In the article an attempt is made to show that the character of narration of 2 Maccabees about the religious reform in Judea (in 167-164 BC) strongly depends on the fact that the book was written for (and more likely among) the Egyptian Diaspora. Two episodes in the narration have been estimated as corresponding to the mentality of Diaspora and having no direct connection to what really happened in Jerusalem. They are: 1) that the Temple was defi led with ritual prostitution; 2) that cultic practices for Dionysus took place in Jerusalem. The main goal of the reform was to decentralize the cult which meant to create a system of sanctuaries all over Judea under the control of High Priest Menelaus. Having established them Menelaus could suppress all possible kinds of opposition to his own party among the nobles (like Jason's revolt in 168 BC). A possible administrative mechanism of taking a decision about the reform is also proposed. Menelaus offered to make cultic practices devoted to the king more intensive. This possibly meant that they would cover all the territory of Judea (not only Jerusalem). The king's agreement allowed the High Priest to start the reorganization of the cultic practices in order to meet the requirements of the newly proposed system.