his largely synchronic study, Suciu argues that the purpose of the -"apostolic mem-oirs" genre was to provide legitimacy for Egyptian liturgical usage (including feasts) through appeal to Christ's teachings. But diachronic analysis is also important, especially given earlier developments in late-antique apocryphal literature. Atbanasius of Alexan-dria, one of the most significant of all Egyptiap. saints, ordered the use of a fixed canon of twenty-seven books for authoritative teaching from the apostolic era in his famous Festal Letter 39 of 367 CE. Were the apostolic memoirs, then, in violation of his proclamation?

The frequent assertion in Coptic homilies of discovering a book at the ~postolic li-brary in Jerusalem is best understood as an apologetic response to the canon established by Athanasius. Indeed, this topos of discovery is related to an earlier development of the fourth and fifth centuries: apocryphal texts, such as the Abgar Correspondence and the Apocalypse of Paul, came to be employed by bishops, and even legitimated by emperors.21

This was justified by what I have called the "invention of Christian tradition": apocrypha were presented as newly discovered apostolic autographs that either had languished in archives or were buried with other relics. Just as the discovery of martyrs' relics was gradu-ally accepted, so .too was the invention of Christian tradition for use in the liturgy. The topos of secret oral transmission, folllld in many writings deemed heretical by late-antique orthodoxy, was thus effectively contrasted with the claim to have official documents writ-ten in the apostles' own hands, which (like many relics) were discovered or authenticated by a famous bishop.

While the texts from the Qasr el-Wizz Codex are not presented as "apostolic mem-.

. 18._ See Alin Suciu's entry on B-S Ap. in this volume; Piovanelli 2012 also stresses this literary rela-tionship .. Suciu offers a synoptic table of the related texts in 'i\pocryphon Berolinense/ Argentoratense," 25- 4~. ~or an arg~en~. agam

st the !11eory that Disc. Sav. was a part of the Gospel of the Savior (Emmel,

Prehnun~i,;,Reedition, 27-28 ), see Apocryphon Berolinense/ Argentoratense;' 6

3-6

4• The name "Gospel

of the Savior was asSigned to the text m the editio princeps published by Hedrick and Mirecki (Gospel of the Savior). · 19

. See also the entries on the Encomium on John the Baptist and the Jnvestitu ifAhb . th ' 1-("E' d c t ") • d re o aton ill 1s vo ume. Hagen ill an erer on ext m ependently reached a similar concl • h d 'b th b dd d • h . . " usion; e escn es e genre of Coptic apocrypha em e e m omihes as diaries of the apostles." 20

. Another key formal similarity is the location of the revelation dial b . d ltis disciples on the Mount of Olives. ogue etween the risen Jesus an

21. For the following, see Dilley, "Invention of Christian Tradition."

i ne Uiscourse of the Sa i v or and the Dance of the Savior

o1rs" their orthodoxy is asserted in other ways despite . ' 'cal ks 'th "h . , unportant similarif . 1oncanom wor w1 eretical" tendencies. For exam 1 h ies to earlier 1 d b th t al p e, t e Bruce Codex and th Askew Co ex, o extu miscellanies, also contain revelatio dial e

resurrected Jesus and the disciples; in Pistis Sophia, the dramati; setti o~es be~een the of Olives, just as in Disc. Sav. and Dance Sav. There are more spec1'fi ng is o? t e _Mount

d h B c connections· m both Pist. Soph. 358 an_ t e . ooks of Jeu (2 Bk. Jeu 66), the apostles gather in a cird~ around Jesus as ~e pra~s, JUSt as m Dance ~av.; and various hymns are interspersed throughout the manuscnpts, either as free-standing compositions (after l Bk. Jeu 32 and 2 Bk r )

· fi tu · th . ,eu 52 , or as amen-responsones ea ring e apostles (1 Bk. Jeu 41). Yet the Qasr el-w· C d · f f th " 1zz o ex re-verses one maJor conven ion. o ese gnostic" texts: while the mysteries that Jesus reveals

in the Bruce and Askew codices ~e secret, in Disc. Sav. he urges the apostles to proclaim the mystery ~f ~e cross t.o ~he entire wo:ld. 22 Similarly, Jesus assures Peter that he has not given other d1sc1ples a privileged, esoteric revelation· "I have neve h'dd fr . . . • r 1 en om you a sm-gle word wh1~h you h~ve asked i:ne about, have I? Nor will I hide it from you" (4). Finally, there are significant differences m content: the Bruce and As1·ew codi t . .

