Editing Maurice (emperor) (section)

===Legends===
{{stack|
{{Infobox saint
|name          = Maurice, Emperor of the Romans, With His Six Sons

|death_date    =
|feast_day     = 28 November
|venerated_in  = [[Eastern Orthodoxy]]
|image         = 82_-_Maurice_(Mutinensis_-_color).png
|imagesize     =
|caption       = From the [[Mutinensis gr. 122]] codex
|birth_place   =
|death_place   =
|titles        = Emperor
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes    = Imperial Vestment
|patronage     =
|major_shrine  = [[Church of the Holy Apostles]], [[Constantinople]] modern day [[Istanbul, Turkey]]
|issues=
|prayer=
|prayer_attrib=
}}
}}
The first legendary accounts of Maurice's life are recorded in the ninth century, in the work of the Byzantine historian [[Theophanes the Confessor]]. According to his chronicle ''Chronographia'', the death of the imperial family is due to divine intervention: Christ asked the emperor to choose between a long reign or death and acceptance in the kingdom of heaven. Maurice preferred the second choice.<ref>{{harvnb|Mango|Scott|1997|p=410}}: Theophanes ({{c.}} 815) AM 6094.</ref>

The same story has been recorded in a short [[Syriac language|Syriac]] hagiography on the life of the emperor. It is of [[Church of the East|East Syrian]] origin.{{sfn|Whitby|1988|p=21}}{{sfn|Brock|1976|p=29}} This was later sanctified by the Eastern Orthodox Church.{{efn|Commemorated on 28 November according to the Typikon of the Great Church and on 28 August, according to the Palestinian-Georgian Synaxarion.{{sfn|Wortley|1980}}}} According to the Syriac author, the emperor asked in prayer to receive a punishment in this world and a "perfect reward" in the kingdom of heaven. The choice was offered by an angel.<ref>Turnhout: Brepols, 1981, pp. 774–775.</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=February 2025}} Anthony Alcock has published an English translation.{{sfn|Alcock|2018}}

According to another legend in the same text, Maurice prevented a nurse from substituting one of his sons so as to save at least one of the heirs of the empire.<ref>Nau, 1981, pp. 776–778.</ref>

It has been proposed that the name of the Albanian folk hero [[Muji (Albanian mythology)|Muji]] derives from that of Emperor Maurice (Murik, Muji). Similarly, the name of the folk hero's wife, Ajkuna (or Kuna), corresponds to that of the Empress Aelia Constantina, the wife of Maurice, if we take into account the laws of phonetic evolution of the Albanian language since Late Antiquity. Though this proposition remains a matter of debate.<ref>[https://ashak.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/WEB_Studime-shoqerore-9.pdf Akademia e Shkencave te Kosoves; Shuka Gj. (2023). "Nenshtresa ne tri kenge te Ciklit te Kosoves". Studime Shoqerore (9)]: 245–285.</ref>