The Nudist in Mark 14

[steve53]

I should say that the controversial Mar Saba letter (which contains the alleged fragment of the Secret Gospel of Mark) also has a linen-wearing young man in it.

To explain a bit, this letter - which is copied on the back of a 17th-century book - claims itself to be written by Clement of Alexandria to someone named Theodoros. Clement begins by commending Theodoros’ actions against the gnostic sect known as the Carpocratians, after which he then turns to address questions posed by Theodoros regarding the Gospel of Mark, a secret variant of which the Carpocratians claim to have. The author admits to knowledge of a second, “more spiritual” version of the gospel, written by Mark for “those being perfected,” which was carefully guarded by the Alexandrian church after his (Mark’s) death to the point that it is “read only to those who are being initiated into the great mysteries.” He then asserts that the version promoted by the Carpocratians is not an accurate representation of this ‘mystical’ version of Mark, since they have corrupted the original with their own false additions (such as “naked man with naked man!”), which Clements claims is the source of Carpocratian teachings, and to illustrate this, Clement supplies two ostensibly genuine excerpts from the ‘real’ secret Gospel. The letter then ends abruptly as Clement begins to explain these passages. One excerpt - which is supposed to come between verses 34 and 35 of canonical Mark 10 - goes thus:

And they come to Bethany, and a woman, whose brother had died, was there (cf. John 11:1). And coming, she fell down before Jesus and says to him, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” but the disciples rebuked her. And becoming angry (orgistheis; cf. Mark 1:41 in some MSS, John 11:33), Jesus went with her to the garden where the tomb was. And immediately from the tomb was heard a great voice, and going near, Jesus rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb.

And going in immediately where the young man was, he stretched out a hand and raised him up, holding his hand. The young man looked at him and loved (egapēsen) him, and began to beseech him that he might be with him. And going out of the tomb they came into the house of the young man (for he was rich), and after six days Jesus instructed him. And in the evening the youth comes to him, having a linen cloth (sindōn; cf. Mark 14:51-52) thrown around his naked body; and he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the kingdom of God (cf. Mark 4:11). And arising from there, he returned to the other side of the Jordan.

Aren’t the Carpocrations a complete fraud?

 

[patrick457]

Aren’t the Carpocrations a complete fraud?

Carpocrates and his group certainly existed (as did Clement of Alexandria); it is the letter we aren’t sure of. There are only three possibilities for the letter: (1) it is genuine (i.e. actually written by Clement of Alexandria), (2) it is an ancient forgery (i.e. written by someone pretending to be Clement), or (3) it is a modern forgery (i.e. written by someone under the pretense that it is an ancient work). Same goes for the supposed excerpts from Mark: either those are really bits of an authentic work, or bits of a ‘fake’.

 

[Darryl1958]

Exodus 28:42, with its description of garments of the priests, and the sons of Aaron, hints at a priestly theme being played out here.
Linen itself was the garb of priest rather than common folk.

Like the linen veil in the Temple, that was torn in two as the Passion of Christ reaches the climax, the separation between the priesthood and the holy of holies that the linen clothing and the linen veil represents is being cast aside now, through the violence of human hands even.
It is a return to nakedness, and the time of sinlessness before mankind found it necessary to hide their nakedness.

The linen covered up tall gold0sheathed doors 80 feet tall.
Your analogy doesn’t hold.

I wasn’t aware of the 80 foot gold sheathed doors, but actually that bolsters the points that I was exploring.