1\; ces con am esoteric information about cos~ology and the ascent of the soul, in contrast to the es.chatological l imagery of the cross with Jesus at the Last Judgment in the Qasr el-Wizz Codex.23 ·

A similar pattern of selective appropriation is found with respect to the second-century apocryphal acts of the apostles. In Acts Pet. 38, for example, the "hidden mystery" of the cross is a sign for the repentance of humanity, an association with clear affinities to the theological concerns of Disc. Sav. The literary structure of Dance Sav. also resembles the famous passage in the second-century Acts of John, in which Jesus hymns the cross as he dances with the apostles, who respond "amen" as he exhorts them not to reveal his mysteries (Acts John 94-95).24 Yet there is almost no overlap in content with the ~artier hymn, which famously includes invocations of the Ogdoad and the Twelve. Dance Sav. should also be seen in the context of various other literary allusions to the Christus Saltans in early Christian literature, not all of them esoteric. Many of these citations employ the Platonic image of the cosmic dance as a symbol of divine order. Already at the beginning of the second century, Ignatius of Antioch described the dance of the stars around Christ's star at his birth (Eph. 19.2). Clement of Alexandria, in his Protrepticus, an exhortation for polytheists to become Christians, moves the scene from the firmament to the heavenly court, in an extended comparison with Dionysian mysteries: "You will dance with the angels around the unbegotten and indestructible, one and only true God, while the Logos of God sings the hymn with us" (Protr. 12).25 Here, the singing Logos replaces Acts John's earthly Christ, and it is the angels who dance, not the apostles. Gregory of Nazianz us also

22. Other "apostolic memoirs," such as the Mysteries of John th~ Apostle and_ the Holy Virgin, copi~d at the monastery of Saint Mercuri us in Edfu (southern Egypt), similarly emphasize that the apostles will

ch th · hi thr gh t the world· see Ernest A W Budge, Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect prea eir new teac ngs ou ou · · · hal th E • t l A of Upper Egypt (London: British Museum, 1913), 74. Another popular apocryp . text, pi~ u a pos-

'd " rth d ,, t t for the gnostic revelation dialogue, as tolorum was probably an attempt to provi e o o ox con en argued :n Manfred Hornschuh Studien zur Epistula Apostolorum (PTS 5; Berlin: De Gruyter, 1965).

' . th B dex like the Qasr el-Wizz manu-23 Despite these differences, it is interestmg to note that e ruce co ' r f ankh) · . fl 1 f (th h the former is in the 1orm o an · script, has a large image of the cross on its Y ea oug fi t ded commentary on the

24, Much ink has been spilled on the dance scene in Acts Jo~n; or ~n e:e :o -Textus; vol 2: Textus hymn see Eric Junod and Jean-Daniel Kaestli, eds., Acta Iohannis, vol. 1· Pr, ifid

6 55 ' . . B ls 1 s3), 2: 621-27 an 42- · a/ti - Commentarius - Indices (CCSA 1-2; Turnhout. repo '. 9 vol r Protrepticus und Paedagogus (GCS

25. Otto Stahlin and Ursula Treu, eds., Clemens Alexandrinus, · · u; Bertin: Akadem.ie-Verlag, 1972), 84 lin. 28-29·

, ~o

'l'l1e Disco11rse of the Savior and the Dance of the Savior

employs this image in his Theological Orations, declaring that "Angels and Arch along with other heavenly powers, dance around the "first cause" (Or. 2s.31)_2e1 ;ngels~ Hippolytus, in his homily De Pascha, might be alluding to either the earthly or th seudo. enly dance in this address to Christ: ,"O Crucified One, leader of the mystical dan e heav. . cesl" ( Pascha Homilia 6; PG 59, 744). Like Dance Sav., which was read by monks many · De I d H. 1 " h centur· ater at Qasr el~ Wizz this work attribute to 1ppo ytus was ort odox" and 1e.s . , associ with the public liturgy, in this case Easter. atect

