On parallel submanifolds of symmetric spaces

Due to its length and several inaccuracies, this article is no longer suggested for reading. Moreover, in the meantime certain results presented herein could be improved by the author in a non-trivial fashion. Instead, the reader is referred to the following two articles: The extrinsic holonomy Lie algebra of a parallel submanifold (arXiv:0904.2611), Extrinsic homogeneity of parallel submanifolds (arXiv:0904.2636).