Sinless, Adam and Eve were naked in the garden and without shame. Only in sin, did they experience their nakedness as something shameful. Animal skins were the mercy that God provided them to protect themselves from their own shame-filled image of themselves. There is certainly an irony involved here, on God’s part especially, for what were Adam and Eve ashamed of, but their own animal nature that came to the fore when they listened to that most magnificent beast of the field?
And yet animal skin coverings nevertheless served as a merciful reprieve for them so that their nakedness did not constantly remind them of the power of procreation that was available to them, as it is to all of the animal kingdom.
It is primitive and rough shod to be sure, to be clothed in animal skin as John the Baptist himself was, and linen finery sublimates that need for clothing, spiritualizes it even in the gleaming purity of whiteness, sharply contrasted of course by the spattering of blood that priests would have been constantly reminded of in their constant animal sacrifices.
Shame, however is how sinful man sees himself. The theme of shame is the first reaction that we all have in fact with the very idea of the young man being stripped naked. There is titillation involved to be sure, and sexual thoughts even start percolating to the surface, but above all there is that sense of shame pervading the imagery of that young man being stripped naked.
That is how we see ourselves.
But how does God see us in all our naked glory?

What the splitting of the veil reveals is all the resplendence of gold, the purest and most resplendent of the metals of the earth, of a completely different nature than the clay that we have been formed from. We are not just resplendent creatures of finest gold to him, but doors even to a whole new reality and mode of being.
The gold does not refute the analogy. In fact the gold is the analogy that lends a whole different way of seeing the story of nakedness.

 

[Robert_Sock]

This passage probably has deep meaning if one was a mystic.

 

[patrick457]

As Darryl pointed out, the linen cloth was the garb of a temple priest. Apparently, temple priests who fell asleep while guarding or ministering in the temple, were publically stripped naked of their linen garment as a demonstration of shame, set upon and beaten and then sent home naked through the streets. One theologian, whose name escapes me now, opined that this young man in Mark symbolises the disciples who failed to guard the temple (Christ) because they fell asleep, and are therefore fleeing naked in shame. This view would certainly cohere with the negative portrayal of the disciples at this point in the Gospel.

That was from the Mishnah (Middoth 1.2). To be more exact, “the chief [of the guard] of the Temple Mount” would make the rounds of every watch at night to see if the Levites were guarding the temple properly. If he found one sleeping, the official had the right to punish the offender by beating him and burning his clothes. One could argue that it’s not an exact parallel, since for one only the young man gets his clothes taken away (it was not obviously burned, nor was he beaten), although you’re correct that Mark has a rather negative portrayal of the disciples in his gospel.

In three places do the priests keep watch in the sanctuary: (1) in the room of Abtinas, (2) in the room of the flame, and (3) in the room of the hearth. And the Levites [keep watch] in twenty-one places (1 Chronicles 26:17-18): five at the five gates of the Temple mount; four at the four corners on the inside [of the Temple-wall]; five at the five gates of the courtyard; four at the four corners on the outside [the wall of the courtyard]: and one at the office of the offering (cf. Middot 1.6), and one at the office of the veil, and one behind the Mercy Seat [outside of the western wall of the holy of holies, cf. *Middot 5.1].

The man in charge of the Temple mount would go around to every watch, and lighted torches were [flaring] before him. And to any watch which was not standing did the man in charge of the Temple mount say, “Peace be with you.” [If] it was obvious that he was sleeping, he beats him with his staff, and he had the right to burn his garment. And they say, “What is the noise in the courtyard?” “It is the noise of a Levite being smitten, and his clothing being burned, for he went to sleep at his post.” Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob says, “One time they found my mother’s brother sleeping and burned his garment.”

It is also noted (1.1) that priests guarded three sites (cf. Tamid 1.1) and the Levites over twenty-one. Some interpret this as the Levites being posted at twenty-one locations in addition to the three guarded by the priests (yielding a total of twenty-four); others that they guarded eighteen places on their own, while in three they stood guard with the priests (the total number being twenty-one).

 

[patrick457]

The majority of the Jewish population in those days dressed mainly or entirely in wool. Linen was something that was worn only by a few people, such as priests and the Essenes (Jewish War 2.123, 129). It is worth mentioning that there was a biblical injunction forbidding the mixture of wool and linen (Leviticus 19:19; Deuteronomy 22:9-11).

