The answer
Calling the Lord Christ a 'gate' has one meaning, and calling St. Mary a 'gate' or 'gateway', has a different one.
The Lord Christ gave us many of His own titles which have various meanings. For example He said: "you are the light of the world " yet He also said of Himself: "I am the light of the world " But He, of course, is the truest light of all, whilst the light that we have, is derived from His. In the same way, the
Virgin being a 'gate' or 'gateway' does not prevent Christ's being the 'gate' for the sheep.
The name 'gate' or 'gateway' has also been applied to the Church, to prayer, to faith, to preaching the gospel and to all spiritual means of reaching God.
None of this, however, has detracted anything from Christ or His saving work. These titles, as we will see, are mentioned in the Bible, so they accord with the biblical truth which they defend.
The first church in the world to be consecrated was called the 'gate of heaven'.
Jacob, the Patriarch, said of the place in which he saw a ladder leading up to heaven from the earth: "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven. " (Gen. 28:17), and he called that place 'Bethel' which means 'house of God'.
Does the Church being the 'gate of heaven' prevent Christ from also being a gate, ie. a way in, or a way leading to heaven?
The Church is a gate leading to Christ, and Christ is a gate leading to salvation and to the Father. The name is the same but the meaning is different.
The Virgin Mary, however, can also be regarded as a gateway, because she connected Christ to us through the body, and she was referred to as a 'gate' in the Book of
Ezekiel, where it says that the gate of the east has been shut, and "It is to remain shut because the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered through it. " (Ez. 44:3)
Prayer, too, has been called a gateway to heaven, because heaven is opened by prayer.
The Virgin Mary is not merely a gateway to heaven, but is in fact a kind of heaven herself.
Heaven is, after all, the dwelling place of God, and the Virgin became a dwelling place for God when He grew within her womb for nine months. Thus she became a 'heaven' for Him.
This is why the Church calls her the 'second heaven'. Because the Church has become a house of God, it too can be likened to heaven. Therefore we say in one of our prayers: When we stand in your holy temple (ie. in church), we consider ourselves to be standing in heaven.
The Bible mentions that there are gates which lead to heaven. For example it says: " Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city." (Rev. 22:14) But does the existence of these gates prevent Christ from being a gate too?
All spiritual means can be gateways, provided they connect us to Christ, who is the only gate which leads to salvation through His blood.
The Lord spoke of this matter when He said: "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matt. 7:14)
Do the Lord's words about the narrow gate prevent Him from being a gate too?
" The letter kills but the Spirit gives life. " (1 Cor. 3:6) We must always remember to understand the words of the Lord, and prayers of the Church, for their spiritual and not simply their literal meaning, as "expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. " (2 Cor. 2:13)
Prayer and faith are both gates that can lead to God.
Saul and Barnabas came to Antioch and called together the Church: " Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. " (Acts 14:27) It was this 'door of faith' that was their means to salvation, because it brought them into contact with Christ.
Preaching can also be a gateway leading to salvation, because it leads to faith, and faith then leads to Christ.
It was probably this gate which the Lord had in mind when He said to the angel of the church of Philadelphia "I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; " (Rev. 3:8)
So if prayer, faith, preaching the gospel, the Church and the Virgin Mary can all be gateways leading to Christ, then "Blessed are those who... may go through the gates into the city" which is of course, heaven. (Rev. 22:14)
The Virgin Mary was the gate through which Christ came in order to save the world. Who was Christ?
1. Christ was the Messiah, and He was Life, according to what He said of Himself: "I am the Resurrection and the life. " (John 11:25), and "I am the way, the truth and the life. " (John 14:6).
So we can see how St. Mary can be called a 'gateway to life", by virtue of her being the very gate through which the Messiah - who is life, came into the world.
2. Christ is also the Redeemer and 'our salvation'. We sing in the psalm: "The Lord is my strength and my song; And He has become my salvation. " (Ps. 118:14) So if Christ was and is a 'salvation' to the world, then there is nothing strange in our calling the gateway through which He came, that is the Virgin Mary the 'gate of salvation'!
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Thrice-Blessed Pope Shenouda III of Blessed Memory