Gates of Hades

What does Jesus mean that “the gates of Hades will not prevail against my church?” Firstly, what is a gate, and what is hades? A gate is an entry/exit point. Hades is a place, specifically the place souls go to after death. What Jesus means is, the souls of all the Christians (who make up His church) will not be abandoned in Hades. Christ promises that His church will overcome the Gates of Hades by escaping from it at the time of the resurrection. Christ Himself served as a model for this triumph over death by descending to Hades when He died and then resurrecting. Christ says in Revelation that He now possesses the “Keys of Death and Hades.” The imagery of “gates” and “keys” is meaningless to modern interpretations, but the ancient and plain meaning is simple: Jesus has the “keys” because he possesses the authority to grant the resurrection to whomever He pleases.

Scriptures:

3 Maccabees 5:51 – …(they) sent up an exceedingly great cry asking the Lord of all power to reveal himself, and to have mercy upon those who now lay at the Gates of Hades.

Job 17:16 – Shall it go down with me to the Gates of Hades, or descend together into the dust?

Job 38:17 – (God asks Job) Do the Gates of Death open to you out of fear? Did the gatekeepers of Hades cower when they saw you?

Wisdom of Solomon 16:13 – For you have authority over life and death, and you lead down to the Gates of Hades, and lead up again.

Isaiah 38:10 – I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the Gates of Hades. I am deprived of the residue of my years.”

Matthew 16:18 – And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it.

Psalm 116:9-21 – 9 For he satisfies the empty soul, and fills the hungry soul with good things, 10 even them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, fettered in poverty and iron; 11 because they rebelled against the words of God, and provoked the counsel of the Most High. 12 So their heart was brought low with troubles; they were weak, and there was no helper. 13 Then they cried to the Lord in their affliction, and he saved them out of their distresses. 14 And he brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their bonds asunder. 15 Let them acknowledge to the Lord his mercies, and his wonders to the children of men. 16 For he broke to pieces the brazen gates, and crushed the iron bars. 17 He helped them out of the way of their iniquity; for they were brought low because of their iniquities. 18 Their soul abhorred all meat; and they drew near to the gates of death. 19 Then they cried to the Lord in their affliction, and he saved them out of their distresses. 20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them out of their destructions. 21 Let them acknowledge to the Lord his mercies, and his wonderful works to the children of men.

Revelation 1:18 – “(Christ speaking to John) Do not be afraid: I am the first and the last, And the one who lives and who became dead and—see!—I am alive unto the ages of the ages, and I have the keys of Death and of Hades.”

Church Fathers:

Melito of Sardis:

55) All flesh fell under sin,
and every body under death,
and every soul was plucked from its dwelling of flesh,
and that which was taken from the dust was reduced to dust,
and the gift of God was locked away in Hades.
What was marvelously knit together was unraveled,
and the beautiful body divided.
56) Humanity was doled out by death,
for a strange disaster and captivity surrounded him;
he was dragged off a captive under the shadow of death,
and the father’s image was left desolate.
For this reason in the body of the Lord
is the paschal mystery completed. – Paschal Homily, chapter 55-56

100) The Lord clothed himself with humanity,
and with suffering on behalf of the suffering one,
and bound on behalf of the one constrained,
and judged on behalf of the one convicted,
and buried on behalf of the one entombed,
rose from the dead and cried out aloud:
101) “Who takes issue with me? Let him stand before me.
I set free the condemned.
I gave life to the dead.
I raise up the entombed.
Who will contradict me?”
102) “It is I”, says the Christ,
“I am he who destroys death,
and triumphs over the enemy,
and crushes Hades,
and binds the strong man,
and bears humanity off to the heavenly heights.” – Paschal Homily, chapter 100-102

Origen:

“We saw him, and he had no form nor beauty.” Yet to those who, by following him, have received power to follow and ascend with him “up the high mountain,” he possesses a more divine form. This form is seen by one who is a “Peter,” having admitted into himself the building of the Church from the Logos, and having attained such a condition that no gate of Hades shall prevail against him, having been lifted up by the Logos “from the gates of death,” so that he may “declare all the praises” of God “in the gates of the daughter of Zion.”And also if there are any who, through words, have received the origin of mighty voices, who in no way fall short of intelligible “thunder.” But how could Celsus and the enemies of the divine Logos—those who have not sincerely examined Christianity—know the meaning of the different forms of Jesus? And I say also, of his different ages, and of certain things done by him before the Passion and after his resurrection from the dead.” – Origen Against Celsus, Book 6, Ch.77

