Второе Кафолическое Послание св. Апостола Петра

1) Simon Peter, servant and Apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who, like us, have received faith by lot, according to the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2) May grace and peace abound to you in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3) How by His divine power was given to us everything necessary for life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His glory and power, 4) through which He gave us great and precious promises, so that through these you might become partakers of the Divine nature, having fled from the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5) You, making every effort, add virtue to your faith, and to virtue knowledge, 6) to knowledge self-control, to self-control patience, to patience godliness, 7) to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly love love. 8) For this, if you have it and increase, will not leave you idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9) For whoever does not keep this is blind and gropes, forgetting that he has been cleansed from his former crimes. 10) Therefore, brethren, be ever more anxious to make your calling and election sure by good works; for if you do this, you will never sin. 11) For in this way you will be more abundantly granted entry into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 12) For this reason, I always begin to admonish you about this, although you know and are established in the present truth. 13) I consider it right, while I am in this tent, to excite you with exhortation, 14) being confident that my tent will soon be taken away, as our Lord Jesus Christ indicated to me. 15) I will try to ensure that even after my death you often have memories of this. 16) For we did not follow cunningly woven fables and made known to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17) For He received honor and glory from God the Father in such a way that a voice came to Him from great glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.” 18) And we heard this voice brought from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19) And we have the most certain prophetic word; turning to whom as to a lamp shining in the darkness, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, you do well; 20) having understood this first of all, that every prophecy in Scripture is not subject to interpretation according to one’s own understanding. 21) For prophecy never came by the will of man, but being inspired by the Holy Spirit, holy men of God spoke. 1) There were also false prophets among the people, just as you will have liar teachers who will introduce destructive sects and deny the One who bought them, the Lord, bringing upon themselves quick destruction. 2) And many will follow their lusts, through them the way of truth will be reproached. 3) And out of covetousness they will profit from you with lying words; judgment has not been slow for them for a long time, and their destruction does not sleep. 4) For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but, bound by the ropes of hell, gave them over to torture in Tartarus, preserving them for judgment; 5) and did not spare the primitive world, but preserved Noah, the eighth [of all saved], the herald of righteousness, bringing a flood upon the world of the wicked; 6) and having turned the cities of Sodomites and Gomorrahs into ashes, he condemned them to destruction, setting an example for those who create lawlessness, 7) and delivered righteous Lot, suppressed by the oppression of the wicked and their lawless and depraved behavior; 8) for he was righteous in sight and hearing; He, living among them, suffered day after day in his righteous soul from lawless deeds. 9) The Lord knows how to deliver the pious from temptation, and to preserve the wicked for the day of judgment, for torment, 10) especially those who follow the flesh in the lust of filth, and despise the authorities, are impudent, self-loving, are not afraid to introduce sects, blasphemy; 11) while the Angels, although stronger and stronger, do not pronounce a damning judgment on themselves. 12) They, like foolish cattle, by nature [destined] for capture and destruction, slandering what they do not understand, will perish in their corruption. 13) Accepting unjust bribes, they find pleasure in amusements [in broad daylight]; Excessive in joint desecration and shameful amusements, they indulge in revelry at their feasts with you. 14) Their eyes are filled with adultery and incessant crime. They seduce unstable souls; their hearts are trained in covetousness: [they are] children of the curse. 15) Leaving the straight path, they got lost, following the path of Balaam from Bozrah, who loved the unrighteous reward, 16) but was convicted of his madness: the dumb dumb animal under the yoke, speaking with a human voice, rebuked the madness of the prophet. 17) They are waterless springs, and clouds shaken by whirlwinds: the darkness of darkness is reserved for them. 18) For, uttering proud idle talk, they lure into the lusts of carnal pleasures those who have barely escaped from those who are in error; 19) promising them freedom, when they themselves are slaves of corruption; for whoever is overcome by someone is his slave. 20) For if, having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome [by them], the latter will become worse for them than the first. 21) It would be better for them not to know the way of righteousness than, having learned it, to turn back from what was handed down to them - the holy commandment. 22) For it happens to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his vomit” (Prov. 26:11), and: “A washed pig rolls around in the mud.” 1) Behold, I am writing this second letter to you, beloved; in which I arouse your sincere understanding with exhortation, 2) so that you remember the words that were previously spoken by me from your holy prophets and apostles, the commandments of the Lord and Savior. 3) Know this first of all, that in the last days scoffers will come deceivingly, walking after their own lusts, 4) saying, “Where is the promise or His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, everything remains the same from the beginning of creation.” 5) For it is hidden from them, who want this, that in the beginning the heavens and earth were composed of water and by water by the word of God: 6) through this, that then world, flooded with water, perished. 7) But the heavens, which now exist, and the earth, which are again established by the same Word, are reserved for fire for the day of judgment and destruction of wicked men. 8) But one thing should not be hidden from you, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9) The Lord is not slow in [fulfilling] His promise, as some suppose; but he endures for our sake, not wanting anyone to perish, but for everyone to return to repentance. 10) The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with great speed, the elements will be destroyed with heat, and the earth and all the things that are on it will be burned. 11) So, if all this is so destroyed, then what kind of holy life and piety should you be, 12) expecting and quickly desiring the coming of the day of the Lord, through which the heavens, blazing, will be destroyed and the elements will melt from the flames of fire? 13) We look forward to a new heaven and a new earth, according to His promise, in which righteousness dwells. 14) For this reason, beloved, expecting this, take care to be found by Him in the world, undefiled and blameless; 15) and consider the longsuffering of our Lord to be salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you (cf. Rom. 1:16, 2:4), 16) as he speaks about this in all his epistles, in which there is something difficult to understand, which the unstable ignorant pervert, like other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17) But you, brethren, knowing in advance, beware lest you, being carried away by the delusion of fools, fall from your strength; 18) grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and in the day of eternity. Amen.