Semantic Analysis — 3 John (Koine Greek → Ukrainian)

Scope note

3 John is a single-chapter epistle of 14 verses (English versification; some Greek editions print v.14’s final clauses as a separate v.15, but this analysis follows the 1–14 numbering given in the curriculum parameters). Because the entire book is one chapter and that chapter is the designated core passage, full-book coverage and core-passage verse-by-verse treatment are the same task here. There is no second chapter to survey. This is stated explicitly per the PRD’s full-book-coverage mandate: 3 John has been reviewed in its entirety, verse by verse, below; no chapter or verse has been silently omitted.

Where a term already has an established rendering in the baseline Romans/Galatians Language Package (translation_memory.json), that exact Ukrainian rendering is reused without alteration, per the hard rule governing this curriculum. New terms introduced by 3 John are analyzed fresh and proposed for addition to translation memory in 08_core_glossary.md.

Scripture-register renderings below follow Ohienko (Переклад Огієнка) phrasing conventions consistent with the established Ukrainian Bible translation tradition; expository register uses modern literary Ukrainian per the baseline system prompt.

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Core Passage Verse-by-Verse Analysis: 3 John 1:1–14

Verse 1

Greek: Ὁ πρεσβύτερος Γαΐῳ τῷ ἀγαπητῷ, ὃν ἐγὼ ἀγαπῶ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ. Ukrainian (Scripture register): «Старець – Гаєві улюбленому, якого я направду люблю.»

• πρεσβύτερος (presbyteros) — transliteration: presbyteros. Literal meaning: “elder, older man.” Semantic range: (1) a person advanced in age; (2) an office-holder/overseer in the early church (cf. Acts 14:23, 1 Tim 5:17); (3) in 2–3 John, the author’s self-designation, likely the Apostle John writing in his role as a revered, authoritative elder-overseer of the Johannine circle of churches. English variants: “the elder,” “the presbyter,” “the old man.” Contextual theological meaning: establishes apostolic-pastoral authority behind the letter’s commendations and rebukes. Destination-language rendering risk: High. The established Ohienko rendering is Старець, which must be retained for consistency with the existing Ukrainian text of 2–3 John. However, in contemporary Ukrainian religious culture — especially within Orthodox monastic piety (the старець tradition of revered spiritual fathers, associated with monasteries such as the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra) — “старець” carries strong connotations of a charismatic, ascetic spiritual guide with a distinct devotional cultus. Exposition accompanying this term must clarify that John’s self-designation is a pastoral-apostolic office title, not a claim to the specific monastic-elder charism familiar to Orthodox and Greek Catholic readers.
• Γάϊος (Gaios) — proper name, “Gaius.” Low risk; standard transliteration Гай (per Ohienko).
• ἀγαπητός (agapētos) — transliteration: agapētos. Literal meaning: “beloved, dear.” Semantic range: a term of affectionate address among believers, used four times across this short letter (vv. 1, 2, 5, 11), each time addressed to Gaius except v.11’s general exhortation. English variants: “beloved,” “dear friend.” Contextual theological meaning: signals covenantal, familial affection within the Christian community, not mere politeness. Rendering risk: Low-Medium. Render улюблений consistently at every occurrence (Ohienko’s established form); avoid varying it with дорогий/любий, which would obscure the repeated address as a structural marker of the letter’s warmth.
• ἀληθείᾳ / ἐν ἀληθείᾳ (alētheia / en alētheia) — transliteration: alētheia. Literal meaning: “truth.” Semantic range in Johannine literature: (1) doctrinal/revealed truth centered in Christ (cf. John 14:6); (2) a life lived in conformity with that truth (ethical-relational sense); (3) as the fixed adverbial idiom ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, “truly, genuinely, sincerely.” English variants: “in truth,” “truly,” “sincerely.” Contextual theological meaning: John’s love for Gaius is not sentimental but grounded in and consistent with revealed gospel truth — the letter’s central theme (see also vv. 3, 4, 8, 12). Rendering risk: High. As a noun referring to the doctrinal/ethical reality, render правда (per Ohienko’s Johannine convention, e.g. John 14:6); as the fixed idiom “truly,” render направду / поправді. This is a new term for this Language Package distinct from the baseline’s “faith” (віра) and requires its own glossary entry. Grounded Ukraine-specific risk: правда is presently a live, contested word in wartime public discourse (disinformation, war-crimes documentation, “інформаційна війна”/information war), which can pull the term toward a narrow forensic-factual sense (“accurate information”) rather than John’s fuller relational-doctrinal sense (fidelity to the revealed gospel lived out in conduct). Must be anchored explicitly to the gospel and to Christian conduct on each occurrence, not left to default to the political/journalistic register.

