[2] It was purchased for the Institut für Altertumskunde at the University of Cologne in 1969, and two of its scientists, Albert Henrichs [de] and Ludwig Koenen, produced a first report (1970)[3] and the first edition of this ancient manuscript, hence known as the Cologne Mani-Codex, which they published in four articles in the Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik (1975–82).
Many emendations and alternate readings were offered in the following decade, and it was found that some of the minute fragments associated with the codex could be successfully incorporated into the body of text.
[5] Two symposia have been devoted to the codex, and their papers published: in Rende (Calabria) (1984) and in Cosenza (1988).
The text, which bears the ambiguous title On the Origin of His Body, recounts Mani's introduction to the Jewish-Christian Elkesaite baptising sect.
The Greek text bears traces that demonstrate it had been translated from an Eastern Aramaic or Old Syriac original.