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How does the Orthodox church calendar honor the end of the Iconoclastic Controversy?

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Church year A church altar decorated with saint icons for All Saints' Day.

The Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine Rite honor the end of the Iconoclastic Controversy through the Feast of Orthodoxy.1

This feast is celebrated annually on the first Sunday of Lent. It commemorates the definitive restoration of icons to the churches in 843, an event brought about by Empress Theodora following the death of her iconoclast husband, Emperor Theophilus.123

By establishing this feast, the church affirms the doctrinal basis for icon veneration: because God assumed material form through Jesus Christ, he can be represented in sacred images. This celebration serves as a significant marker in the church calendar, highlighting the church's recognition of icons as essential mediums for expressing theological teaching and divine revelation.45