A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

The name Papa was sometimes given to the inferior clergy, who were called Papæ Pisinni, that is, little fathers; in comparison of whom Balsamon calls presbyters Protopapæ, i.e. chief fathers.

The Greek Christians have continued to give the name Papa to their priests. And there is, in all Oriental cathedrals, and at Messina in Sicily, (where Oriental customs are largely retained,) there was formerly an ecclesiastical dignitary styled Protopapa, who, besides a jurisdiction over several churches, had a particular respect paid him by the cathedral. For, upon Whitsunday, the prebendaries went in procession to the Protopapa’s church, (called the Catholic,) and attended him to the cathedral, where he sang solemn Vespers, according to the Greek rituals, and was afterwards waited upon back to his own church with the same pompous respect. The Vespers, and the Epistle and Gospel, at Pentecost, are still sung by Greek priests.—Pirri-Sicilia Sacra. (See Pops.)

PAPISTS. (See Popery and Roman Catholics. For the form of reconciling Papists to the Church of England, see Abjuration.)

PARABLE. The parabolical, enigmatical, figurative, and sententious way of speaking was the language of the Eastern sages and learned men; and nothing was more insupportable than to hear a fool utter parables: “The legs of the lame are not equal; so is a parable in the mouth of fools.” (Prov. xxvi. 7.)

It is generally applied, as in the New Testament, to a figurative discourse, or a story with a typical meaning; but in the Old Testament, it sometimes signifies a mere discourse: as Job’s parable, which occupies many chapters of the book of Job (xxvi.——xxxi. inclusive). The same title is applied by its inspired composer to the seventy-eighth Psalm, (ver. 2,) which is historical, not deeply mystical, like the forty-ninth.

Our Saviour in the Gospel seldom speaks to the people but in parables: thereby verifying the prophecy of Isaiah, (vi. 9,) that the people should see without knowing, and hear without understanding, in the midst of instruction. Some parables in the New Testament are supposed to be true histories. In others our Saviour seems to allude to some points of history in those times; as that describing a king who went into a far country to receive a kingdom. This may hint at the history of Archelaus, who, after the death of his father, Herod the Great, went to Rome, to receive from Augustus the confirmation of his father’s will, by which he had the kingdom of Judea left to him.

PARABOLANI. (Lat.) In the ancient Christian Church were certain officers, deputed to attend upon the sick, and to take care of them all the time of their weakness.

At Alexandria, the Parabolani were incorporated into a society, to the number of 500 or 600, elected by the bishop of the place, and under his direction. But that this was not an order peculiar to the Church of Alexandria is very evident, because there is mention made of Parabolani at Ephesus at the time of the second council held there. (A. D. 449.)

They were called Parabolani from their undertaking a most dangerous and hazardous office, (παραβολον εργον,) in attending the sick, especially in infectious and pestilential diseases. The Greeks used to call those παραβολοι, who hired themselves out to fight with wild beasts in the amphitheatre; for the word παραβαλλειν signifies exposing a man’s life to danger. In this sense, the Christians were often called Parabolani by the heathens, because they were so ready to expose their lives to martyrdom. And, upon the like account, the name Parabolani was given to the officers we are speaking of.

These Parabolani, being men of a bold and daring spirit, were ready upon all occasions to engage in any quarrel that should happen in Church or State, as they seem to have done in the dispute between Cyril the bishop and Orestes the governor of Alexandria. Wherefore the emperor Theodosius put them under the inspection of the Præfectus Augustalis, and strictly prohibited them to appear at any public shows, or in the common council of the city, or in the courts of judicature, unless any of them had a cause of his own, or appeared as syndic for the whole body. Which shows that the civil government always looked upon the Parabolani as a formidable body of men, and kept a watchful eye over them, that, while they were serving the Church, they might not do any disservice to the State.—Bingham.