Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in!
Who is the King of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in!
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
he is the King of glory. Selah—Psalm 24:7–10
LOOK: Christ’s Descent into Hell from the Stuttgart Psalter [HT]
The above psalm passage is read at several times during the church year, depending on your tradition: during Advent, in relation to Christ’s coming into the world (see, e.g., here); on Palm Sunday, where the gates are those of Jerusalem; and on Ascension Day, when Christ (re)enters heaven. But in some illuminated psalters—such as the Stuttgart Psalter from ninth-century France—it is connected with Jesus’s descent into hell between his death and resurrection.
On the Psalm 24 page of the Stuttgart Psalter, the manuscript’s anonymous artist has depicted Christ storming the gates of hell, which are guarded by two winged, fire-spitting demons. Satan or Hades (Death) cowers in the bottom left corner, licked by flames and fearful of his imminent end. Encompassed in a green mandorla and accompanied by an angel, Christ breaches enemy territory, using a long slender cross to break down the doors behind which Satan has kept souls imprisoned. He is here to strike Death dead and gain back his beloveds in an awesome display of glory, power, and love.
(Related post: “Crucifixion, Harrowing, and Transfiguration”)
LISTEN: “Lift Up Your Heads” | Text: Psalm 24:7–10 | Music by Joseph M. Martin and Jon Paige, 1996 | Performed by CMS College Choir Kottayam, dir. Vimal Kurian, 2015
Lift up your heads, you everlasting doors;
open up and let the King of glory come in.
Let the King of glory come in.
(Repeat)Who is the King of glory?
Who is the King of glory?
The Lord of hosts!
He is the King of glory.
The Lord of hosts!
He is the King of glory.Lift up your heads, you everlasting doors;
open up and let the King of glory come in.
Let the King of glory come in.Alleluia, let us sing
To the one eternal King;
Alleluia evermore
To the King and Lord of lords.Who is the King of glory?
Who is the King of glory?
The Lord of hosts!
He is the King of glory.
The Lord of hosts!
He is the King of glory.Lift up your heads, you everlasting doors;
open up and let the King of glory come in.
Let the King of glory come in.
(Repeat)
You can purchase the sheet music for this choral piece at J.W. Pepper. For an album recording available on Spotify and elsewhere, see Written in Red (2011) by the East Valley Chorale.
Art & Theology 
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates….” is the beginning of the dramatic dialog which takes place during the Orthodox Christian Resurrection Service.
The congregation and clergy have assembled before the closed doors of the church, all bearing lighted candles. The Resurrection Gospel has been read. The Paschal Troparion “Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down Death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing Life” has been sung, sometimes in multiple languages.
At that point the Priest bangs on the closed doors with a hand cross and recites those words from the Psalmist.
From within the pitch-black church a mocking voice (representing the Devil) retorts “Who is this ‘king of glory'”. The dialog is repeated, and after the third reply “The Lord of Hosts-He is the King of Glory” the Devil relents and the people rush into the now brightly illumined Church singing the victory hymn by St. John of Damascus “This is the Day of Resurrection let us brilliantly shine….”
LikeLike
Wow, thanks for sharing! That’s beautiful. I’d love to experience a Paschal Vigil someday.
LikeLike
Since the Western Church and Orthodox Paschal calendars are off by five weeks this year this is an ideal opportunity. Most Orthodox Pascha services will begin around 10 or 11 PM on Saturday May 4.
LikeLike