Reading from the Synaxarion:
As for the renowned Empress Theodora, she was from Paphlagonia and
was the daughter of a certain Marinus, the commander of a military
regiment. While being the wife of the Emperor Theophilus, the last of the
Iconoclasts, she adorned the royal diadem with her virtue and piety; as longas her husband Theophilus lived, she privately venerated icons,
despite his displeasure. After his death, she restored the holy icons to
public veneration; this is commemorated on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the
First Sunday of the Great Fast. She governed the Empire wisely for
fifteen years, since her son Michael was not yet of age. But in 857 she
forsook her royal power and entered a certain convent in Constantinople
called Gastria, where she finished the course of her life in holiness
and reposed in the Lord.
As for the renowned Empress Theodora, she was from Paphlagonia and
was the daughter of a certain Marinus, the commander of a military
regiment. While being the wife of the Emperor Theophilus, the last of the
Iconoclasts, she adorned the royal diadem with her virtue and piety; as longas her husband Theophilus lived, she privately venerated icons,
despite his displeasure. After his death, she restored the holy icons to
public veneration; this is commemorated on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the
First Sunday of the Great Fast. She governed the Empire wisely for
fifteen years, since her son Michael was not yet of age. But in 857 she
forsook her royal power and entered a certain convent in Constantinople
called Gastria, where she finished the course of her life in holiness
and reposed in the Lord.