Gregory the Great, on Ezek 40:32

“"And he brought me into the inner court by the East gate, and he measured the gate according to the former measures, its chamber, and its front, and its vestibule as above." This also which is written concerning the South gate is narrated in the same order concerning the East gate as well. However, the Lord can also be designated by the gate of the East, Judea by the South, and the converted Gentile world by the North. We call the gate the Lord because through Him we enter to Him. We not inappropriately call the gates Judea and the Gentile world, because we have recognized that first to the Hebrews, and afterward to the fathers coming from the Gentile world, the entrance to the heavenly building was given. But in this matter a question strikes the mind: why in the earlier narration of the prophet was the Eastern gate described first, then that of the North, and afterward that of the South? And when he was narrating about the same gates in the inner court, he described first the gate of the South, then of the East, and in the third place that of the North. Why did he not maintain the same order he had begun, but changed it in the description of the gates, so that first he spoke of the gate of the East, of the North and of the South, and afterward of the South, of the East and of the North?”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.

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