The last great attack against the Incarnation (the teaching that God has become man) was directed at the veneration of icons. The Emperor had the icons removed from the churches.

Eventually the 7th Ecumenical Council met in 787 and declared the veneration of icons to have always been the practice of the Church. The controversy continued to rage after 815 as emperors ignored the decision of the Council and continued to oppose icon veneration.

When Emperor Theophilus died in 842, the throne passed to his two-year-old son, whose mother Empress Theodora ruled in his behalf. After consolidating the throne for her son, Empress Theodora moved to restore the icons to the churches.

On the first Sunday of Lent in 843, the icons were returned to the churches and the Orthodox faith restored. To this day, the first Sunday of Lent is celebrated as the Sunday of Orthodoxy.

THE SYNODIKON OF THE SUNDAY OF ORTHODOXY

The restoration of the icons occurred simultaneously with the enthronement of Methodius as Patriarch of Constantinople. A year later, on the first Sunday of Lent, the first anniversary of the Triumph of Orthodoxy was commemorated by reciting the Synodikon. Probably written by Methodius, the Synodikon is a Confession of Faith regarding the Holy Icons. Following the Liturgy, the procession of the icons will take place after which we shall recite the Synodikon:

As the prophets beheld, as the Apostles have taught, ….as the Church has received ….as the teachers have dogmatized, ….as the Universe has agreed, ….as Grace has shown forth, ….as Truth has revealed, …as falsehood has been dissolved, …as Wisdom has presented, ….as Christ Awarded, ….thus we declare, ….thus we assert, ….thus we preach Christ our true God, and honor His Saints in words, in writings, in thoughts, in sacrifices, in churches, in Holy Icons; on the one hand worshipping and reverencing Christ as God and Lord; and on the other hand honoring [His Saints] as true servants of the same Lord of all and accordingly offering them veneration.

(Louder) This is the Faith of the Apostles, this is the Faith of the Fathers, this is the Faith of the Orthodox, this is the Faith which has established the Universe.