Date and Provenance It is difficult to identify precisely the date and place of composition of either Di

d. al C . . sc. Sav Dance Sav. Both texts are preserved in a me 1ev optic manuscript from N b· · or another version of the former in an unprovenanced Old Nubian manuscriptu) ia_ ( 'With . f l , With earlier attestations. At the same time, Dance Sav. 1s part o a ong tradition of J no

fl d . h esus a d the apostles dancing and hymning to the cross, irst atteste m t e Acts of Joh n usually dated to the second century. No features of either text clearly point to n, a text

d f Ch . a specifl geographical provenance. Indeed, the t~pos of the ance o nst and his apostl . 1c

d N b. . es, Wtth accompanying hymn, was known beyond Egypt an u 1a: an ~1stolary exchange b tween Augustine and Ceretius (Ep. 237) demonstrates that a Latm version was read~-early-fifth-century Gaul. n

The developing scholarly consensus is that the texts in the Qasr el-Wrzz Codex . . . understood in the context of late antiqwty. Hubai, for example, dates the text to thee · · 'd h li d T . . . h nd0f the fourth century, c1tmg such ev1 ence as a s ort- ve nmtanan p rase in the d

· S h · · h F h oxol-ogy of Disc. Sav. ("Father who is in the Son, on w o 1s m t e at er, with the Holy S ..• v. 10 ),. which is otherwise only attested by Amphilochius of Iconium and Epiphaniu~tt, Salamis. 27 While this feature is certainly noteworthy, highlighting it has the effect of si~~ ating Dance Sav. primarily in relation to the discourse of orthodoxy and the development of normative theology. ·Hubai's brief foray into the role of dance is more promising b , ut here too he stays within the terms of early Christian polemics, appealing to patristic criti-cism of dance, which he argues intensified during the fourth century.28

This approach obscures Dance Sav.'s affinities with two major aspects of post-Constantinian Christianity-namely, public worship and imperial symbolism, for which the figure of the dancing Christ could serve as a legitimating example.2_9 The martyr cult in particular seems to have involved dancing as part of the all-night revelry, with both lay and monastic participants in evidence. Similarly, the imperial adventus ceremony, in which a visiting or returning emperor was welcomed by the community, often included dance. David's celebration before the ark remained a powerful model for emperors: Hera-clius (r. 610-641) is said to have danced in front of the True Cross when it was returned, after its capture by the Persians, to Jerusalem in 628 CE. More generally, the focus on cross piety in t~e Qasr ~1-Wizz Codex is especially understandable in light of the dis~o:ery ~'. the cross m the reign of Constantine, a key moment in the development of Chn5t1an P

. Paris: Cerf, 26, Paul Gallay and Maurice Jourjon, eds., Gregory Nazianzen: Discourse 27-31 (SC z5o,

1978), 172 lin. 16-20. 27. Hubai, Koptische Apokryphen aus Nubien, 112. hasis on the 28. Hubai, Koptische Apokryphen au.s Nubien, 113. Hubai a!so sensibly notes that tbe emirue cross by

cross suggests a date after Constantine, and in particular, the legend of the discovery of tbe Helena (m).

29. For the following, see Dilley, "Christu.s Saltans."

The Discourse of the Savior and the Dance of the Savior

rin1age, the cult of relics, and even the liturgy. Indeed, the Qasr el-Wizz texts were likely :ead.at Easter, and/or ~ne of the major festivals of the cross in the late antique period (The E,xaltation and Adoration of the Cross), commemorating Helena's discovery of the cross or its return by Heraclius.

