The text was originally written in Palaestina Prima. It was written in the Greek language. The Coptic manuscripts names its author as "Apa Seba" (Arabic: "Saba"), referring to Saint Sabas of Palestine (439–532). Evidence from the text itself leads to a somewhat later dating: in the second half of the 6th century. It could have been written by a follower of Sabas, possibly a monk in the monastery of Mar Saba. This monastery had been founded by Sabas. A certain anti-philosophical polemic tendency expressed by the text can be related to the Origenist controversies of the mid-6th century, in which Mar Saba had played an important role.