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In foreign affairs, Leo was less successful. He was forced to make commercial concessions and pay tribute to Simeon I of Bulgaria in 896. He lost the last Roman outpost in Sicily in 902. Oleg of Novgorod attacked Constantinople in 907 in an attempt to force Leo to grant him trading rights, but was beaten back. After a second attack in 911, Leo finally signed a trade agreement with Oleg.
It was the scandal with his marriages that soured his relations with the Church. Theophano was his first wife, a marriage forced by Basil. She died in 897 without producing an heir. His second wife was Zoe Zaoutzaine, who died in 899, again without an heir. Although the Church would not bless more than two marriages, Leo again married, his third wife was Eudokia Baiana who died in 901. To avoid a greater [[sin]] by marrying a fourth time, Leo took Zoe Karbonopsina as his mistress and then married her when she gave birth to a son in 905. This incurred the wrath of Patr. Nicholas Mysticus. After replacing Nicholas as patriarch with [[Euthymius I Syncellus of Constantinople|Euthymius I Syncellus]], Leo's fourth marriage was recognized by the patriarch. This action opened a conflict within the Church. Leo aggravated the situation greatly by appealing to the Bishop of Rome to obtain papal consent, thus providing an opening for papal intervention into affairs of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Even though his marriages created problems for him with the Church, Leo initiated the translation of the [[relics]] of St. [[Lazarus]] to Constantinople in 890 and is credited with composing several [[stichera]] that are chanted on [[Lazarus Saturday]].