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Verse 2

Greek: Ἀγαπητέ, περὶ πάντων εὔχομαί σε εὐοδοῦσθαι καὶ ὑγιαίνειν, καθὼς εὐοδοῦταί σου ἡ ψυχή. Ukrainian (Scripture register): «Улюблений, я молюся, щоб тобі в усьому велося добре, і щоб ти був здоровий, як добре ведеться душі твоїй.»

• εὔχομαι (euchomai) — transliteration: euchomai. Literal meaning: “I wish, I pray.” Semantic range: a prayer-wish, weaker than προσεύχομαι but still a genuine intercessory desire directed to God on another’s behalf. Render молюся / бажаю. Low risk.
• εὐοδοῦσθαι (euodousthai) — transliteration: euodousthai. Literal meaning: “to have a good journey, to prosper, to succeed.” Semantic range: originally a travel metaphor (“to find the road open/favorable”), extended to general well-being and success. English variants: “prosper,” “be successful,” “go well.” Rendering risk: High. Render вестися добре / мати успіх. Grounded doctrinal risk: this is the single most misused verse in the letter globally, and increasingly in post-Soviet charismatic/“Word of Faith” circles present in Ukraine — it is a classic proof-text for prosperity-gospel teaching on material wealth and physical health as the expected norm of faith. The exposition MUST make explicit that this is an epistolary greeting-wish (a common form in ancient personal letters), analogically compared to the parallel prosperity of Gaius’s soul, not a doctrinal promise of material blessing. Human theologian review recommended for any teaching material built on this verse.
• ὑγιαίνειν (hygiainein) — transliteration: hygiainein. Literal meaning: “to be healthy, sound.” Render бути здоровим. Medium risk for the same prosperity-gospel reason as above; must be read alongside, not apart from, the ψυχή clause that follows.
• ψυχή (psychē) — transliteration: psychē. Literal meaning: “soul, inner life, self.” Semantic range: the seat of spiritual and moral life, distinct from and prior to bodily health in this verse’s logic. English variants: “soul,” “inner being.” Contextual theological meaning: Gaius’s spiritual prosperity is the standard by which his outward prosperity is wished, reversing the priority a prosperity reading would assume. Render душа. Low risk in itself, but essential as the corrective anchor for the εὐοδοῦσθαι risk above.

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Verse 3

Greek: ἐχάρην γὰρ λίαν ἐρχομένων ἀδελφῶν καὶ μαρτυρούντων σου τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, καθὼς σὺ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ περιπατεῖς. Ukrainian (Scripture register): «Бо я дуже радів, коли приходили брати та свідчили про правду твою, як ти живеш у правді.»

