Naked fugitive

Antonio da Correggio, The Betrayal of Christ, with a soldier in pursuit of Mark the Evangelist, ca. 1522.

The naked fugitive (or naked runaway or naked youth) is an unidentified figure mentioned briefly in the Gospel of Mark, immediately after the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and the fleeing of all his disciples:

And a certain young man followed him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth; and they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.^{[Mk 14:51–52]}

The parallel accounts in the other canonical Gospels make no mention of this incident.

The wearing of a single cloth would not have been indecent or extraordinary, and there are many ancient accounts of how easily such garments would come loose, especially with sudden movements.^[1]

Since ancient times, many have speculated on the identity of this young man, proposing:

• Simply someone else who happened to be there.
• James the Just^[2]
• The Beloved Disciple (John)^[3][4]
• Mark himself^[5]
• Lazarus of Bethany^[6]

Many have seen this episode as connected to a later verse in Mark: "And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe,"^{[Mk 16:5]} as the word for young man (νεανίσκος) occurs in Mark only in these two places.^[7]

See also

• Secret Gospel of Mark

References