What is the meaning of the brazen gates and the iron bars?
He called them brazen gates, not because they were made of brass, but in order to show the rigidity and necessity of death. And that you may learn that brass and iron denote something which is unbending and unyielding, listen to what he says to a mindless person: your nerve is like iron and your neck and face like brass (Is. 48:4). He did not say this because the nerve was truly made of iron, nor because his face was made of brass. He said it because his countenance was implacable, uninhibited, and rigid. Do you wish to learn how it was implacable, uninhibited and uncompromising? For such a very long time no one from those death captured persuaded him to release him, until the Master of the angels forced him, when he descended there. 3) What exactly did Christ do when he descended into Hades? First of all he bound the strong one, and then, he deprived him of the precious vessels. This is why he speaks about dark and invisible treasures (Is. 45:3). Although what is said is one, neverthe