• ἐχάρην (echarēn, from χαίρω) — transliteration: echarēn. Literal meaning: “I rejoiced, I was glad.” Render я радів / зрадів. Low risk.
• ἀδελφῶν (adelphoi) — transliteration: adelphoi. Literal meaning: “brothers.” Semantic range: biological brothers or, overwhelmingly in NT epistolary usage, fellow believers regardless of gender — a fictive-kinship term for the Christian community. English variants: “brothers,” “brethren,” “fellow believers.” Rendering risk: Medium. Render брати. This is a new term for this Language Package (not previously registered in the Romans/Galatians baseline as a standalone entry, though implicit throughout). Note for translators: 3 John uses ἀδελφοί for the traveling ministers/missionaries throughout the body of the letter (vv. 3, 5, 10) but shifts to φίλοι (“friends,” v. 14) in the closing greeting — an intentional Johannine stylistic variation (cf. John 15:14-15) that should be preserved as two distinct Ukrainian words (брати / друзі), not flattened into one.
• μαρτυρούντων (martyrountōn, from μαρτυρέω) — transliteration: martyreō. Literal meaning: “testifying, bearing witness.” Semantic range: formal or informal attestation to observed fact or character; in Johannine literature frequently used of testimony to Christ or to a person’s Christlike character. English variants: “testify,” “bear witness,” “give evidence.” Contextual theological meaning: the traveling brothers’ report functions as a form of witness — a key term for this letter’s Demetrius commendation (v. 12) and its Truth-and-Fellowship theme generally. Rendering risk: High. Render свідчити / свідчення. Grounded Ukraine-specific risk: since 2022, “свідчення” (testimony/witness) is an extremely live word in Ukrainian public discourse in the specific sense of documented witness testimony of war crimes (свідчення очевидців, свідчення про воєнні злочини). This associative field is not wrong for the term’s dignity, but exposition must make clear the letter’s witness-language concerns character and gospel fidelity, not legal/forensic atrocity documentation, so the term is not narrowed to only that current sense.
• περιπατεῖς (peripateis, from περιπατέω) — transliteration: peripateō. Literal meaning: “to walk, to go about.” Semantic range: physical walking; idiomatically (very common in Paul and John), one’s habitual conduct/manner of life. English variants: “walk,” “live,” “conduct oneself.” Rendering risk: Medium. Render ходити / жити (ходити в правді / жити в правді). Must be explicitly glossed on first occurrence as a conduct-of-life idiom, since a literal-walking reading would be nonsensical but a reader unfamiliar with the biblical idiom might misconstrue it as referring to literal travel (relevant given the letter’s actual travel/hospitality theme in vv. 5-8, creating potential confusion between the metaphorical and literal senses in close proximity).

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Verse 4

Greek: μειζοτέραν τούτων οὐκ ἔχω χαράν, ἵνα ἀκούω τὰ ἐμὰ τέκνα ἐν τῇ ἀληθεί�ᾳ περιπατοῦντα. Ukrainian (Scripture register): «Немаю більшої радості від тієї, коли чую, що діти мої живуть у правді.»

• χαράν (chara) — transliteration: chara. Literal meaning: “joy.” Render радість. Low risk; standard vocabulary across all Ukrainian Christian traditions.
• τέκνα (tekna) — transliteration: tekna. Literal meaning: “children.” Semantic range: biological offspring, or (as here) spiritual children — converts/disciples under the author’s pastoral care. English variants: “children,” “spiritual children.” Rendering risk: Medium. Render діти. Requires brief glossing on first occurrence to clarify John speaks of those he brought to or nurtured in the faith, not biological descendants — the same disambiguation the baseline requires for “adoption” and “calling” language.

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Verse 5

Greek: Ἀγαπητέ, πιστὸν ποιεῖς ὃ ἐὰν ἐργάσῃ εἰς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς καὶ τοῦτο ξένους, Ukrainian (Scripture register): «Улюблений, ти вірно чиниш, роблячи це для братів, тим більше для чужих,»

• πιστὸν ποιεῖς (piston poieis) — literal meaning: “you do/act faithfully.” Render вірно чиниш. Low-Medium risk; must retain the sense of trustworthy, faith-consistent action, not mere dutifulness.
• ξένους (xenous, from ξένος) — transliteration: xenos. Literal meaning: “stranger, foreigner, guest.” Semantic range: one outside the immediate household/community, requiring hospitality; the root of the Greek concept of xenia (guest-friendship), a major ancient social-ethical category. English variants: “strangers,” “guests,” “those you did not know.” Contextual theological meaning: this is the letter’s central term for the doctrine of Hospitality to Traveling Ministers — Gaius is commended for supporting itinerant gospel workers he had never previously met. Rendering risk: High. Render чужі / незнайомці / чужинці. Grounded Ukraine-specific note (an asset, handled with care): Ukraine’s massive wartime experience of internal displacement and refugee movement, and the extraordinary volunteer and church-based hospitality response to it, gives this term acute, positive, lived resonance for a contemporary Ukrainian readership — a resource the curriculum can draw on pastorally. Care must be taken, however, not to narrow “stranger” only to the wartime IDP/refugee referent; the text’s specific concern is hospitality toward traveling gospel ministers.

