2 John 1 - Introduction

THE title, like that of the First Epistle and of the Gospel, exists in various forms both ancient and modern, and is not original: here again the oldest authorities give it in the simplest form. Ἰωάννου or Ἰωάνου β̅ ([862][863]). Ἰωάννου ἐπιστολὴ καθολικὴ β̅ ([864]). τοῦ ἁγίου� ([865]). Θεῖος Ἰωάννης τάδε δεύτερα τοῖς προτέροισιν (f). In [866] the title has been torn off. In our Bibles the epithet ‘Catholic’ or ‘General’ is rightly omitted. The Epistle is addressed either to an individual, or to a particular Church, not to the Church at large.

[862] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.
[863] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.
[864] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[865] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[866] 5th century. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. All three Epistles.