Who was St. Maurice and the Theban Legion?
By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-09
According to 1999-Winter.Vol20.4, the Theban Legion was a valor-known legion consisting of 6,600 Christian soldiers recruited from the Thebaid in Southern (Upper) Egypt. St. Maurice (also referred to as Mauritius) was the commander, or primicerius, of this legion, serving alongside leaders such as the instructor Exuperius and the military Senator Candidus.
In 285 AD, Roman Co-emperor Maximian requested from Diocletian that the Theban legion be sent to quell a rebellion of Germanic barbarians in what is now Switzerland. At Agaunum (St. Maurice-en-Valais), on the eve of the campaign against the Bagaudae, Maximian commanded the soldiers to perform two acts they could not accept: pay homage to his gods and kill innocent Germanic Christians. As detailed in 2004-Spring.Vol25.1, historian Aziz Suryal Atiya noted that the legion was led by St. Mauritius, who "earned martyrdom for refusing to sacrifices to heathen gods." Upon their unanimous refusal to obey these pagan commands, Maximian ordered the legion decimated—executing every tenth soldier—culminating in their total martyrdom.
Following their sacrifice, veneration of St. Maurice spread widely across Western Europe, particularly in France and Switzerland, where his name is associated with more than 650 places and over seventy towns (1999-Winter.Vol20.4, 2004-Summer.Vol25.2). In Agaunum, a monastery bearing his name celebrates their feast on September 22, where the vigil "Tasbeha" has been chanted continuously for more than 500 years (2004-Summer.Vol25.2).
Despite this extensive European honor, 2004-Spring.Vol25.1 notes that until the middle of the 20th century, the Copts were largely unaware of the Theban Legion, as no entry existed for them in medieval Coptic synaxaria or the History of the Patriarchs. The discovery of the legion for the Copts is attributed to Professor Murad Kamil. Ecumenical ties later brought their veneration home: in 1989 and 1991, relics of St. Maurice, St. Cassius, and St. Florentius were presented to Pope Shenouda III and returned to the Coptic Church (2004-Spring.Vol25.1, 2004-Summer.Vol25.2).
Sources: 1999-Winter.Vol20.4; 2004-Spring.Vol25.1; 2004-Summer.Vol25.2