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Verse 6

Greek: οἳ ἐμαρτύρησαν σου τῇ ἀγάπῃ ἐνώπιον ἐκκλησίας· οὕς καλῶς ποιήσεις προπέμψας ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ· Ukrainian (Scripture register): «які засвідчили про твою любов перед церквою; добре ти вчиниш, спорядивши їх у дорогу достойно Бога.»

• ἀγάπῃ (agapē) — transliteration: agapē. Baseline term. Reuse the baseline Romans/Galatians rendering exactly: любов. No deviation. (High risk per baseline: must be read as committed active good, not sentiment.)
• ἐκκλησίας (ekklēsia) — transliteration: ekklēsia. Baseline term. Reuse the baseline rendering exactly: церква. (Critical risk per baseline — see notes below on vv. 9-10, where this same word becomes acutely sensitive.) Here it denotes the local congregation before whom Gaius’s love was publicly attested; the Ukrainian synonym громада may be used as a clarifying gloss for “local assembly” per the baseline’s established practice, without replacing церква in Scripture-register citation.
• προπέμψας (propempsas, from προπέμπω) — transliteration: propempō. Literal meaning: “to send forward, to escort on a journey, to provide for someone’s travel needs.” Semantic range: a technical term in the early church’s missionary-support vocabulary (cf. Acts 15:3, 1 Cor 16:6, 11) — provisioning, equipping, and often physically accompanying a traveling minister part of the way. English variants: “send on their way,” “help on their journey,” “outfit for travel.” Rendering risk: Medium-High. Render спорядити (когось) в дорогу / провести в дорогу. This term connects directly to the baseline’s “mission” doctrine (місія/благовістя) and should be glossed as concrete, practical material support for gospel workers, not merely a farewell blessing.
• ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ (axiōs tou theou) — literal meaning: “worthily of God, in a manner worthy of God.” Render достойно Бога. Medium risk: must retain the sense that the standard of the hospitality is God’s own character/honor, not merely social propriety.

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Verse 7

Greek: ὑπὲρ γὰρ τοῦ ὀνόματος ἐξῆλθον μηδὲν λαμβάνοντες ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνικῶν. Ukrainian (Scripture register): «Бо вони вийшли ради Імені, нічого не приймаючи від поган.»

• τοῦ ὀνόματος (tou onomatos) — transliteration: onoma. Literal meaning: “the Name.” Semantic range: used absolutely (without further qualification) as shorthand for the name and person of Jesus Christ — a distinctively early-Christian idiom (cf. Acts 5:41). English variants: “the Name,” “his name,” “Christ’s name.” Rendering risk: High. Render Ім’я (capitalized, as a Christological title). Must be explicitly glossed on first occurrence: the absolute, unqualified use of “the Name” refers to Christ, not to reputation, fame, or a generic invocation, a distinction that will not be automatically obvious to a reader encountering this idiom for the first time outside a Johannine-literature context.
• τῶν ἐθνικῶν (tōn ethnikōn, from ἐθνικός) — transliteration: ethnikos. Literal meaning: “of the nations, pagan, Gentile” (adjectival form, distinct from the baseline’s ἔθνη/gentiles noun already registered as погани). Semantic range here: non-believing outsiders, specifically those the missionaries deliberately declined to accept support from, to avoid any appearance of preaching for profit or being beholden to unbelieving patrons. Rendering risk: High. Per the baseline’s existing convention for this term family, render погани, since this is not a mission-scope/comparative “nations” context (which the baseline reserves for народи) but a description of actual non-believing outsiders. Flag for the same reason already documented in the baseline TM: погани’s modern colloquial drift toward “bad/wicked people” risks an unintended moral slur; exposition should clarify the reference is religious status (non-believer), not a value judgment on character.

