'Apostles' in 2 Peter 3.2: Literal Predecessors in Faith or Literary Records of their Witness?

2 Peter typically does not receive much attention within the study of early canon development. This article, however, focuses on the term alpha pi omicron sigma tau omicron lambda omicron iota in 2 Pet. 3.2 and examines whether it points beyond historical followers of Jesus so as to implicitly include the written legacy produced by them or by their close associates. My inquiry consists of three components: (a) a survey of Justin Martyr's use of alpha pi omicron sigma tau omicron lambda omicron iota. in his stock phrase 'memoirs of the apostles' as a roughly contemporaneous analogue to 2 Peter, (b) a study of the juxtaposition 'apostles' and 'prophets' in 2 Pet. 3.2 and (c) an inquiry into 2 Peter's literary dependence on the canonical gospels.