[3][4] The manuscript of this epitome is a simple paper codex consisting of 186 sheets written by the students of German classicist Martin Crusius, some time around 1579.
The whereabouts of the manuscript were unknown for almost 300 years until German classicist Karl Johannes Neumann announced its rediscovery in 1881.
Scholar Pier Franco Beatrice attempts to reconstruct this in his 2001 work Anonymi Monophysitae Theosophia.
[5] The original work and its epitome primarily deal with prophesies and oracles that come from various non-Christian religious and spiritual traditions and are generally aligned with notions of Christian theosophy.
[8][10] Both works are considered a direct descendant of the Christian apologetics of the fourth and fifth centuries, and shows roots in works such as The Divine Institutes by Lactantius and Praeparatio evangelica by Eusebius, among others, and it is believed to be intended as a refutation of the pro-pagan, anti-Christian tract Philosophy from Oracles (De Philosophia ex Oraculis Haurienda) by third-century philosopher Porphyry.