the text survives in a single, damaged manuscript as the second section of the jung codex, first of the thirteen codices in the nag hammadi library. although the text appears to be a coptic translation from greek, the author claims to have written in hebrew. because of references to persecution and martyrdom, it is unlikely that the text was written after 313, when constantine i ended christian persecution. other clues in the text point to a composition in the 2nd century, and perhaps in the first half.