In form, the Second Apocalypse appears to have been influenced by the Questions and Answers of Ephraim the Syrian (died 373).
[5] The earliest reference to the Second Apocalypse is found in a mid-ninth century scholion on Dionysius Thrax.
It consists of a series of answers given by Jesus to questions posed by John on matters of Christian ethics and rites.
[9] A date of composition after the early Muslim conquests of the seventh century has been invoked to explain the text's concern with the preservation of icons, crosses and bibles—all of which Jesus says he will bring up to Heaven before destroying the Earth.
A reference to Christian emperors being driven like slaves and wailing like infants may reflect the author's disgust with their support of iconoclasm.
Not fair-skinned, nor red-skin, nor black, not Ethiopian nor different facial features, but all will rise with the same appearance and size.
At least three Garshuni copies were known to Giuseppe Simone Assemani, indicating that the text was popular in Syriac circles.