considered heresies. Marian hymns remain a key element in the liturgy of the Coptic Church and are included in every canonical hour, day and night. The widely used Akathist Hymn (meaning the unseated hymn) to the Theotokos (Mother of God) is attributed to Saint Romanos the Melodist who composed many (perhaps several hundred) hymns to saints during the 6th century. The attribution is not supported by recent scholarship, but Romanos did make a vital contribution to the Marian poetry in Constantinople. In the Orthodox weekly liturgical cycle, Wednesday is dedicated to the Theotokos, and all daily services include numerous Marian hymns. These take precedence over the veneration of other saints and angels. While the formations of the Divine Liturgy in the 6th and 7th centuries preceded the beginnings of the period of Byzantine Iconoclasm, it was perhaps during the 11th century that the Theotokia became part of the liturgical books of the Eastern Church. As of the 12th century an increasing number of diataxeis, giving the order of the liturgy included Marian hymns. On Wednesdays and Fridays, the regular Theotokia are replaced with Stavrotheotokia, hymns in which the focus is less on the incarnation (although this imagery is still present) and more on the image of the Virgin Mary standing before the Cross. By the 13th century, Triodion liturgical books were combining references to icon veneration within hymns, e.g. "...to those who honor your holy image, O reverend one, and with one accord proclaim you as the true Mother of God and faithfully venerate you". Centuries later, the Sunday of Orthodoxy continues to combine Marian hymns and the veneration of icons in a manner that confirms the identity of Mary as the Theotokos. Hymns, feasts and miraculous Marian icons are now combined within Eastern church practices, e.g. the Akathistos to the "wonder working" Theotokos Iverskaya (which has a feast day as well). Marian hymns, litanies and the veneration or Benediction of the icons of Mary are combined in the Maronite Church's, Benediction of the icon of the Virgin Mary. Here a hymn litany includes the repetition of the phrase: "We petition you...". This Marionite hymn litany has two parts: first the giving of praise to Mary, then the petitions. Western Church According to Saint Augustine, it was Saint Ambrose who, in the 4th century, introduced the use of hymns outside the liturgy of the Western Church. By the 8th century,