The kiss of peace is a traditional Christian greeting dating to early Christianity.

The practice remains a part of the worship in traditional churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Orthodox churches, Oriental Orthodox churches and some liturgical mainline Protestant denominations, where it is often called the kiss of peace or sign of peace, or simply peace or pax.

It was the widespread custom in the ancient western Mediterranean for men to greet each other with a kiss on the cheek. That was also the custom in ancient Judea and practiced also by Christians. In the Gospels, greeting with a kiss was also the custom practiced by Jesus - e.g. Luke 7:45.

However, the New Testament's reference to a holy kiss (en philemati hagio) and kiss of love (en philemati agapēs) transformed the character of the act beyond a greeting. Such a kiss is mentioned five times in the New Testament:

The writings of the early church fathers speak of the holy kiss, which they call "a sign of peace", which was already part of the Eucharistic liturgy, occurring after the Lord's Prayer in the Roman Rite and the rites directly derived from it. St. Augustine, for example, speaks of it in one of his Easter Sermons:

Steve Holy (born February 23, 1972) is an American country music singer. Signed to Curb Records since 1999, he has released three studio albums: 2000's Blue Moon 2006's Brand New Girlfriend and 2011's Love Don't Run. Fifteen of his singles have entered the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including the Number One hits "Good Morning Beautiful" (which was featured in the movie Angel Eyes) and "Brand New Girlfriend".

Steve Holy was born February 23, 1972 in Dallas, Texas as the youngest of eight children. He entered a local competition called the Mesquite Opry at age nineteen. While there, he caught the attention of Wilbur Rimes, the father of country singer LeAnn Rimes. By 1999, Holy was signed to Curb Records.

His first single for the label, "Don't Make Me Beg", peaked at #29 on the Billboard country charts in 2000. By October of that year, Holy's debut album, Blue Moon, was released. Its second and third singles, which were the title track and "The Hunger", respectively, both reached #24 on the country charts. The album sold poorly, and many record stores began returning copies to the label.

The Residents are an American art collective best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works. The first official release under the name of The Residents was in 1972, and the group has since released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects and ten DVDs. They have undertaken seven major world tours and scored multiple films. Pioneers in exploring the potential of CD-ROM and similar technologies, The Residents have won several awards for their multimedia projects. Ralph Records, a record label focusing on avant-garde music, was started by The Residents.

Throughout the group's existence, the individual members have ostensibly attempted to operate under anonymity, preferring instead to have attention focused on their art output. Much outside speculation and rumor has focused on this aspect of the group. In public, the group appears silent and costumed, often wearing eyeball helmets, top hats and tuxedos - a long-lasting costume now recognized as their signature iconography. Their albums generally fall into two categories: deconstructions of Western popular music, or complex conceptual pieces, composed around a theme, theory or plot. They are noted for surrealistic lyrics and sound, disregard for conventional music composition, and the over the top, theatrical spectacle of their live performances.

Anne Clark (born 14 May 1960, Croydon, London, England) is an English poet and songwriter. Her first album, The Sitting Room, was released in 1982, and she has released over a dozen albums since then.

Her experimental music occupies a region bounded roughly by electronic, dance (techno applies on occasion) and possibly avant-garde genres, with varying hard as well as romantic and orchestral styles.

Clark is mainly a spoken word artist. Many of her lyrics deal critically with the imperfections of humanity, everyday life, and politics. Especially in her early works she has created a gloomy, melancholy kind of atmosphere bordering on weltschmerz.

Anne Clark was born the daughter of an Irish mother and a Scottish father. At the age of 16, she left school. She took various jobs, one of which was as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital. Clark then got a job at the local record store (and label), Bonaparte Records. Punk rock was finding its way into London's music scene and perfectly matched Anne Clark's emotions.

Mary Magdalene (original Greek Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνή), or Mary of Magdala, was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important female disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", ^{[Lu 8:2] [Mk 16:9]} sometimes interpreted as referring to complex illnesses. She became Jesus' close friend and most prominent during his last days, being present at the cross after the male disciples (excepting John the Beloved) had fled, and at his burial. She was the first person to see Jesus after his Resurrection, according to both John 20 and Mark 16:9.

Mary Magdalene is considered by the Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches to be a saint, with a feast day of July 22. The Eastern Orthodox churches also commemorate her on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers.

Consistently in the four Gospels, Mary Magdalene seems to be distinguished from other women named Mary by adding "Magdalene" (η Μαγδαληνή) to her name. Traditionally, this has been interpreted to mean that she was from Magdala, a town thought to have been on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Luke 8:2 says that she was actually "called Magdalene." In Hebrew מגדל Migdal means "tower", "fortress"; in Aramaic, "Magdala" means "tower" or "elevated, great, magnificent".