Fathers

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What the Fathers say

1 Thessalonians 5:26

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

"Salute all the brethren with a holy kiss." Oh! what fervor! Oh! what mad passion is here! Because being absent he could not greet them with the kiss, he greets them through others, as when we say, Kiss him for me. So also do ye yourselves retain the fire of love. For it does not admit of distances, but even through long intervening ways it extends itself, and is everywhere present.

Homily on 1 Thessalonians 11 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Since he, being absent, could not greet them with a kiss from his own lips, he wishes to greet them through others, just as we also say: give so-and-so a kiss for me. And since there is also a treacherous kiss, like the kiss of Judas, he says: "with a holy kiss."

Commentary on 1 Thessalonians ↗

Western Saints

Thomas Aquinas

Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss, not a treacherous kiss as that of Judas (Matt. 26), nor a passionate kiss like that of the lustful woman in Proverbs (7:13).

Commentary on 1 Thessalonians ↗