Epistle

An epistle (; from Ancient Greek (epistolḗ)'letter') is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didacticletter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum. The letters in the New Testament written by apostles to the early Christians are usually referred to as epistles; those traditionally attributed to Paul are known as Pauline epistles and the others as catholic (i.e., "general") epistles.