And in like manner each one of those who are the authors of any evil opinion has become the architect of a certain gate of Hades; but those who co-operate with the teaching of the architect of such things are servants and stewards, who are the bond-servants of the evil doctrine which goes to build up impiety. And though the gates of Hades are many and almost innumerable, no gate of Hades will prevail against the rock or against the church which Christ builds upon it. Notwithstanding, these gates have a certain power by which they gain the mastery over some who do not resist and strive against them; but they are overcome by others who, because they do not turn aside from Him who said, I am the door (John 10:9), have razed from their soul all the gates of Hades. And this also we must know that as the gates of cities have each their own names, in the same way the gates of Hades might be named after the species of sins; so that one gate of Hades is called fornication, through which fornicators go, and another denial, through which the deniers of God go down into Hades. And likewise already each of the heterodox and of those who have begotten any knowledge which is falsely so called (1 Timothy 6:20), has built a gate of Hades — Marcion one gate, and Basilides another, and Valentinus another. – Commentary on Matthew, book 12, chapter 12

NOTE: Origen wrote multiple commentaries on Matthew, the one which is extant today was written for a mature Christian audience who wanted to hear the deeper, more spiritual interpretation of this book. Origen’s aim isn’t to deliver the most common or straightforward conclusion from the text, but to offer the more abstract and spiritual one. Origen’s explanation of “the Gates of Hades” doesn’t at all support or match the modern Catholic/Orthodox interpretation, because in this same passage he actively rebukes any claim that mere office guarantees right judgment or divine approval. Origen explains the “Gates of Hades” symbolize sins which lead people to death, and only the true Christian will overcome these sins with virtue. Origen says that the Gates of Hades will prevail over men, even Bishops, who judge unjustly and not according to God’s Word.

And after this let us see in what sense it is said to Peter, and to every Peter, “I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 16:19) And, in the first place, I think that the saying, “I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” is spoken in consistency with the words, “The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) For he is worthy to receive from the same Word the keys of the kingdom of heaven, who is fortified against the gates of Hades so that they do not prevail against him, receiving, as it were, for a prize, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, because the gates of Hades had no power against him, that he might open for himself the gates that were closed to those who had been conquered by the gates of Hades. And he enters in, as a temperate man, through an opened gate — the gate of temperance — by the key which opens temperance; and, as a righteous man, by another gate — the gate of righteousness — which is opened by the key of righteousness; and so with the rest of the virtues. For I think that for every virtue of knowledge certain mysteries of wisdom corresponding to the species of the virtue are opened up to him who has lived according to virtue; the Saviour giving to those who are not mastered by the gates of Hades as many keys as there are virtues, which open gates equal in number, which correspond to each virtue according to the revelation of the mysteries. And perhaps, also, each virtue is a kingdom of heaven, and all together are a kingdom of the heavens; so that according to this he is already in the kingdom of the heavens who lives according to the virtues, so that according to this the saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” is to be referred, not to the time, but to deeds and dispositions; for Christ, who is all virtue, has come, and speaks, and on account of this the kingdom of God is within His disciples, and not here or there. (Luke 17:21) But consider how great power the rock has upon which the church is built by Christ, and how great power every one has who says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” so that the judgments of this man abide sure, as if God were judging in him, that in the very act of judging the gates of Hades shall not prevail against him. But when one judges unrighteously, and does not bind upon earth according to the Word of God, nor loose upon earth according to His will, the gates of Hades prevail against him; but, in the case of any one against whom the gates of Hades do not prevail, this man judges righteously. Wherefore he has the keys of the kingdom of heaven, opening to those who have been loosed on earth that they may be also loosed in heaven, and free; and shutting to those who by his just judgment have been bound on earth that they also may be bound in heaven, and condemned. But when those who maintain the function of the episcopate make use of this word as Peter, and, having received the keys of the kingdom of heaven from the Saviour, teach that things bound by them, that is to say, condemned, are also bound in heaven, and that those which have obtained remission by them are also loosed in heaven, we must say that they speak wholesomely if they have the way of life on account of which it was said to that Peter, “You are Peter;” (Matthew 16:18) and if they are such that upon them the church is built by Christ, and to them with good reason this could be referred; and the gates of Hades ought not to prevail against him when he wishes to bind and loose. But if he is tightly bound with the cords of his sins, (Proverbs 5:22) to no purpose does he bind and loose. And perhaps you can say that in the heavens which are in the wise man — that is, the virtues — the bad man is bound; and again in these the virtuous man is loosed, and has received an indemnity for the sins which he committed before his virtue. But, as the man, who has not the cords of sins nor iniquities compared to a “long rope or to the strap of the yoke of a heifer,” (Isaiah 5:18) not even God could bind, in like manner, no Peter, whoever he may be; and if any one who is not a Peter, and does not possess the things here spoken of, imagines as a Peter that he will so bind on earth that the things bound are bound in heaven, and will so loose on earth that the things loosed are loosed in heaven, he is puffed up, not understanding the meaning of the Scriptures, and, being puffed up, has fallen into the ruin of the devil. (1 Timothy 3:10) – Commentary on Matthew 12.14

