PALM SUNDAY. The Sunday next before Easter, so called from palm branches being strewed on the road by the multitude, when our Saviour made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
PANTHEISM. From two Greek words meaning "all" and "God." It is a subtle kind of Atheism, which makes God and the universe the same, and so denies the existence and sovereignty of any God over the universe. What may be called Natural Religion partakes largely of Pantheism.
PAPISTS. Roman Catholics. The term is derived from Papa, a title restricted in the West to the Pope. In the Greek Church it is the title of all parish priests.
PARABLE. In the New Testament a figurative discourse, or a story with a typical meaning. In the Old Testament it sometimes signifies a mere discourse, as Job's parable, Job xxvi-xxxi. inclusive. The Parable, in the New Testament sense, was and is a common mode of expression in the East.
PARISH. "That circuit of ground which is committed to the charge of one parson or vicar, or other minister." Some think England was divided into parishes by Archbishop Honorius, about the year 630. There are instances of Parish Churches in England as early as the year 700. The cause of the great difference in the extent of different parishes is explained by the fact that churches were most of them built by lords of the manor for their tenants, and so the parish was the size of the lord's manor. In 1520 the number of Parish Churches was between 9,500 and 10,000. There are now about 13,500 Benefices; and many more District and Mission Churches, and Chapels of Ease.
PARSON. The Rector or Incumbent of a Parish, when the income of the living is derived from land. It represents two Latin words, 'Persona Ecclesiae,' the ecclesiastical person of a place.
PASSING BELL. A bell tolled now after the death of a person. The 67th canon orders "When any one is passing out of this life, a bell shall be tolled, and their minister shall not then be slack to do his last duty." Thus the beautiful idea of calling for the prayers of the Church, by the tolling of a bell, for the dying person is altogether lost sight of by our modern custom.
PASSION WEEK, see Holy Week.
PASTOR. Literally, a shepherd: hence one who shepherds souls.
PASTORAL STAFF. A Staff shaped like a crook, which a Bishop shall either bear "in his hand" or else have "borne or holden by his chaplain." This is the direction of a rubric in the Prayer Book of 1549, and which is still the law of the Church according to the present Ornaments Rubric.