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Verse 8

Greek: ἡμεῖς οὖν ὀφείλομεν ὑπολαμβάνειν τοὺς τοιούτους, ἵνα συνεργοὶ γινώμεθα τῇ ἀληθείᾳ. Ukrainian (Scripture register): «Отож, ми повинні приймати таких, щоб бути співробітниками правді.»

• ὀφείλομεν (opheilomen, from ὀφείλω) — transliteration: opheilō. Literal meaning: “we owe, we are obligated.” Render ми повинні / ми зобов’язані. Medium risk: must retain moral obligation, not mere optional courtesy — hospitality to gospel workers is framed as a debt of the whole church, connecting directly to the letter’s Hospitality doctrine.
• ὑπολαμβάνειν (hypolambanein) — transliteration: hypolambanō. Literal meaning: “to take up, to receive, to support.” Render приймати / підтримувати. Medium risk; near-synonym of ἐπιδέχομαι (see v. 9-10) but with a stronger connotation of active material support rather than mere welcome.
• συνεργοὶ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ (synergoi tē alētheia) — transliteration: synergos. Literal meaning: “fellow workers, co-laborers.” Semantic range: a partnership term, elsewhere used of ministry colleagues (Rom 16:3, Phil 4:3). Here uniquely paired with “the truth” itself as the cause being served — “fellow workers for/with the truth.” English variants: “partners with the truth,” “co-workers in the truth’s cause.” Rendering risk: High. Render співробітники правді (or співпрацівники істини as an acceptable expository gloss). This is a new compound term central to the letter’s Truth-and-Fellowship doctrine: hospitality to gospel workers is not mere social kindness but active participation and partnership in advancing gospel truth. Must not be flattened into generic “helpers” or “supporters,” which loses the partnership-in-a-cause force.

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Verse 9

Greek: Ἔγραψα τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ· ἀλλ’ ὁ φιλοπρωτεύων αὐτῶν Διοτρεφὴς οὐκ ἐπιδέχεται ἡμᾶς. Ukrainian (Scripture register): «Я писав до церкви, але Діотреф, що любить бути першим серед них, не приймає нас.»

• τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ (tē ekklēsia) — Reuse baseline: церква. Critical risk (see baseline notes); here the local congregation under Diotrephes’s influence.
• φιλοπρωτεύων (philoprōteuōn) — transliteration: philoprōteuōn. Literal meaning: “loving to be first, craving preeminence” (a rare compound of φιλέω “to love” + πρωτεύω “to be first/hold first place”; this is its only occurrence in the New Testament). Semantic range: ambition for rank, status, and control within the community, at the expense of others and of gospel truth. English variants: “loves to be first,” “loves preeminence,” “who likes to put himself first.” Rendering risk: Critical. Render той, що любить бути першим / прагне першості / любить первенствувати. This is the letter’s key diagnostic term for the doctrine of Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes) and must not be softened into a mild personality trait (“assertive,” “strong-willed”); it names a serious, named sin of ecclesial pride condemned by the apostolic author. Grounded Ukraine-specific risk: contemporary Ukrainian church life includes acute, live disputes over primacy, jurisdiction, and authority among and within the OCU, UOC, and UGCC (parish transfers, contested leadership, questions of who holds legitimate authority over a given congregation or diocese). Diotrephes’s φιλοπρωτεύων must be taught as Scripture’s own timeless diagnosis of a leadership vice, never allowed to read as commentary on, or a veiled reference to, any specific contemporary Ukrainian ecclesiastical jurisdiction or leader. Human theologian review mandatory for every occurrence, parallel to the baseline’s rule for anathema in Galatians.
• Διοτρεφής (Diotrephēs) — proper name, “Diotrephes.” Low risk; standard transliteration Діотреф.
• ἐπιδέχεται (epidechetai, from ἐπιδέχομαι) — transliteration: epidechomai. Literal meaning: “to receive, welcome, accept.” Render приймає. Medium risk; recurs in v. 10 (negated twice) — keep lexically consistent to preserve the rhetorical repetition of Diotrephes’s refusal.