Looking into the available archaeological data from the different sites in the Judaean desert, this is what we find. Although no textiles belonging to clothing were found at Qumran, the textile fragments from Cave 1 (scroll wrappers - some decorated with threads dyed blue with indigo - and jar covers) are all made of linen. In fact, there were no woollen textiles or mixtures of wool and linen in the site. By contrast, the fragments of clothing found in Masada and in the Cave of Letters (in the ravine of Naḥal Ḥever) are mostly made of wool. Except for the child’s linen shirt from the Cave of Letters (perhaps some sort of inner garment), none of the linen textiles found there or at Masada belongs to garments. Obviously, there was also no mixture of wool and linen there.

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Dyed dark red wool tunic from Masada, with blue clavi (stripes of fabric, usually dyed, woven into the tunic and descending from the shoulders - a common feature of Roman-period clothing)

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Wool tunic from Naḥal Ḥever, with clavi

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Wool mantle from Naḥal Ḥever, with notched band

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Wool mantle from Naḥal Ḥever, dyed red and decorated with gamma-shaped design

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Wool mantle from Masada, decorated with gamma-shaped design

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Child’s linen shirt from Naḥal Ḥever


Prophet (Jeremiah or Ezra) holding a scroll, from Dura Europos. Note the clavi on the tunic and the notched bands on the mantle.

 

[jonathan_hili]

That was from the Mishnah (Middoth 1.2). To be more exact, “the chief [of the guard] of the Temple Mount” would make the rounds of every watch at night to see if the Levites were guarding the temple properly. If he found one sleeping, the official had the right to punish the offender by beating him and burning his clothes. One could argue that it’s not an exact parallel, since for one only the young man gets his clothes taken away (it was not obviously burned, nor was he beaten), although you’re correct that Mark has a rather negative portrayal of the disciples in his gospel.

In three places do the priests keep watch in the sanctuary: (1) in the room of Abtinas, (2) in the room of the flame, and (3) in the room of the hearth. And the Levites [keep watch] in twenty-one places (1 Chronicles 26:17-18): five at the five gates of the Temple mount; four at the four corners on the inside [of the Temple-wall]; five at the five gates of the courtyard; four at the four corners on the outside [the wall of the courtyard]: and one at the office of the offering (cf. Middot 1.6), and one at the office of the veil, and one behind the Mercy Seat [outside of the western wall of the holy of holies, cf. *Middot

5.1].

The man in charge of the Temple mount would go around to every watch, and lighted torches were [flaring] before him. And to any watch which was not standing did the man in charge of the Temple mount say, “Peace be with you.” [If] it was obvious that he was sleeping, he beats him with his staff, and he had the right to burn his garment. And they say, “What is the noise in the courtyard?” “It is the noise of a Levite being smitten, and his clothing being burned, for he went to sleep at his post.” Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob says, “One time they found my mother’s brother sleeping and burned his garment.”

It is also noted (1.1) that priests guarded three sites (cf. Tamid 1.1) and the Levites over twenty-one. Some interpret this as the Levites being posted at twenty-one locations in addition to the three guarded by the priests (yielding a total of twenty-four); others that they guarded eighteen places on their own, while in three they stood guard with the priests (the total number being twenty-one).

Hi Patrick, I agree that it is not a precise parallel. However, while his clothes were not burnt, it is interesting that Mark notes that the mob tried to seize the young man or “caught hold of him” (RSV), which may have implied a beating to follow.

 

[Crescentinus]

Why is it that this verse gives me ideas about Catholic memes?

 

[patrick457]

Hi Patrick, I agree that it is not a precise parallel. However, while his clothes were not burnt, it is interesting that Mark notes that the mob tried to seize the young man or “caught hold of him” (RSV), which may have implied a beating to follow.

I don’t think it’s necessary that a beating will follow. As I said earlier, the “seizing” of the young man echoes the “seizing” of Jesus in verse 46.

And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.” And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, “Rabbi!” And he kissed him. And they laid hands on him and seized (ektratēsan) him.

…] And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized (kratousin) him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.