The East experienced a period of revival under the Macedonian Dynasty, which lasted until the middle of the 1000’s. This growth, following the end of the Iconoclast Heresy, also gave new confidence to the Church, her Patriarchs, and the joint Church-State sense of mission. Fights with the West ensued, especially regarding Papal Primacy and who, exactly, was in charge of the missions to the Slavs and the Bulgars. The whole story of SS. Cyril and Methodius and their disciples enters into this drama.