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:

A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.^[1]

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

The wearing of a single cloth (Greek: σινδόνα, sindona) 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.^[2] The above statement is incorrect, as a sindon is a fine piece of linen which was used to wrap mummies or were used as bandages for surgery.<http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=Sindwn&la=greek#lexicon>

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^[3]
• The Beloved Disciple (John)^[4][5]
• Mark himself^[6]
• Lazarus of Bethany^[7]
• An antitype of Joseph^[8]

It has been speculated^{[by whom?]} that the fugitive represents the disciples, the linen cloth represents Jesus and the young men represent the Roman soldiers. When the young men laid hold of the cloth the fugitive abandoned the cloth and ran out of the garden naked and alone, a metaphor representing the disciples abandoning Jesus and running out of the garden spiritually naked and alone.

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,"^[9] as the word for young man (νεανίσκος) occurs in Mark only in these two places.^[10]

The British philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, has made the case that the boy in the linen cloth may have been a male sex worker and that Jesus's willingness to be in such company shows that Jesus did not support asceticism. ^[11]

This has also been suggested by Dr DC Ammon Hillman, professor of classics, as the Greek text of Mark clearly states the naked youth was συνηκολουθει which means to follow as soldiers follow a general or to follow in a sense of obedience as would a slave < http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=Sunakolouqei&la=greek#lexicon>

The naked fugitive has been speculated to originate in a possible Passion narrative that pre-dates the gospel of Mark. In such an early document, anonymity of the fugitive may protect this individual from official persecution.^{[12]: Note 8 [2]: 184}

• Mark 14
• Secret Gospel of Mark