There is substantial evidence for such festivals in honor of the cross in late-antique monasticism: for example, at the monastery of Apa Jeremias at Saqqara (near the Old I(ingdom pyramids), an inscription listing feast days includes the commemoration of the cross, the celebratory nature of which is underscored by its allotment of wine.30 And the numerous paintings of the cross in the monks' cells, often with accompanying inscrip-tions, attest to its popularity as an object of personal piety.31 One of these inscriptions is the invocation staure boethison: "cross, help (us);' the same personification and address of the _cross as found in Dance Sav. 32 The Qasr el-Wizz Codex itself was found in a Nu-bian monastery. However, liturgies of the ·cross were equally at home in non-monastic churches; the Old Nubian version of the Disc. Sav., after all, was deposited by its donors in the church of Serra East.

Translations 1 The following translations are based on Hubai's editio princeps of the Qasr el-Wizz Codex for the Coptic text of Disc. Sav. and Dance Sav., with a few minor emendations, also pro-posed by Tsakos, Bull, Abercrombie, and Thomassen. I have consulted their new edition and translation, as well as the earlier translations of Hughes (Disc. Sav. and Dance Sav.), Piovanelli (Dance Sav.), and Suciu (Dance Sav.). The variant readings from the Old Nu-bian (Old Nub.) version of Disc. Sav. are placed in the notes, following the text of Griffith and the corrections of Browne, both of whose English translations I have consulted; I cite page number in Browne when following his construal of longer sentences. Key biblical allusions and citations (which can be difficult to distinguish) largely follow Hubai's list.33 l There is no versification schema in previous editions and translations ·of the Qasr el-Wizz texts, so I have introduced basic chapter divisions.

Bibliography

EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS

Browne, Gerald M. "Griffith's Stauros Text." SPap 22 (1983): 75-119. Griffith, Francis L. The Nubian Texts of the Christian Period. Abhandlungen der Koniglich

Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosophisch-historische Klasse 1913,8; Ber-lin: Reimer, 1913. (Editio princeps of the Old Nubian version of Disc. ~av.)

Hubai, Peter. Koptische Apokryphen aus Nubien. Der Qasr el-Wizz Kodex. TUGAL 163. Ber-lin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2009. Translation by Angelika Balog of A Megvalt6 a keresztrol: Kopt apokrifek Nubiab61 (A Kasr El-Wizz kodex). Cahiers Patristiques, Textes Coptes. Budapest: Szent Istvan Tarsulat, 2006. (Editio princeps of the Qasr el-Wizz texts.)

30· James E. Quibbel, Excavations at Saqqara (1908-1909, 1909-1910) (Cairo: IFAO, 1912), inscr. 226, 69- 71,

. 31. For an overview, see Paul van Moorsel, "The Worship of the Holy Cross in Saqqara: Archaeological Evidence," in Theologia Crucis-Signum Crucis: Festschrift fa r Erich Dinkier zum 70. Geburtstag (ed. Carl Andresen and G .. . . . . ck. ) unter Klem; Tubmgen: Mohr Siebe 1979 , 409-15.

32· Quibbel, Excavations at Saqqara, 108, pl. 38,3. 33· Hubai, Koptische Apokryphen aus Nubien, 85- 87.

The Discol4rse of the Savior and the Dance of the Savior

'1\. .. k.. Al d Christian Bull Lloyd Abercrombie, and Einar Thomassen "M· l ._,_.~ exan ros, , . . · isce lanea Epigraphica Nubica IV: A New Edition of the W1zz Codex with an English Translation" Coll«tanea Christiana Orientalia 10 (2013): 193-2o9. ·

STUDIES

Dilley, Paul C. "Christus Sa/tans as Dionysos and David: The Dance of the Savior in its Late. Antique Cultural Context:' Apocrypha 24 (2013): 237-53.

--. "The Invention of Christian Tradition: Apocrypha, Imperial Policy, and Anti-Jewish Propaganda:' GRBS 50.4 (2010): 586-614.

