“Speaking about pax in the proto-Christan epoch turned out to be a delicate matter, because around the year 300 pax became a key word in the Christian liturgy. It became the euphemism for a mouth-to-mouth kiss among the faithful attending services; pax became the camouflage for the osculum (from os, mouth), or the conspiratio, a commingling of breaths.”

—  Ivan Illich

The Cultivation of Conspiracy (1998)

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Ivan Illich 66
austrian philosopher and theologist 1926–2002

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