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Verse 10

Greek: διὰ τοῦτο, ἐὰν ἔλθω, ὑπομνήσω αὐτοῦ τὰ ἔργα ἃ ποιεῖ, λόγοις πονηροῖς φλυαρῶν ἡμᾶς, καὶ μὴ ἀρκούμενος ἐπὶ τούτοις οὔτε αὐτὸς ἐπιδέχεται τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς καὶ τοὺς βουλομένους κωλύει καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐκβάλλει. Ukrainian (Scripture register): «Тому, коли прийду, нагадаю йому про його вчинки, які він чинить, лихослів’ям обмовляючи нас; і не задовольняючись цим, він і сам не приймає братів, і тим, що хочуть, забороняє, і виганяє з церкви.»

• ὑπομνήσω (hypomnēsō, from ὑπομιμνήσκω) — transliteration: hypomimnēskō. Literal meaning: “I will remind, bring to remembrance.” Render нагадаю. Low risk.
• λόγοις πονηροῖς φλυαρῶν (logois ponērois phlyarōn, from φλυαρέω) — transliteration: phlyareō. Literal meaning: “to talk nonsense, to babble, to bring unjustified accusations.” Semantic range: malicious, groundless, slanderous talk — not mere idle chatter but a deliberate campaign of false accusation. English variants: “spreading malicious nonsense,” “slandering us with evil words,” “bringing unjustified charges.” Rendering risk: High. Render лихослів’ям обмовляти / зводити наклепи. Must retain the accusatory, malicious force; a softened rendering as mere “gossip” (плітки) would understate the seriousness of Diotrephes’s conduct as apostolic slander, part of the same Church Leadership and Pride doctrine as φιλοπρωτεύων above.
• κωλύει (kōlyei, from κωλύω) — transliteration: kōlyō. Literal meaning: “hinders, prevents, forbids.” Render забороняє / перешкоджає. Medium risk; note the escalating three-part structure of Diotrephes’s abuse (slanders → refuses hospitality himself → prevents others from offering it), which the Ukrainian rendering should preserve as three distinct, escalating clauses.
• ἐκ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐκβάλλει (ek tēs ekklēsias ekballei, from ἐκβάλλω) — transliteration: ekballō. Literal meaning: “casts out, expels, throws out.” Render виганяє з церкви. Rendering risk: Critical. This is Diotrephes’s culminating and most severe abuse: actively expelling faithful believers from the congregation for showing hospitality to the apostolic delegation. Grounded Ukraine-specific risk: expulsion from church membership, denial of access to a parish, and contested control of church buildings and congregations are current, live, and legally contested realities in Ukraine’s jurisdictional disputes (OCU/UOC/UGCC parish transfers and property questions). This verse must be taught explicitly as Scripture’s condemnation of an abuse of power — Diotrephes is the villain of the narrative, not a model — and must never be allowed to read as commentary on, or validation of either side of, any specific contemporary Ukrainian church jurisdiction dispute. Human theologian review mandatory for every occurrence, on the same footing as anathema in the Galatians package.

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Verse 11

Greek: Ἀγαπητέ, μὴ μιμοῦ τὸ κακὸν ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀγαθόν. ὁ ἀγαθοποιῶν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν· ὁ κακοποιῶν οὐχ ἑώρακεν τὸν θεόν. Ukrainian (Scripture register): «Улюблений, не наслідуй зла, а добра. Хто чинить добро, той від Бога; а хто чинить зло, той не бачив Бога.»