Emmel, Stephen. "Preliminary Reedition and Translation of the Gospel of the SaVior: New Light on the Strasbourg Coptic Gospel and the Stauros-Text from Nubia:• Apocrypha

14 (2003): 9-53.

Hagen, Joost L. "Ein anderer Context fur die Berliner und StraBburger 'Evangelienfragmente: Das 'Evangelium des Erlosers' und andere J\.postelevangelien' in der koptischen Literature." Pages 339-71 in Jesus in apokryphen Evangelienuberlieferungen. Beitriige zu aufterkanon-ischen JesusUberlieferungen aus verschiedenen Sprach- und Kulturtraditionen. Edited by Jorg Frey and Jens Schroter. WUNT 254. Tiibingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010. ·

Hedrick, Charles W., and Paul A. Mirecki. Gospel of the Savior: A New Ancient Gospel. Califor-nia Classical Library. Santa Rosa, Calif.: Polebridge, 1999.

Heid, Stefan. Kreuz, Jerusalem, Kosmos: Aspekte jruhkristlicher Staurologie. Munster: Aschen-dorff, 2001.

Hughes, George R. 'l\. Coptic Liturgical Book from Qasr el-Wi2Z in Nubia," in The Orienta/ Institute Report for 1965/66 (Chicago: Oriental Institute, 1966), 10-13.

Piovanell~ Pierluigi. "Thursday Night Fever: Dancing and Singing with Jesiis in the Gospel of the Savior and the Dance of the Savior Around the Cross.• Early Christianity 3 (2012): 229-48.

Scanlon, George T. "Excavations at Qasr el-Wizz: A .Preliminary Report, u.• JEA 5a (,

972): 7-42,

Suciu, Alin. "Apocryphon Berolinense/ Argentoratense (Previously Known as the Gospel of the Savior). Edition of P. Berol. 22220, Strasbourg Copte

5 7 and Q I Wi C d ff

. . - asr e - 1zz o ex . 12v-17r with Introduction and Commentary," PhD diss Un·v 't.1. L · al · ., 1 ers1 c av , 2013.

102

The Discourse of the Savior on the Mystery of the Cross

1A discourse, which our Savior and our Lord Jesus Christ spoke to his glorious apostles, before he was taken up, concerning the power and the frank speech Acts 1:2

and the way of life of the glorious, life-giving cross. In the peace of God. a

Jesus gathers the apostles on the Mount of Olives I 2My beloved, it happened one day, while our Savior was walking on the Mount Rom 12:19

of Olives, four days before he was taken up in the heavens, while his apostles Acts 1:2

gathered with him. b He spoke to them the incomprehensible mysteries, c those that are in heaven, and those that are on earth; and the way he will judge the liv-ing and the dead; and the resurrection of the dead.

Peter asks about the mystery of the cross 3Peter answered and said to him, "Our Lord and Our God, and the Savior of the John 20:2s

souls, and of everyone who hopes in you, and the healing of souls which have I been wounded in sin: You have revealed to us all the mysteries, and also now, may you reveal to us the mystery which we will ask you!"

4The Savior answered and said, "O my chosen, Peter, and you, my fellow Matt 14:28

inheritors,d I have never hidden from you a single word which you have asked Rom s :7; Heb 11:9

me about, have I? Nor will I hide it from you. But may you (pl.) ask me every-thing that you have wanted to understand. I will reveal it you:•

5Peter answered and . said, "Our Lord, and Our God, and Our Savior, e we John 20:2s

want you to tell us the mystery of the cross-why will you bring it with you on the day when you will judge in righteousness, namely the sign of the cross that Acts 17:31

is honored?-so that we will hear from you concerning it, and preach it in the whole world:'

a. Old Nub.: "A discourse of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which he spoke concerning his passion and his future coming in glory and the glorious, life-giving cross, and which he caused the apostles to know, when he was going to ascend to the heavens. Let the peace of God, our Savior, and his life-giving cross be with all of us. Amen, amen" (Browne, "Griffith's Stauros Text:• 82).

b. Old Nub.: "forty days:• c. Old Nub.: ''us:• d. Old ·Nub.: "heirs and my servants:· e. Old Nub.: "Our Lord and our God."

