This document is one among a group of apocryphal Christian works that might best be called “near-canon.” That is, they came very close to being included in the New Testament right along with the four gospels, the epistles of Paul, etc.
Our understanding of this document is a bit complicated, due to the nature of the copies of it that we have. Even so, because it was widely respected, it set the stage for a Christian literary genre which ultimately led to one of the most famous works of all time, the Divine Comedy.
Despite having been widely respected within Christendom, this work had been lost to us for many centuries, known only from mentions or quotations by Christian commenters. It had fallen off the radar of European Christianity sometime very early in the Middle Ages, and had never been widely trafficked in western Christendom.
Late in the 19th century, though, it emerged from the abyss of history. That was in the form of a piecemeal manuscript, in Greek, discovered in Egypt. A couple decades later, it came to light as one of a collection of Ethiopian works that had been gathered also around the same time of its discovery in Egypt. That copy is longer and more complete, but is in the Ethiopic language (Ge‘ez).
A third copy, also Ethiopic, was found in 1969. Also, some brief manuscript fragments of it have been found, also discovered late in the 19th century and early 20th.
Although scholars believe the Apocalypse had been composed originally in Greek, oddly enough, the longer Ethiopic-translated manuscripts — the first one found dating no earlier than the 15th century — are closer to the content of the original than the Greek copy from Egypt. The Greek version shows signs of having been edited down (but ironically containing some passages not in the other manuscripts or fragments). The Ethiopic versions also include portions of the Apocalypse that had been quoted during classical times, but aren’t part of the Greek version.
As noted, it’s thought the Apocalypse had first been written in Greek, in northern Egypt or in the Levant. It’s based on quotations and commentary from the classical era that scholars consider it to have been written in the early 2nd century.
In particular, it was quoted in the Sybilline Oracles, which means it had to have existed by 150 CE. It was also mentioned in the Muratorian Fragment which dates to the late 2nd century. Interestingly, a number of scholars believe this Apocalypse had originated within a community of Jewish Christians.
This Apocalypse ostensibly was written by Peter the Apostle, but in a confusing way (it refers to Peter in the third person, but was composed by him in the first person). It opens with Jesus and the apostles discussing the Second Coming — mainly in the form of the apostles asking what the signs of it would be.
The events of the Second Coming, and its fallout, follow from there, within the narrative of the Apocalypse. As is found in the more famous canonical Apocalypse of John (aka Revelation), a number of plagues and torments are described, as humanity is judged. Archangels such as Uriel and Ezrael (possibly Azrael the “angel of death”) play into the story. Devils or demons are also mentioned.
This narrative includes descriptions of Heaven and Hell, and given its age, is the oldest known Christian document to do so. More famous examples of this genre, such as the 4th century Apocalypse of Paul, and the 4th or 5th century Gospel of Nicodemus aka Acta Pilati, would follow. Those in turn would later inspire Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy in the 14th century (in particular, the Apocalypse of Paul had been known to Alighieri).
As noted, a number of Christian thinkers viewed the Apocalypse as canon. Among the best-known of these was Clement of Alexandria, who overtly stated it was scripture. Also as noted, it had been quoted by Christian authors.
The reasons it eventually drifted out of the Christian canon aren’t well understood, since no one who remarked on any controversy surrounding the Apocalypse ever clearly stated what that controversy was. The Muratorian Fragment, which otherwise treats it as canon, simply states (without explanation) that it wasn’t read in some churches.
Scholars speculate the reason for its plummeting fortunes was because it may have suggested universal salvation. The reason for this, in turn, is that one of the manuscript fragments we have states that the saints in Heaven prayed to God for the torment of sinners in Hell to be reduced or eliminated. Furthermore, the document overall makes clear that the fate of human souls was predicated on how people lived, rather than through faith in Jesus of Nazareth, personal belief, divine gnōsis, or anything else of that sort.
Those ideas, of course, flew in the face of the message of the majority of Christendom as it rolled on through the religion’s first centuries, which is that the torments of Hell were to be avoided by faith in Jesus, being the one and only “get-out-of-jail-free” card that people could have.
To be sure, the discussion of “works” found in the Epistle of James, as well as the parable of the sheep and goats as found in the gospel according to Matthew, both likewise contradicted that prevailing message, yet both of those books remained canon. So these doctrinal points may not entirely explain the Apocalypse being left out.
Of note, this particular brief passage isn’t present in the Greek or Ethiopic manuscripts.
You can read the Apocalypse of Peter in several places on the Internet.
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