{With a holy kiss} (en hagi(9369) phil(886d)ati). In the Jewish
synagogues where the sexes were separated, men kissed men, the
women, women. This apparently was the Christian custom also. It
is still observed in the Coptic and the Russian churches. It was
dropped because of charges made against the Christians by the
pagans. In England in 1250 Archbishop Walter of York introduced a
"pax-board" which was first kissed by the clergy and then passed
around. Think of the germ theory of disease and that kissing
tablet!