The Disco"rse of the Savior on the Mystery of the Cross

Matt 18:10; John aoa7

Mark 15:19 par.

Jesus recounts the crucifixion

Matt 16."6;,; Luke 22:63

6The Savior answered and said, "O my chosen, Peter, and you, my brothers

know everything which the law-breaking Jews did to me, and the blasphe~ou that they spoke to me on the cross. They spit on me, they hit me, they Plac: the crown of thorns on me; and the words of rebuke that they spoke to me.

0 account of this I will bring the cross with me so that I might reveal their shani and I will place their lawlessness upon their head. e,

I

Mark 15a7-19; Matt 27:29-20; John 19:2

Joel 4[JJ:2, 12

Matt 25:35-38

Rewards for standing under the cross

'But now, listen to me further; I will tell you another great honor of the cross. When I sit on my throne of glory, so that I might judge the whole world, the cross will stand at niy right in the valley of Josaphat. a Wh.ile, on the one hand its roots are under the earth; on the other, its branches will shoot up again, a~ at first. But its branches have hidden it on the earth, three parts of the earth.b Everyone who has believed in the cross with their whole heart will go and stand under the shadow of the cross, whether he has fed the hungry, caused the thirsty to drink, or clothed the naked; and all the more to those who have written books of praise of the crossc -until I finish judging the whole world. 8

After I judge the entirety of the just and the sinners, again the cross <will rise and go up> to the heavens.d Everyone who believed in it will <return?> with it, going into the kingdom of the heavens. They will inherit eternal life. e I will not judge anyone among them, whether through a word or through a deed. But they will live through the power of the cross.

or 6:15; 12:27; Rom , 12:4-5

Jes·us commissions the apostles 9But now, 0 my holy members, go and proclaim to the whole world, so that they

will _follow the cross, so that they will possess this great glory on the day which is under that fear.

Matt 28:19

John 14:13

Heb 4:16

Acts 17:31

10

After we listened to these things, we, the apostles, answered the Savior, say-ing to him, "Glory to you, Father who is in the Son, Son who is in the Father, with the Holy Spirit. Forever and ever. Amen. You have always given those who have loved you glory. May it happen to us that we find mercy and grace on the day he will judge in righteousness, now and always, forever and ever, amen:•

a. Likely intending "Jehoshaphat" as in Joel. b. The Coptic text here is probably corrupt; Old Nub.: "Its roots will irrigate the earth, and

its branches will overshadow the third part of the earth" (Browne, "Griffith's Stauros Text:' 87). c. Old Nub.: "If he fed the hungry in his name or clothed the naked or wrote a book of praise

and gave it to the church, believing in it, as is appropriate, with his whole heart, when he comes to those who have followed it, he will rest under the shadow of the Cross, until I cease judging the world" (Browne, "Griffith's Stauros Text:' 87-88).

d. The Coptic verbs are in the perfect tense, which is inexplicable in the narrative context, 50 I have emended the text.

e. Old Nub.: "paradise of joy."

fhe Dance of the Savior

Jesus gathers the apo1tle1 on the Mount of Olives 1 in happened one dny that the Savior was sitting on the Mount of Olives, be-fore the htw-breakJng Jews had crucified him.• We all gathered with him. 2He answered, b saying, ''O my holy members, gather to me and I will hymn the cross; and you answer me.'' And we made a crown, and we circled around him.

