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Events on Wednesday 11 March 843 2
815 – 843Second Iconoclasm -- Triumph of OrthodoxyThe Second Iconoclasm (815-843) begins under Leo V, who revives the iconoclast policy believing that the military successes of the iconoclast emperors Leo III and Constantine V prove God's approval of icon removal. The Second Iconoclasm ends with the Triumph of Orthodoxy on 11 March 843, when Empress Theodora (regent for her son Michael III) restores icon veneration -- celebrated annually in the Orthodox Church to this day as the first Sunday of Lent. The Patriarch who condemned the previous Patriarch for restoring icons is himself condemned; icons return to the churches.
843Triumph of Orthodoxy -- the permanent restorationOn 11 March 843 -- the first Sunday of Lent -- Empress Theodora (regent for her son Michael III) convenes a synod that permanently restores the veneration of icons. The Patriarch who had enforced iconoclasm is deposed and replaced. Icons are restored to the Hagia Sophia and churches throughout the empire. A procession carries icons through the streets of Constantinople. This Sunday -- the Triumph of Orthodoxy (Kyriaki tis Orthodoxias) -- is celebrated annually in all Orthodox churches worldwide to this day as the final victory of icon veneration and the completion of the doctrinal definition of Orthodoxy.