THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
alterlichen Dichtungen, Vienna, 1892; J. von Schlosser, Quellenbuch zur Kunstgeschichte des abendlandischen Mittelalters, ib. 1896. For the general history of paramenta consult: F. Bock, Geschichte der liturgischen Gewander des Mittelalters, 3 vols., Bonn, 1859-71 (fundamental); idem, Die kirchliche Stickkunst, Vienna, 1865; C. Rohault de Fleury, La Messe, 8 vols., Paris, 1883-89; G. Semper, Der Stil: I. Die textile Kunst, Munich, 1878; F. Fischbach, Geschichte der textile Kunst, Hanau, 1882; B. Bucher, Geschichte der technischen Kilnste, iii. 335 sqq., Stuttgart, 1893; J. Leasing, Wandteppiche und Decken des Mittelalters, Berlin, 1900 sqq. Some materials will be found in H. D. M. Spence, The White Robe of Churches, London, 1900; and concerning the usages much in J. H. Blunt, Annotated Book of Common Prayer, reissue. New York, 1903. For the Roman Catholic Church consult: V. Thalhofer, Handbuch der katholischen Liturgik, vol. i., Freiburg, 1887; K. Atz, Die christliche Kunst in Wort und Bild, Regensburg, 1899; G. Jakob, Die Kunst im Dienste der Kirche, Landshut, 1901. For paramenta in the Evangelical churches consult: M. Meurer, Altarschmuck: ein Beitrag zur Paramentik in der evangelischen Kirche, Leipsic, 1867; idem, Der Kirchenbau vom Standpunkte und nach dem Brauche der lutherischen Kirche, ib. 1877; V. Schultze, Das evangelische Kirchengebdude, ib. 1886; R. Biirkner, Kirchenschmuck und Kirchengerdt, Gotha, 1892; T. Schafer, Ratgeber fur Anschaffung und Erhaltung von Paramenten, Berlin, 1897. For the symbolism of colors, besides the literature under Symbolism, Ecclesiastical, consult the works of Blunt and Thalhofer, ut sup.; J. C. W. Augusti, Beitrdge zur christliche Kunstgeschichte und Liturgik, i. 180 sqq., Leipsic, 1841; W. Wackernagel, Die Farben- und Blumensprache des Mittelalters, in Kleine Schriften, i. 143 sqq., Leipsic, 1874; J. W. Legg, Notes on the History of the Liturgical Colours, London, 1882; J. Sauer, Symbolik des Kirchengebaudes, Freiburg, 1902.
PARAN: The name of a desert, mountain, or mountain range (Deut. xxxiii. 2; Hab. iii. 3), and probably also of a place (Deut. i. 1; I Kings xi. 18) mentioned in the Old Testament. Since the mountain of Paran is mentioned together with Sinai, Seir, and Kadesh, it must have been near the southern boundary of Canaan between Israel and Edom. The place of the same name would seem, from the obscure Deut. i. lb and I Kings xi. 18, to have been situated between Midian (or Edom) and Egypt, possibly in the vicinity of the modern Kal'at al-Nakhl on the road from Suez to Ailah, the Biblical Elath. The desert of Paran was the home of Ishmael (Gen. xxi. 21), and also the place from which Moses sent the spies to Canaan (Num. xiii. 3, 26), so that it adjoined directly on the south. It is to be distinguished from the wilderness of Zin and from Kadesh (Num. xiii. 21, xx. la, 22). The wilderness of Paran must, therefore, be located south of Kadesh, Gerar, and the wilderness of Zin. It accordingly corresponds to the modern Badiyat al-Tih (" desert of the wandering "), which is bounded by the Jabal al-Makrah on the north, the watershed toward the peninsula of Sinai on the south, and the ranges bordering the Wadi al- 'Arabah on the east, and the middle Wadi al-'Arish on the west.
The mountain Paran can not be so satisfactorily determined; whether a single mountain or a range is uncertain. In the former case it might be identified with the Jabal Araif or with the Jabal Ikhrimm in the western part of the wilderness of Paran; while in the latter case it might be identified either with the heights bordering the Wadi al-'Arabah to the east of the wilderness or with the chain to the south which forms the watershed toward the peninsula of Sinai. The latter is the more probable,
especially as this southern range is now called Jabal al-Tih ("Mountain of the Wandering"). Wetzstein, however, like Palmer and Cheyne, identifies Mount Paran with the Jabal Makrah, but the interior of the mountain district is yet too little known to decide the problem. At the same time, it is possible that the southern part of Jabal Makrah, so far as it lay outside the borders of Canaan (Num. xxxiv. 4; Josh. xv. 3), was called Mount Paran. Finally, it should be noted that the Elparan of Gen. xiv. 6 if translated to mean grove is very possibly another and fuller name for Elath (q.v.); and as Genesis locates this place "by the wilderness " so the Arab geographers Ibn Haukal and Iztahri also state that at Ailah (Elath) the desert begins in which the Israelites wandered. Euting has found the name Paran in the Sinaitic inscriptions in the forms Farran and Faran, and the new English map of Africa shows Jabal Faram at the s.e. edge of Jabal Makreh. The Paran of I Sam. xxv. 1 should be read, with the Septuagint, Maon (cf. I Sam. xxv. 2; Josh. xv. 55); for it is a city in the mountains of Judah, the home of the Calebite Nabal, the present Khirbat Ma'in. Nor does the valley of Pharan of Josephus (War, IV., ix. 4) refer to the Biblical Paran. In like manner, the Pharan of Pliny (Historia naturalis, v. 17) and the Phara of the Peutingerian Table (Leipsic, 1824) refer to the oasis of the Sinaitic peninsula now called Fairan.
(H. Guthe.)
Bibliography: A. P. Stanley, Sinai and Palestine in Connection with their History, New York, 1883; H. C. Trumbull, Kadesh-Barnea, New York, 1884; DB, iii. 672-673; EB, iii. 3583-84; and the literature under Negeb.
PARASHAH ("division," pi. parashiyyoth) : The Hebrew name for the reading lesson taken from the Pentateuch and used in the synagogue on the Sabbath (cf. Acts xv. 21). Inasmuch as the intercalary Jewish year, when New Year falls on Thursday, has fifty-four Sabbaths, the entire Pentateuch is divided into fifty-four sections, the object being to provide a section for each Sabbath for the use of those Jews who read the Pentateuch through in a single year. The smaller sections employed by those who read the Pentateuch through in three years are called sedarim or sedaroth. In years when the number of Sabbaths was less than fifty-four, two of the parashiyyoth were read on the same day. Thus on the Sabbath immediately preceding the Feast of Tabernacles the last and the first sections were read, i.e., the reading of the Law was completed and begun again. The reading of the parashah precedes that of the Haphtarah (q.v.). The sections are known by the initial (or occasionally the first and the second) word; thus the name of the first parashah is " Bereshith " (" In the beginning," Gen. i. 1), and the second " Noah " (Gen. vi. 9), omitting the editorial note which begins the verse.
PARET, WILLIAM : Protestant Episcopal bishop of Maryland; b. in New York City Sept. 23, 1S2G. He was educated at Hobart College, Geneva, N. Y. (A.B., 1849), and after studying theology privately, was ordered deacon in 1852 and advanced to the priesthood in the following year. He was curate