Historians have described Voltaire's description of the history of Christianity as "propagandistic". His "Dictionnaire philosophique" is responsible for the myth that the early Church had fifty gospels before settling on the standard canonical four as well as propagating the myth that the canon of the New Testament was decided at the First Council of Nicaea. Voltaire is partially responsible for the misattribution of the expression "Credo quia absurdum" to the Church Fathers. Furthermore, despite the death of Hypatia being the result of finding herself in the crossfires of a mob during a political feud in 4th century Alexandria, Voltaire promoted the theory that she was stripped naked and murdered by the minions of the bishop Cyril of Alexandria, concluding by stating that "when one finds a beautiful woman completely naked, it is not for the purpose of massacring her." Voltaire meant for this argument to bolster one of his anti-Catholic tracts. In a letter to Frederick II, King of Prussia, dated 5 January 1767, he wrote about Christianity: