[1] The book starts with the death of Gregory the Illuminator in 331 and concludes with the partition of Armenia between Iran and Rome in 387.
Faustus portrays the Mamikonians as the great defenders of Armenia, who show undying loyalty to the unworthy Arsacid kings.
Along with the Patmutʻiwn Hayotsʻ ("History of Armenia") of Movses Khorenatsi (5th century or later), the Buzandaran Patmutʻiwnk‘ has been referred to as one of the best Armenian sources in Parthian and Sasanian-related studies.
[3] Not long after Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘ was composed, another early Armenian historian, Ghazar Parpetsi, commented on the work and concluded that it had originally been written by a "Byzantine scholar" named P‘ostos from Constantinople, but was later modified by some other "ignorant" author who could not have been educated in Byzantium.
"[8] Some early scholars attempted to identify Pʻawstos the author with a Greek bishop of the same name mentioned by the author as an associate of Nerses I, as well as another bishop named Faustus mentioned in the correspondence of Basil of Caesarea, although this is no longer considered tenable as the work has conclusively been dated to the 5th century.
[12] The epithet Buzand or Buzandats’i was traditionally interpreted as "Byzantine" or "from Byzantium," and was changed at an early date to the more accurate Armenian form Biwzandats’i.
Additionally, he had a conservative aristocratic bent and strongly supported the privilege of the descendants of Gregory the Illuminator to hereditarily hold the Armenian patriarchate.
[17] James R. Russell further adds that the author must have been an Armenian "steeped in the Iranian traditions of the newly Christianized land.
[20] Faustus portrays the Mamikonians as the great defenders of Armenia, who show undying loyalty to the unworthy Arsacid kings.
[21] The author of Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘ never cites specific sources and only refers to other written texts in the first chapter of the work.