Electa

ELECTA, was, as is generally believed, a Lady of quality, to whom St. John the Evangelist addressed his second Epistle. She lived in the neighbourhood of Ephesus, and St. John wrote to her and her children, to precaution them against the Hereticks of that time, who denied the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and the Truth of his Incarnation. Some are of opinion that Electa, which signifies chosen, is not a proper name, but an honourable Epithet given this Lady, whose proper name is not expressed in St. John’s Epistle. Others will have it, that her proper name was Kyria. Others, that the Epistle was not directed to any one person, but to a whole Church. St. Clement of Alexandria, in his Comment on the Canonical Epistles, says, that Electa, whom St. John wrote to, was a Lady of Babylon.

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