Bible Lexicons

The use of κυρία as a courteous, and even affectionate, form of address in the ordinary correspondence of the time, may be said to have settled what Westcott (Epp. of S. John, p. 214) regarded as the ";insoluble"; problem of 2 John 1:1; 2 John 1:5 by showing that κυρία there must be understood not of a church, nor of any dignified ";lady,"; but of a ";dear"; friend of the writer. Thus in P Oxy IV. 744.2 (B.C. 1) we find a man writing—Βεροῦτι τῇ κυρίᾳ μου, ";to my dear Berous,"; and similarly in an invitation to a festival, ib. I. 112.1, .3, .7 (iii/iv. A.D.), the appellative occurs thrice (cf. the repetition in 2 Jn) in the same sense—χαίροις, κυρία μου Σε ̣ρην ̣ία ̣ . . π (αρὰ) Πετοσείριος. πᾶν ποίησον, κυρία, ἐξελθεῖ [ν τῇ ] κ ̄ τοῖς γενεθλίοις τοῦ θεο ̣[ῦ ] . . . ὅρα [μὴ ] ἀμελήσῃς, κυρία, ";greeting, dear Serenia, from Petosiris. Be sure, dear, to come up on the 20th for the birthday festival of the god. See that you do not forget, dear."; Cf. Exo VI. iii., p. 194 ff., where Rendel Harris with his accustomed ingenuity further discovers that John’s ";dear"; friend was a Gentile proselyte of the tribe of Ruth, and like Ruth a widow ! The word is also used with more formality by a slave addressing her ";mistress"; in P Tebt II. 413.1, .6, .20. (ii/iii A.D.) Ἀφ (= Ἀφρ)οδίτη Ἀρσινοῆτι τῇ κυρίᾳ πολλὰ χαίρειν. . μὴ δόξῃς με, κυρί [α ], ἠμεληκέναι σου τῶν ἐντολῶν. . . ἀπόδος παρ᾽ Ἀπ (= Ἀφρ)οδίτης κυρίᾳ, and in the Christian P Oxy VI. 939.5, .9 (iv/A.D.) (= Selections, p. 128), where a servant writes to his master that the favour of the Lord God had been shown—ὥστε τὴν ] κυρίαν ἀνασφῆλαι ἐκ τῆς καταλαβούσης [αὐτὴν νόσ ]ου, ";by the recovery of my mistress from the sickness which overtook her"; (Edd.), and hy saving her life in answer to her prayers—ταῖς εὐ ]χαῖς ἡμῶν ἐπένευσεν διασώσας ἡμῖν [τὴν ἡμῶν ] κυρίαν. See also s.v. κύριος.