• μιμοῦ (mimou, from μιμέομαι) — transliteration: mimeomai. Literal meaning: “imitate, follow the example of, model oneself on.” Semantic range: deliberate, patterned emulation of another’s conduct (the root of English “mimic”), not a single incidental act. English variants: “imitate,” “follow as an example,” “copy.” Rendering risk: High. Render наслідувати. This is the central verb for the doctrine of Imitating Good rather than Evil and directly applies the preceding Diotrephes narrative (bad example) and the following Demetrius commendation (good example, v. 12) as the letter’s two concrete test cases. Must be glossed to convey sustained, habitual patterning of one’s own life on an example, not a single act of copying.
• τὸ κακὸν / τὸ ἀγαθόν (to kakon / to agathon) — transliteration: kakos / agathos. Literal meaning: “the evil / the good” (as abstract, generalized moral categories, articular neuter substantives). Render зло / добро. Low-Medium risk; standard moral vocabulary.
• ὁ ἀγαθοποιῶν / ὁ κακοποιῶν (ho agathopoiōn / ho kakopoiōn) — transliteration: agathopoieō / kakopoieō. Literal meaning: “the one who does good / the one who does evil” (agent nouns built directly from the preceding abstract nouns — a deliberate wordplay in Greek). Render той, хто чинить добро / той, хто чинить зло. Medium risk: the doer-of-good/doer-of-evil distinction should be preserved as parallel constructions in Ukrainian to retain the verse’s rhetorical symmetry.
• οὐχ ἑώρακεν τὸν θεόν (ouch heōraken ton theon) — literal meaning: “has not seen God.” Render не бачив Бога. Medium risk: echoes 1 John’s dualistic “knowing/not knowing God” language (cf. 1 John 3:6, 4:20) and should be understood as a statement about relational knowledge of God evidenced by conduct, not a claim about a literal visual encounter or mystical vision — a distinction worth noting given the strong visio Dei and theophany traditions in Orthodox and Greek Catholic spirituality.

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Verse 12

Greek: Δημητρίῳ μεμαρτύρηται ὑπὸ πάντων καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτῆς· καὶ ἡμεῖς δὲ μαρτυροῦμεν, καὶ οἶδας ὅτι ἡ μαρτυρία ἡμῶν ἀληθής ἐστιν. Ukrainian (Scripture register): «Про Димитрія свідчать усі, і сама правда; свідчимо й ми, і ти знаєш, що наше свідчення правдиве.»

• Δημήτριος (Dēmētrios) — proper name, “Demetrius.” Low risk; standard transliteration Димитрій.
• μεμαρτύρηται (memartyrētai, perfect passive of μαρτυρέω) — literal meaning: “has been (and remains) testified of / has a standing good reputation.” Render свідчать про нього / засвідчено про нього. High risk for the same reason as v. 3’s μαρτυρούντων: connect this term consistently to the Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius) doctrine, and keep aware of the wartime forensic-testimony resonance of свідчення noted above, while ensuring the letter’s own sense (attested good character) remains primary.
• ὑπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτῆς (hypo tēs alētheias autēs) — literal meaning: “by the truth itself.” A striking personification: “the truth itself” is said to testify to Demetrius’s character, as if truth were an independent witness. Render сама правда (свідчить). Rendering risk: High. This phrase should be exposited carefully as a rhetorical personification meaning Demetrius’s conduct is self-evidently consistent with the gospel truth he professes — not an independent, quasi-personal “Truth” entity to be confused with the Holy Spirit or with any Orthodox/Greek Catholic devotional category.
• μαρτυρία … ἀληθής (martyria … alēthēs) — literal meaning: “testimony … true/truthful.” Render свідчення … правдиве. Medium risk; standard adjective for factual reliability, reinforcing the chapter’s cumulative emphasis on truthful, verifiable Christian character as public testimony.

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Verse 13

Greek: Πολλὰ εἶχον γράψαι σοι, ἀλλ’ οὐ θέλω διὰ μέλανος καὶ καλάμου σοι γράφειν· Ukrainian (Scripture register): «Я мав багато писати тобі, але не хочу писати чорнилом і пером.»

