Insurrection of the general Thomas in Anatolia. This was supported by the lower classes and encouraged by the Arabs. Thomas attempted twice to take Constantinople, but was ultimately defeated and executed in Thrace.
War against the Arabs. The Byzantine armies, after invading the caliphate, were repulsed. After a long siege, Amorion, one of the key positions on the frontier, was taken by the Muslims (838).
Image worship was restored. This was a great victory for the opposition party, but only in the matter of doctrine. Politically the power of the emperor over the Church remained unimpaired, if not strengthened.
Theodora was obliged to retire, but her brother Bardas, an able but unprincipled politician, remained the real ruler of the empire by exploiting to the full the weaknesses of the emperor.
Missionary activity of Cyril and Methodius of Thessalonica among the Slavs of Moravia and Bohemia. They invented the glagolitic alphabet—from which the Cyrillic derives (See 865)—which came to be used in various Slavonic languages and was later restricted to liturgical books; hence Cyril and Methodius are regarded as founders of Slavonic literature.