And it is not incredible that the gates which are said to open spontaneously are referred obscurely by some to the words, Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may go into them, and praise the Lord; this gate of the Lord, into it the righteous shall enter; and again, to what is said in the ninth psalm, You that lifts me up from the gates of death, that I may show forth all Your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. The Scripture further gives the name of gates of death to those sins which lead to destruction, as it terms, on the contrary, good actions the gates of Zion. So also the gates of righteousness, which is an equivalent expression to the gates of virtue, and these are ready to be opened to him who follows after virtuous pursuits. – Against Celsus, book 6, chapter 36

Hippolytus:

The jailers of Hades trembled when they saw Him. And the gates of brass and the bolts of iron were broken. For, look! The Only-Begotten, God the Word, had entered Hades with a soul—a soul among souls. – Hippolytus (c. 205, W), 5.194.

Gregory Thaumaturgus:

In this wise have the martyrs shown their power, leaping with joy in the presence of death, laughing at the sword, making sport of the wrath of princes, grasping at death as the producer of deathlessness, making victory their own by their fall, through the body taking their leap to heaven, suffering their members to be scattered abroad in order that they might hold their souls, and, bursting the bars of life, that they might open the. gates of heaven. And if any one believes not that death is abolished, that Hades is trodden under foot, that the chains thereof are broken, that the tyrant is bound, let him look on the martyrs disporting themselves in the presence of death, and taking up the jubilant strain of the victory of Christ. O the marvel! Since the hour when Christ despoiled Hades, men have danced in triumph over death. O death, where is your sting! O grave, where is your victory? 1 Corinthians 15:55 Hades and the devil have been despoiled, and stripped of their ancient armour, and cast out of their peculiar power. And even as Goliath had his head cut off with his own sword, so also is the devil, who has been the father of death, put to rout through death; and he finds that the selfsame thing which he was wont to use as the ready weapon of his deceit, has become the mighty instrument of his own destruction. Yea, if we may so speak, casting his hook at the Godhead, and seizing the wonted enjoyment of the baited pleasure, he is himself manifestly caught while he deems himself the captor, and discovers that in place of the man he has touched the God. By reason thereof do the martyrs leap upon the head of the dragon, and despise every species of torment. For since the second Adam has brought up the first Adam out of the deeps of Hades, as Jonah was delivered out of the whale, and has set forth him who was deceived as a citizen of heaven to the shame of the deceiver, the gates of Hades have been shut, and the gates of heaven have been opened, so as to offer an unimpeded entrance to those who rise there in faith. – On All The Saints

Arnobius:

Hananiah also and his brethren were persecuted as Jesus was persecuted. Hananiah and his brethren were persecuted by Nebuchadnezzar; and Jesus, the people of the Jews persecuted. Hananiah and his brethren were cast into the furnace of fire, and it was cold as dew upon the righteous. Jesus also descended to the place of darkness, and burst its gates and brought forth its prisoners. Hananiah and his brethren came up from the furnace of fire, and the flame burned their accusers; and Jesus revived and came up from the midst of darkness, and His accusers and they that crucified Him shall be burned in flames at the end.** When Hananiah and his brethren came up from the furnace, Nebuchadnezzar the King trembled and was amazed; and when Jesus arose from the abode of the dead, the people that crucified Him were terrified and trembled. Hananiah and his brethren worshipped not the image of the King of Babylon [Nebuchadnezzar]; and Jesus restrained the nations from the worship of dead images. Because of Hananiah and his brethren, the nations and languages glorified God Who had delivered them from the fire: Daniel 3:28-29 and because of Jesus, the nations and oil languages shall glorify (God) Who delivered His Son, so that He saw no corruption. On the garments of Hananiah and his brethren the fire had no power; and on the bodies of the righteous, who have believed in Jesus, the fire shall have no power at the end. – Aphrahat, Demonstration 21.19

Eusebius:

