Pentecost 567vary in severity and length by a set number of days,
weeks, months, or years, depending on the sin and the
social and religious status of the penitent. These periods
of fasting could usually be replaced by other kinds of
penitential activities, including huge quantities of genu-
flections, numerous recitations of psalms, difficult and
dangerous pilgrimages, long vigils, hefty payments for
masses, charitable gifts to ecclesiastical institutions, and
straightforward monetary payments. Soon even third par-
ties could be employed to carry out penances for wealthy
penitents. However, at the councils of Châlon in 813 and
Paris in 829, it was decided that bishops were to find any
Penitentials in their dioceses and destroy them. They
were not canonically or officially approved.
ORTHODOX CHURCHIn the Orthodox Church, Penitentials were collected into
manuals for categories of sins and were intended to pro-
vide confessors with a list of penances specified by the
decisions of church councils, or as prescribed by the early
fathers, or as explicitly stated in rituals for administering
the sacrament of penance. They were usually attributed
in manuscripts to the patriarch John the Faster (582–595).
In the application of this pastoral system, the confessor
was to help the penitent improve his or her life by taking
account of the age, the social rank, the state of life, and
the circumstances of the sin, all done benevolently to
inspire a more confident attitude in the penitent that he
or she might be able to reform and avoid further sin.
These kinds of Penitentials had a wider and longer
deployment in the Eastern Church.
Further reading:Ludwig Bieler, The Irish Penitentials
(Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1963);
John T. McNeil and Helena M. Gamer, trans., Medieval
Handbooks of Penance: A Translation of the Principal “Libri
poenitentiales” and Selections from Related Documents
(1938; reprint, New York: Columbia University Press,
1990); Pierre J. Payer, Sex and the Penitentials: The Devel-
opment of a Sexual Code, 550–1150(Toronto: University
of Toronto Press, 1984); Julie Ann Smith, Ordering
Women’s Lives: Penitentials and Nunnery Rules in the Early
Medieval West(Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001).
Pentateuch The five books of Moses or Genesis, Exo-
dus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, were consid-
ered by Jewish and Christian exegetes to constitute a
coherent unit. Called Torah by the Jews, they were sup-
posed to have been written by Moses to represent the
essence of the “old law” and were sometimes contrasted
with the four GOSPELS. Both had normative elements sup-
plemented by doctrinal considerations; both contained
many narrative elements, and the Pentateuch had tradi-
tionally been included among the historical books of the
BIBLE. The Pentateuch provided the stories of creation,
Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the patriarchs, Joseph,
Moses, and much more. These characters became the
basis of allegorical and typological interpretations. Histor-
ical aspects of the narratives such as chronological, geo-
graphical, and archaeological details were studied from
the 12th century onward by both Christians and Jews.
For the JEWS, the Torah was the basis of the social
and religious legislation known as the HALAKAH.It was
believed to be decreed by GOD. Its rules and command-
ments had a permanent value and were the basis of the
organization of Jewish religious and community life. The
main groups concerned alimentary laws; observance of
the sabbath and other festivals, some nostagically relating
to Israel; sacrifices; and numerous social laws that
applied to the family, hospitality to strangers, assistance
to the needy, and even slavery. Christianity inherited this
system, but after Christ, the Old Testament practices and
social laws were deemed obsolete. Canon law, however,
was inspired by ideas and rules from the Pentateuch.
In the doctrinal sphere, the Pentateuch did not have
the importance for Christian thought of John’s gospel and
the Pauline epistles. However, some fundamental aspects
of Christian doctrine were set out in Genesis and
Deuteronomy. Christian thought followed the idea, the
absolute oneness of God, while understanding other pas-
sages as clear indications of the Trinity and the creation
of the universe by God from nothing.
See also GLOSSA ORDINARIA; HRABANUS MAURUS;
JEROME,SAINT;RUPERT OFDEUTZ;STEPHENLANGTON.
Further reading: Joseph Blenkinsopp, The Penta-
teuch: An Introduction to the First Five Books of the Bible
(New York: Doubleday, 1992); Suzanne Boorer, The
Promise of the Land as Oath: A Key to the Formation of the
Pentateuch(Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 1992); Martin Noth, A
History of Pentateuchal Traditions, trans. Bernhard W.
Anderson (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972);
M. H. Segal, The Pentateuch: Its Composition and Its
Authorship and Other Biblical Studies(Jerusalem: Magnes
Press, Hebrew University, 1967).Pentecost(Whitsunday) Pentecost was the Greek
name for the feast of weeks on the 50th day after Passover
or EASTER. The HOLYSPIRIT, the third person of the Trinity,
descended on the apostles on this feast to enable them to
speak all the languages necessary for their preaching
among the Gentiles. As an artistic presentation, it took its
source from the description in the Acts of the Apostles.
Pentecost was considered the collective feast of the apos-
tles and was celebrated as an institution of the church.
Further reading:A. A. McArthur, The Evolution of
the Christian Year (London: SCM Press, 1955); John
Gunstone, The Feast of Pentecost: The Great Fifty Days in
the Liturgy(London: Faith Press, 1967); Valentine Zan-
der, Pentecost in the Orthodox Church(Wirral, England:
Anargyroi Press for the Monastery of Saint Seraphim of
Sarov, 1994).