• μέλανος (melanos, from μέλαν) — transliteration: melan. Literal meaning: “ink” (literally “the black [substance]”). Render чорнило. Low risk; concrete material-culture term, identical function to the near-verbatim parallel in 2 John 12.
• καλάμου (kalamou, from κάλαμος) — transliteration: kalamos. Literal meaning: “reed, reed-pen” (a hollow reed sharpened for writing). Render перо / тростинка для писання. Low risk; may be glossed as “reed pen,” an ancient writing instrument, for reader clarity, with no doctrinal weight.

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Verse 14

Greek: ἐλπίζω δὲ εὐθέως σε ἰδεῖν, καὶ στόμα πρὸς στόμα λαλήσομεν. Εἰρήνη σοι. ἀσπάζονταί σε οἱ φίλοι. ἀσπάζου τοὺς φίλους κατ’ ὀνόμα. Ukrainian (Scripture register): «Але сподіваюся незабаром побачити тебе, і поговоримо устами до уст. Мир тобі! Друзі вітають тебе. Привітай друзів пойменно.»

• στόμα πρὸς στόμα (stoma pros stoma) — literal meaning: “mouth to mouth.” Semantic range: a Hebraic idiom for direct, personal, unmediated face-to-face communication (cf. Numbers 12:8 LXX, of God speaking to Moses; Jeremiah 32:4 LXX). English variants: “face to face,” “in person,” “mouth to mouth.” Rendering risk: Medium. Render устами до уст (preserving the OT-echoing idiom per Ohienko’s established translation practice) with a brief gloss noting its Old Testament background, since a literal rendering unglossed could read oddly to a reader unfamiliar with this specific Hebraism; an acceptable plain-register gloss is особисто / віч-на-віч, but the idiomatic Scripture-register phrase should be retained in the primary text.
• Εἰρήνη σοι (eirēnē soi) — transliteration: eirēnē. Baseline term. Reuse the baseline rendering exactly: мир. (High risk per baseline: since 2022, мир carries exceptionally heavy immediate weight as the opposite of the ongoing war; this closing epistolary greeting-blessing must be distinguished in exposition from both the homograph “the world” and the urgent political sense of “peace” (ceasefire) that readers will inevitably bring to the word, exactly as flagged for Romans 5:1 in the baseline.)
• οἱ φίλοι (hoi philoi) — transliteration: philos. Literal meaning: “friends.” Semantic range: personal, affectionate friendship-bond, distinct from the letter’s dominant term ἀδελφοί (“brothers,” vv. 3, 5, 10) used for the wider community of believers and traveling ministers. English variants: “friends,” “the friends.” Rendering risk: Low-Medium. Render друзі. This is a new term for this Language Package. Note for translators: the shift from ἀδελφοί to φίλοι in the letter’s closing greeting is a deliberate Johannine stylistic variation (cf. John 15:14-15, “I have called you friends”) and should be preserved as a distinct Ukrainian word, not collapsed into брати, to retain this nuance for careful readers.
• κατ’ ὀνόμα (kat’ onoma) — literal meaning: “by name, individually, one by one.” Render пойменно / кожного окремо. Low risk; a warm, personal closing detail reinforcing the letter’s relational, individually-attentive tone — worth preserving rather than generalizing to “greet everyone.”

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Chapter-by-Chapter Coverage Statement

3 John consists of a single chapter (14 verses in the versification used by these curriculum parameters). The verse-by-verse treatment above constitutes complete, first-to-last coverage of the entire book. There is no Chapter 2 or beyond to survey; this is stated explicitly per the PRD’s full-book-coverage mandate, rather than left to silent omission. No load-bearing theological term in 3 John has been left unanalyzed.

For cross-reference: readers of this Language Package working across the wider Johannine corpus (1 John, 2 John) will recognize several terms treated above — ἀλήθεια (правда), ἀγάπη (любов, per baseline), τέκνα (діти), and the “walking in truth” idiom — as consistent with 2 John’s nearly identical opening (2 John 1, 4). Where this curriculum’s scope is limited to 3 John, these shared terms have nonetheless been analyzed in full above so that any future extension to 1–2 John can reuse this Language Package’s renderings without contradiction.