“For Christ went thither for the salvation of the souls in Hades that had so long awaited His arrival, He went down to shatter the gates of brass, and to break the iron bonds, and to let them go free that before were prisoners in Hades. Which was indeed done, when many bodies of the saints that slept arose and entered with Him into the true Holy City of God. But the opposing powers, added to mere human evil, attacked Him, grieving and afflicting Him sorely, though in His excess of goodness He lamented even over them.” – Eusebius, Demonstratio Evangelica, Book 10, chapter 8

“And these by His deeds and words He mightily plagued, while He healed and cured the whole human race with the gentle and kind medicines of His words, and with the tonic of His teaching. He freed them from all sorts of sicknesses and suffering of body as well as soul, He set all that came to Him free from age-long superstition, and the fears of polytheistic error, and from a low and dissolute life. He converted and changed those who listened to Him from lust to purity, from impiety to piety, from injustice to justice, yea, verily from the power of the malicious daemons to the divine acceptance of true holiness. In addition to all this He threw open the gates of |184 heavenly life and of His holy teaching to all the nations of the world, and so greatly condescended, as not only to extend His saving hand to the sick and grievously afflicted, but also to save the half-dead from the very gates of death, and to loose from the bonds of death those who had been a long time dead and buried. And for this reason especially there was need for Him to be active, even as far as the resting-places of the dead, that He might be Lord not only of the living but of the dead as well.” – Eusebius, Demonstratio Evangelica, Book 4, chapter 10

Ephrem the Syrian:

If He was not a man, whose side was opened by a lance, and there came out blood and water? And if He were not God, who hath broken the gates of hell, and burst the iron bars? And by whose command did the dead that slept in their graves come forth? – Sermon on the Transfiguration

Satan came with his servants, that he might see our Lord cast into Sheol, and might rejoice with Death his Counsellor; and he saw him sorrowful and mourning, because of the dead who at the voice of the Firstborn, lived and came forth thence even from Sheol. The Evil One arose to console Death his kinsman. You have not destroyed as much as you were able. Even as Jesus is in your midst, to your hand shall come they that have lived and that live. Open for us see Him, yea and mock Him: let us answer and say, ‘Where is Your power? For lo! Three days have passed for Him, and let us say to Him, O You of three days, Who raised Lazarus, when he had lain four days, raise Your own self.’ Death opened the gates of Sheol, and there shone from it the splendour of the face of our Lord; and like the men of Sodom they were smitten; they groped and sought the gate of Sheol, which they had lost. – Nisbene Hymns, Hymn 41, chapter 15-16

The death of Jesus to me is a torment; I prefer for myself His life rather than His death. This is the Dead whose death (lo!) is hateful to me; in the death of all men else I rejoice, but His Death, even His, I detest; that He may come back to life I hope. While He was living He brought to life and restored three that were dead; but now by His death, at the gate of Hell they have trampled on me, the dead who have come to life, whom I was going to shut in.

I will haste and will close the gates of Hell, before this Dead, Whose death has spoiled me. Whoever hears will wonder at my humiliation, that by a dead man who is without I am overcome. All the dead seek to go forth, but this one presses to enter in. A medicine of life has entered into Hell, and has restored life to its dead. Who then has brought in and hidden from me, that living fire wherein have reposed, the cold and dark recesses of Hell?

Death has seen the Watchers in Hell; the immortal instead of the mortal; and he said Confusion has entered our abode, for in these two things is torment to me: That the dead have come forth out of Hell, and the Watchers that die not have entered therein. Lo! One at the pillow in this tomb, has entered and sat down by it, and a second his companion at His feet. I will entreat of Him and will persuade Him, with His pledge to ascend and go to His Kingdom. – Nisbene Hymns, Hymn 36, chapter 13-15

Gregory of Nyssa:

