Verse 20
20. All the brethren The body of the Ephesian Church sends, from Asia to Europe, to the body of the Corinthian Church, its fraternal Christian greet.
Holy kiss Romans 16:16. Justin Martyr says: “At the close of our prayers we salute each other with a kiss.” The “Apostolic Constitutions,” 2:57, says: “Then let the men salute each other, and the women salute each other, with the kiss in the Lord and after that let the deacon pray for the whole Church.” It was simply the adoption into the Christian ritual of an eastern and Old Testament custom. Stanley says: “On Good Friday it was omitted, in commemoration of the kiss of Judas. Down to the fifth century it was given after baptism, and was afterwards superseded by the (verbal) salutation, ‘Peace be with thee.’ It was technically called η ειρηνη , ‘the peace.’” Grotius says, “He rightly enjoins the kiss of peace on those who were in danger of being rent to pieces by schisms.”
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