The Gates

Kαὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς. Ἐνταῦθα μὲν οὖν πύλαι ᾅδου εἴρηνται, ἐν δὲ τοῖς Ψαλμοῖς ὁ προφήτης εὐχαριστεῖ λέγων· ὁ ὑψῶν με ἐκ τῶν πυλῶν τοῦ θανάτου, ὅπως ἂν ἐξαγγείλω πάσας τὰς αἰνέσεις σου ἐν ταῖς πύλαις τῆς θυγατρὸς Σιών. Kαὶ ἐκ τούτου δὲ μανθάνομεν ὅτι μήποτε οὐχ οἷόν τέ ἐστιν πάσας δυνηθῆναι ἐξαγγεῖλαι τὰς αἰνέσεις τινὰ τοῦ θεοῦ, μὴ ὑψωθέντα «ἐκ τῶν πυλῶν τοῦ θανάτου καὶ γενόμενον παρὰ ταῖς πύλαις Σιών. Πύλαι δὲ Σιὼν ἐναντίως νοηθεῖεν ταῖς πύλαις τοῦ θανάτου, ὡς εἶναι πύλην μὲν θανάτου τὴν ἀκολασίαν πύλην δὲ Σιὼν τὴν σωφροσύνην, καὶ οὕτω θανάτου μὲν τὴν ἀδικίαν Σιὼν δὲ τὴν δικαιοσύνην, ἥντινα δεικνὺς ὁ προφήτης φησίν· αὕτη ἡ πύλη τοῦ Kυρίου, δίκαιοι εἰσελεύσονται ἐν αὐτῇ. Kαὶ πάλιν τὴν μὲν δειλίαν θανάτου πύλην τὴν δὲ ἀνδρείαν Σιών, καὶ ἀφροσύνην μὲν θανάτου τὴν δὲ ἐναντίαν αὐτῇ φρόνησιν τῆς Σιών. Πάσαις δὲ ταῖς πύλαις τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως μία ἐναντία ἐστὶ πύλη ἡ τῆς ἀψευδοῦς γνώσεως. Ἐπίστησον δὲ εἰ δύνασαι διὰ τὸ οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν ἡ πάλη πρὸς αἷμα καὶ σάρκα, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ λέγειν ἑκάστην ἐξουσίαν καὶ κοσμοκράτορα τοῦ σκότους τούτου καὶ πνευματικὸν τῆς πονηρίας ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις πύλην εἶναι ᾅδου καὶ πύλην θανάτου. Πύλαι οὖν ᾅδου λέγοιντο καὶ αἱ ἀρχαὶ καὶ ἐξουσίαι, πρὸς ἃς ἡμῖν ἡ πάλη πύλαι δὲ δικαιοσύνης τὰ λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα. ὥσπερ δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν κρειττόνων πολλαὶ προλέγονται πύλαι καὶ μετὰ τὰς πολλὰς μία ἐν τῷ ἀνοίξατέ μοι πύλας δικαιοσύνης· εἰσελθὼν ἐν αὐταῖς ἐξομολογήσομαι τῷ Kυρίῳ, καὶ αὕτη ἡ πύλη τοῦ Kυρίου, δίκαιοι εἰσελεύσον ται ἐν αὐτῇ, οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐναντίων πολλαὶ μὲν πύλαι ᾅδου καὶ θανάτου, ἑκάστη ἐξουσία, ὑπὲρ πάσας δὲ ταύτας αὐτὸς ὁ πονηρὸς. Kαὶ προσέχωμέν γε ἐφ' ἑκάστης ἁμαρτίας ὡς εἰς πύλην ᾅδου τινὰ κατα βαίνοντες, εἰ ἁμαρτάνομεν· ἀλλὰ ὑψούμενοι ἐκ τῶν πυλῶν τοῦ θανά του ἐξαγγείλωμεν πάσας τὰς αἰνέσεις τοῦ Kυρίου ἐν ταῖς πύλαις τῆς θυγατρὸς Σιών. Oἷον ἐν μιᾷ πύλῃ τῆς θυγατρὸς Σιών, τῇ καλουμένῃ σωφροσύνῃ, ἐξαγγελοῦμεν ἀπὸ σωφροσύνης τὰς αἰνέσεις τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ ἐν ἄλλῃ, τῇ καλουμένῃ δικαιοσύνῃ, ἀπὸ δι καιοσύνης τὰς αἰνέσεις τοῦ θεοῦ. καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς ἐν πᾶσιν οἷς γινόμεθα ἐπαινετοῖς, ἐν τούτοις γινόμεθα ἔν τινι πύλῃ τῆς θυγατρὸς Σιών, κατ' ἐκείνην ἐξαγγέλλοντες αἴνεσίν τινα τοῦ θεοῦ. Ὠριγένης, Κατὰ Ματθαιον Ἐξηγητικων, Τομος ΙΒ' Source: Migne PG 13.1008b-1012b

On this rock that I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 1 Here, then, the gates of Hell are spoken of, and in the Psalms the prophet gives thanks saying, 'He who lifts me up from the gates of death, so that I may declare all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion.' 2 And from this we learn that it is never possible for anyone to declare the praises of God unless lifted up from the gates of death and brought to the gates of Zion. The gates of Zion may be thought as opposed to the gates of death, so that there is one gate of death, dissoluteness, but a gate of Zion, temperance; and thus a gate of death, unrighteousness, but a gate of Zion, righteousness, which the prophet shows, saying, 'This is the gate of the Lord, the righteous shall enter into it.' 3 And again there is cowardice, a gate of death, but courage, of Zion; and lack of prudence, of death, but its opposite, prudence, of Zion. But to all the gates of the 'knowledge which is falsely so called' 4 one gate is opposed, the gate of faultless knowledge. But consider whether, because of the saying, 'our wrestling is not against flesh and blood,' 5 one might say that each power and world-ruler of this darkness, and the 'spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places' 5 is a gate of Hell and a gate of death. Let, then, the principalities and powers, with which our wrestling is, be called gates of Hell, but the 'ministering spirits' 6 the gates of righteousness. But as in the case of better things, many gates are spoken of first, and then after the many one, in the passage, 'Open to me the gates of righteousness, I will enter into them, and will make confession to the Lord,' 7 and then 'this is the gate of the Lord, by it the righteous shall enter,' 3 so it is with the gates which are opposed, that many are the gates of Hell and death, each one a power, but over all these is the wicked one himself. And let us take care for each sin, as if by sinning we were descending into some gate of death, but when we are lifted up from the gates of death, let us declare all the praises of the Lord in the gates of the daughter of Zion. As, for example, in one gate of the daughter of Zion which is called temperance we will declare by our temperance the praises of God, and in another which is called righteousness, by our righteousness we will declare the praises of God, and generally in all things which are praiseworthy and with which we are occupied we are at some gate of the daughter of Zion declaring at each gate some praise of God. Origen, Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint Matthew, Book 12 1 Mt 16.18 2 Ps 9.15 3Ps 117.20 4 1 Tim 6.20 5 Ephes 6.12 6 Heb 1.14 7 Ps 117.19