“This is the day that the Lord has made, another besides the days that came to be at the beginning of creation, by which time is measured, this is the beginning of another creation; for on this day God makes a new heaven and a new earth, as the prophet says. What heaven? The firmament of faith in Christ. What earth? I mean the good heart, as the Lord said, the earth that drinks the rain that comes upon it and ripens the abundant ear of corn. In this creation, the sun is the pure life, the stars are the virtues, and the air is the transparent way of life, and the sea is the depth of the wealth of both wisdom and knowledge, and grass and sprouts are the good teaching and the divine doctrines, which the people of the pasture, that is, the flock of God, feeds upon, and trees bearing fruit are the working of the commandments. In this is also created the true man who came to be in the image and likeness of God. You see of what kind of world This day becomes the beginning, which the Lord made, concerning which the prophet says that it is neither a day like the other days nor a night like the other nights. And the word has not yet proclaimed the excellence of the present grace. This day has loosed the pangs of death, this day has delivered the firstborn of the dead, in this day the iron gates of death were shattered, in this day the bronze bars of Hades were broken in pieces. Now the prison of death is opened, now release is proclaimed to the captives, now sight comes to the blind, now for those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death the dayspring from on high visits. Do you wish to learn something also about the three-day period? It is sufficient to say this much, that in so short a space of time the all-powerful wisdom, having come to be in the heart of the earth, was sufficient to make foolish that great mind dwelling in it; for thus the prophet names him, calling him a great mind and Assyrian.” – Gregory of Nyssa, On the Three Days Between the Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus

“And now most of the day had already passed, and the sun was inclining toward its setting. But her [Macrina] eagerness did not slacken; rather, the nearer she came to her departure, as though beholding more clearly the beauty of the Bridegroom, she pressed on with still greater intensity toward the One she longed for, uttering such words no longer to us who were present, but to Him Himself upon whom her eyes were fixed without ceasing. For her couch had been turned toward the east, and, having ceased speaking with us, she thereafter held converse with God by prayer, making supplication with her hands and uttering the words softly in a faint voice, so that we could hear the things said only dimly. And her prayer was such that there was no room to doubt that it was addressed to God and was heard by Him. You, she said, have loosed for us “the fear of death” (Hebrews 2:15). You have made the end of this life here to be for us the beginning of true life. For a time You give our bodies rest in sleep, and again You awaken them “at the last trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15:52). You give over to the earth as a deposit this earth of ours, which You formed with Your hands, and again You recover what You gave, transforming our mortal and misshapen condition into incorruption and grace. You delivered us from the curse and from sin, having become both for our sake (Galatians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21). You “broke the heads of the dragon” (Psalm 74:13), who had seized man by the throat through the gulf opened by disobedience. You opened for us the way of the resurrection, shattering the gates of Hades and “bringing to nothing him who had the power of death” (Hebrews 2:14). You “gave to those who fear You a sign” (Psalm 60:4 LXX), the figure of the holy Cross, for the overthrow of the adversary and for the safeguarding of our life. …” – Macrina, (Greogry of Nyssa, The Life of Macrina, [Translated from Greek])

John Chrysostom:

But that my meaning may be yet plainer, let me illustrate it from the actual case. He raised up Lazarus by a single word merely, and shewed him alive. Again, He said, “The gates of Hades shall not prevail against the Church (St. Matt. xvi. 18.) and, “He that forsaketh father or mother, shall receive an hundred-fold in this life, and shall inherit everlasting life.” (ib. 19. 29.) The miracle then is one, the raising of Lazarus; but the predictions are two; made evident, the one here, the other in the world to come. Consider now, how they are all proved by one another. For if a man disbelieve the resurrection of Lazarus, from the prophecy uttered about the Church let him learn to believe the miracle. For the word spoken so many years before, came to pass then, and received accomplishment: for “the gates of Hades prevailed not against the Church.” You see that He who spake truth in the prophecy, it is clear that he also wrought the miracle: and He who both wrought the miracle and brings to accomplishment the words which He spake, it is clear that He speaks the truth also in the predictions of things yet to come, when He saith, “He who despiseth things present shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” For the things which have been already done and spoken, He hath given as the surest pledges of those which shall hereafter come to pass. – Commentary on 1 Corinthians, homily 7

Ask also Death, and say, whence is it that your sting has been taken away? Your victory abolished? Your sinews cut out? And thou become the laughing-stock of girls and children, who wast before a terror even to kings and to all righteous men? And he will ascribe it to this Body. For when this was crucified, then were the dead raised up, then was that prison burst, and the gates of brass were broken, and the dead were loosed, and the keepers of hell-gate all cowered in fear. And yet, had He been one of the many, death on the contrary should have become more mighty; but it was not so. For He was not one of the many. Therefore was death dissolved. And as they who take food which they are unable to retain, on account of that vomit up also what was before lodged in them; so also it happened unto death. That Body, which he could not digest, he received: and therefore had to cast forth that which he had within him. Yea, he travailed in pain, while he held Him, and was straitened until He vomited Him up. Wherefore says the Apostle, Having loosed the pains of death. Acts 11:24 – John Chrysostom, Homily 24 on 1 Corinthians