The first hymn of the cross .tHe said to us,

''Jam ln your midst like these little children:' He said •~men:•c "'/\ little while I am with you in your midst. 5They are taking counsel concerning me now. 6Do not keep me back, 0 Cross. 7Get up, get up, 0 Holy Cross, and lift me, 0 Cross. 81 am rich, amen. 9I will climb up on you, 0 Cross, I will be called to you, as a witness for them. '°Receive me, 0 Cross. 1100 not weep, 0 Cross, but all the more, rejoice:· 12After he completed the hymn1 we all answered him, saying, "Amen:•

The second hymn of the cross l 'The second hymn of the cross:rl

2"! am the honored way of life 31 am the immortal bread. Eat and be satiated:) 4We answered after him, "Amen:'

. 1 d J. go to the Mount of Olives a. According to the two Gospel account s, the d1sclp es an esus after singing a hymn. b I in of the text.

h, The lack of a question is a sign of redaction, already at the eg nn ·1f8d cl es ''.Amen" in

h. 1. _ l fi t hymn Jesus hlmse e ar c, T 1, ls the beginning of the unmar~< irs . · ''.A en''· In many cases, the Lhls introductory line, whereas later it is the apos tles who answer m '

speakur 11 unspecfflod. hi hll hllng the text's heavUy re-d. The use of titles in Dance Sav. Is lnconsl&lent, further g se"tion similar In form d ih i hvinn nnoti1cr "' acted nature. Ahhough th is seclfon l1 descr '" as 8 , . . ' ltl Jesus and the encircling

ia called the .. Fourth Dance," ,uggcstlng that the entire scene w ' apo1tJu was choreographtd.

Mark 14:26: Mau 26:30

1 Cor 6:15; 11:27; Rom 11:4~5; 8-S Ap, 8:1- 2

Act, Jolm 94- 95

Mark 9:33-37 par.

John 7:33

B-S Ap, 8:3-5

8-S Ap. 8:5

Mark 13:9

8-S Ap. 8:30-35

John 14:6

Matt 16:16: John 6:35: 8-S Ap. 8:11

I OC::

The Dance of the Savior

1 Cor 6:15; u :27; Rom 12:4-5

Mark 13:9

B-S Ap. 8:32-33

B-S Ap. 8:31; 9:2

B-S Ap. 8:32-33

Matt 26:39

Isa 62:3

Matt 22:44

The third hymn of the cross . 3 1He said to us again, "Gather to me, 0 my holy members, and I will dance £

'A_ ma Or the cross the third time; and answer after me, ruuen. 2«0 Cross, which is full of light. Again also it will carry the light." - Amen~ 3"J will give my light to you, 0 Cross. 4J will climb upon you as a testimony to them. 5Receive me to you, 0 Cross. Do not reveal my body." - "Amen." ·

The fourth hymn of the cross 4 1The fourth dance of the cross:

2"I am not poor, 0 light-giving Cross:'-'J\.men:' 3"! will fill you with my richness:• - 'i\men." 4"I will climb up upon you. 5Receive me to you, 0 Cross. 6Glory to you because you have listened to your father."-'J\.men." 7"Glory to you, the entire sweetness:• - 'J\.men:• 8"Gl t th d" . "ty." " A ,, ory o e 1vm1 • - .n.men. 9"0pen your grace, 0 my Father, so that I might hymn the Cross." - "Amen." 10"! received for myself the crown of the kingdom in wood:' - 'J\.men." 11"! will cause my enemies to be subordinated to me:'-'J\.men." 12"The enemy will be destroyed through the Cross:• - 'J\.men:•

1 Cor 15:55-56; John 3:16, 18

13"The sting of death will be destroyed through the only-begotten son.» -'J\.men:'

-S Ap. (Stras.) 16-21

Matt 25:30

14"To whom does the kingdom belong?" - 'i\men:• 15"! b I h ,, "A ,, t e ongs to t e son. - .n.men. 16"Where is the kingdom from? It is from the wood:'-'½.men:• 17"Who is it who has sent him to the Cross? It is the Father:'-'J\.men:• 18"What is the Cross? Where is it from? It is from the Spirit:'-'J\.men." 19"It is forever, from all time, from the foundation of the world:'-'J\.men:' 20"1 am the Alpha:'-'J\.men:•

Rev 21:6 wi\nd the Omega. The beginning and the end:'-'½.men:• 22

"! am the unutterable beginning, and the unutterable end:'-'½.men:' Matt 9:8

23 After we listened to these things, we glorified the Father, to whom is the glory, forever and ever. Amen.