After he descended into hell, he threw all things into an upheaval. He filled everything with tumult and confusion. He destroyed the citadel. The prophets did not remain silent on this, but David exclaimed and said: “Lift up your gates, you who are rulers, reach up, you ancient portals, and the king of glory will come in. The Lord of hosts, he is this king of glory.” Isaiah put it another way. “Bronze doors I will shatter, and iron bars I will snap. I shall open up to you and show you treasures out of the darkness, hidden away, unseen.” This is the way he referred to hell. Even if it was hell, it still preserved the sacred souls and precious vessels, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is why Isaiah called it a place of treasures, even if in darkness, because the Sun of Justice had not yet penetrated there with its rays nor with any message on the resurrection. But hear how David made it clear that, after Christ’s resurrection, he would not remain on earth but would ascend into heaven: “God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.” By speaking of the shout and the trumpet, David showed how manifest Christ’s ascension would be. – Demonstration Against the Pagans, chapter 4, paragraphs 14-15

For this symbol of death – and I shall not stop repeating this over and over again – became the foundation of many blessings, a wall to make us secure on every side, a timely trap to catch the devil, a rein to hold in check the demons, a muzzle against the power of our adversaries. This sign has destroyed death, this sign has shattered hell’s gates of brass and crushed iron bars. It has destroyed the stronghold of the devil, it has cut the sinews of sin. The cross has rescued the whole world, which was lying under condemnation, and has rid us of the calamity which God was sending down upon our human nature. – Demonstration Against the Pagans, chapter 10, paragraph 5

“‘Consequently say,”’ Abram said, “‘I am his sister, that things may go well for me on your account, and my life will be spared thanks to you.”’ This is what the good man had said – not the mark of a person about to breathe his last (Scripture says, after all, “Don’t fear those who destroy the body but are unable to destroy the soul”19); rather, his remarks on this occasion to his wife were according to habit. “‘So that things may go well for me on your’ account,”’ he said, ”’and my life will be spared thanks to you”‘ – as if to say to her, Say, I am his sister, in case you cause my flight from famine in Canaan to lead me into the clutches of the Egyptians. So prove to be the cause of my salvation, “‘so that things may go well for me on your account.”’ Piteous words: great was his fear on account of Egyptian passion and also because of the fact that the tyranny of death had been let loose. Hence the good man chose even to be an accomplice in his wife’s adultery, as if playing the role of adulterer in his wife’s shame, so as to avoid death. Its face, you see, was fearsome: its brazen gates had not yet been broken, its edge had not yet been blunted. – Homily 32 on Genesis

The words: “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” mean the dangers which beget death, the dangers which lead us down to hell. – Demonstration Against the Pagans, chapter 12, paragraph 2

For whereas the Resurrection was a thing future, he shows that it happens every day: for when [God] lifts up again a man who is despaired of and has been brought to the very gates of Hades, He shows none other thing than a resurrection, snatching out of the very jaws of death him that had fallen into them: whence in the case of those despaired of and then restored either out of grievous sickness or insupportable trials, it is an ordinary way of speaking to say, We have seen a resurrection of the dead in his case. – Homily 2 on Second Corinthians

Athanasius:

Whence neither can the Lord be forsaken by the Father, who is ever in the Father, both before He spoke, and when He uttered this cry. Nor is it lawful to say that the Lord was in terror, at whom the keepers of hell’s gates shuddered and set open hell, and the graves did gape, and many bodies of the saints arose and appeared to their own people. – Discourse Three Against the Arians, chapter 29

For when the ruthless men wished to prove the image to be the truth, and to destroy that true habitation which we surely believe His union with us to be, He threatened them not; but knowing that their crime was against themselves, He says to them, ‘Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up,’ He, our Saviour, surely showing thereby that the things about which men busy themselves, carry their dissolution with them. For unless the Lord had built the house, and kept the city, in vain did the builders toil, and the keepers watch. And so the works of the Jews are undone, for they were a shadow; but the Church is firmly established; it is ‘founded on the rock,’ and ‘the gates of hades shall not prevail against it.’ – Discourse Four Against the Arians, chapter 34

Remember the twelfth hour, because in this hour our Lord descended to Hades. And seeing him, [Hades] shuddered and was astonished, saying: “Who is this, who descends in authority and great power? Who is this, who shatters the bronze gates of Hades and crushes the steel bars [Ps. 107:16]? Who is this, who descends from heaven and is crucified and yet is not subject to me, Death? Who is this, who loosens the chains of those under my power? Who is this, who by his own death destroys me, Death?” – Discourse on Salvation to a Virgin, chapter 16

Cyril of Jerusalem:

Would you see yet more surely that some are saved by others’ faith? Lazarus died (John 11:14-44): one day had passed, and a second, and a third: his sinews were decayed, and corruption was preying already upon his body. How could one four days dead believe, and entreat the Redeemer on his own behalf? But what the dead man lacked was supplied by his true sisters. For when the Lord had come, the sister fell down before Him, and when He said, Where have you laid him? and she had made answer, Lord, by this time he stinks; for he has been four days dead, the Lord said, If you believe, you shall see the glory of God; as much as saying, “Supply thou the dead man’s lack of faith:” and the sisters’ faith had so much power, that it recalled the dead from the gates of hell. – Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 5, chapter 9

Hilary of Poitiers:

They praise Him because He, the Image of the Invisible God, created all their host in Himself, made the worlds, established the heavens, appointed the stars, fixed the earth, laid the foundations of the deep; because in after time He was born, He conquered death, broke the gates of hell, won for Himself a people to be His fellow-heirs, lifted flesh from corruption up to the glory of eternity. – On the Trinity, Book 3, chapter 7

The reward of confession. — And truly, the confession of Peter received a worthy reward, because he had seen the Son of God in a man. Blessed is he who was praised for having looked and seen beyond human sight: not beholding what was of flesh and blood, but recognizing the Son of God through the revelation of the heavenly Father; and he was judged worthy to be the first to acknowledge what in Christ was of God. O blessed foundation of the Church, in the naming of a new name! O rock worthy of that building, which would destroy the laws of the underworld, the gates of Tartarus, and all the bonds of death! O blessed keeper of heaven, to whose judgment the keys of eternal entrance are handed over, whose earthly decision holds a preordained authority in heaven: so that what is bound or loosed on earth shall hold the same condition of decree also in heaven. — Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on Matthew, chapter 16, section 7. PL 9.1009C-1010A

Gregory of Nazianzus:

Christ is risen from the dead, rise with Him. Christ is returned again to Himself, return ye. Christ is freed from the tomb, be freed from the bond of sin. The gates of hell are opened, and death is destroyed, and the old Adam is put aside, and the New is fulfilled; if any man be in Christ he is a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17); be renewed. – Oration 45, chapter 1

Epiphanius:

But his body was truly buried and remained lifeless for the three days without breath and motion—wrapped in the shroud, laid in the tomb, shut in by the stone and the seal of those who had imposed it. Yet the Godhead was not shut in, the Godhead was not buried; it descended to the underworld with the holy soul, took the captive souls from there, broke the “sting of death,” “shattered” the bars and the unbreakable “bolts,” and by its own authority “loosed the pains of hades.” – Panarion 17,3

Maximus of Turin:

“All the martyrs, therefore, are to be very devoutly honored, but the ones whose relics we possess are to be especially venerated by us. For they all help us by their prayers, but these help us also by their suffering. Among them there is a certain familiarity with us: they are always with us, they tarry with us. While we are still living in our bodies they protect us lest the horror of hell overcome us. It was provided for by our ancestors that we should join our bodies to the bones of the saints, for inasmuch as the underworld feared them punishment would not touch us, and while Christ shed His light on them shadowy gloom would flee from us. Sleeping with the holy martyrs, we have escaped the shadows of hell—not by our own merits but nonetheless as sharers in holiness. The Lord says to Peter: You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. If the gates of hell shall not prevail against the apostle and martyr Peter, then whoever is joined to a martyr will not be held by the gate of the underworld. For the gate of hell does not hold the martyrs because the kingdom of paradise receives them. And we see that they already reign even here, for we notice that frequently those obsessed by unclean demons are set free, so that by a celestial remedy the captive soul is snatched from the devil’s snares, and the devil himself, bound in fiery chains, is led forth captive in his own captivity, he who shortly before had preyed upon others now falling prey himself.” – Maximus of Turin, Sermon 12: On the Suffering or Anniversary of Saints Octavus, Adventus, and Solutor of Turin

Caesarius of Arles:

When Samson went in to the harlot, he was impure if he did so without reason, but if he did so as a prophet it is a mystery. If he did not enter in order to lie with the woman, perhaps he did so because of a mystery. We do not read that he was intimate with her, but the story continues: ‘His enemies awaited him at the city gate, that they might seize him as he went out from the harlot whom he had visited; but he slept.’ See how it is not recorded in Scripture that he was united to the harlot, but it is written that he slept. ‘When he arose and left at midnight,’ it says, ‘he took the city gates with the bolts, and carried them to the top of a hill,’ and he could not be held by the strangers. He took away the city gates through which he had gone in to the harlot, and carried them to a mountain. What does this mean? Hell and love for a woman Scripture joins together; the house of the harlot was an image of hell. It is rightly considered as hell, for it rejects no one but draws to itself all who enter. At this point we recognize the actions of our Redeemer. After the synagogue to which He had come was separated from Him through the devil, they shaved His head, that is, they crucified Him on the site of Calvary, and He descended into hell. Then, His enemies guarded the place where He slept, that is, the sepulchre, and wanted to seize Him although they could not see Him. ‘But he slept’; this was mentioned here because it was not real death. The words: ‘He arose and left at midnight’ signify that He arose in secret. He had suffered openly, but His Resurrection was revealed only to His disciples and certain other people. Thus, all saw the fact that He went in, but the fact that He arose just a few knew, remembered, and felt. Moreover, he removed the city gates, that is, He took away the gates of hell. What does it mean to remove the gates of hell, except to take away the power of death? He took it away and did not return it. Furthermore, what did our Lord Jesus Christ do after He had taken away the gates of death? He went up to the top of a mountain. Truly, we know that He both arose and ascended into heaven. – Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 118, chapter 5

Severus of Antioch:

Therefore he permitted his body to suffer, while even he himself also was not alien from suffering, for he was united to a suffering body, and, as it is his body, so also it is called his suffering; nevertheless as God he remained without suffering, for God is not touched by suffering. He is said also to have tasted death for us, in that his soul was separated from his body; not that his soul was cut away from his Godhead, or his body left without Godhead; but he showed that he was in both without separation, for neither was his soul left in Sheol, nor did his flesh see corruption, according to the saying of the Psalmist. For he was not separated from his body that was buried, and therefore he annihilated corruption; for, if it had been separated from him who is life and incorruption, perhaps it would have been constantly attacked by corruption also. For he went down into Sheol with his soul also, the whole of him being in it, and the whole of him in his body without separation, as one that is incorporeal and is able to fill everything as one that is infinite. It was necessary for him to give light even to the lower regions also, and to have mercy on the souls there imprisoned, and, according to the saying of the prophet, «to say to those that are in bonds, ‘Come forth’, and to those also that are in darkness, ‘Be revealed’» . This he accomplished in action. The gates of Sheol which saw him trembled, and he broke the bars of iron and gates of bronze, and opened Paradise which was shut, and «many bodies of just men among those who had fallen asleep came out of their graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared to many.» Very properly the evangelist added, ‘after his resurrection’; for it was necessary that he who is life in his nature should himself first begin the resurrection, and that the very one who was able to dissolve the power of death should himself tread the way for the rest who came after him. He did not deal arbitrarily with the devil, the same who led the first man astray, when he was defeated as by God, but, as one who is just and ‘taketh the wise in their craftiness’ , he brought the crafty one into subjection by means of his devices. He who led Adam astray and said to him, «You will be a god, if you transgress the law», fell by the device of craft. He fought with the second Adam who is Christ, and found him to be God and man at the same time; and he won a just victory over him; and henceforth we confidently sing songs of praise for his victory over death and say, «Where is thy victory, death? and where is thy sting, Sheol?» For Paul says that ‘the sting of death is sin’ … – Severus of Antioch, Letters, LXV. —- FROM THE LETTER OF THE SAME HOLY SEVERUS TO EUPRAXIUS THE CHAMBERLAIN, AND ABOUT THE QUESTIONS WHICH HE ADDRESSED TO HIM. 

For this reason, we celebrate the commemoration of the righteous of old after the Resurrection—because death reigned even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam’s transgression (Romans 5:14). And so we give thanks to the Savior of us all, Christ, who descended into the lower parts of the earth. The gates of Hades trembled at His presence, and He shattered the iron bars and bronze doors of death—giving even them a sure and true hope of resurrection, which they had awaited from the beginning, now granting them rest in illuminated regions and the delights of Paradise. This is why our Savior says in the Gospels: Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; he saw it and was glad (John 8:56). What then is required of us for such aid and blessings? Let us learn from the Apostle, who teaches: He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and rose again (2 Corinthians 5:15). – Severus of Antioch, The Cathedral Homilies of St Severus of Antioch, Homily 44

Gregory the Great:

As Samson carried off the gates of Gaza during the night, even so Christ rose in the night, taking away the gates of hell. – Paschal Homily (Homily XXI)