Gregory the Dialogist : "And its vestibule, that is, of the inner court, and palm trees carved on its front on this side and on that, and its ascent was by eight steps." In the first description, therefore, let the Eastern gate be before the gate of the North and of the South; but in the second, let the gate of the East be named between the gate of the South and of the North, because both from His divinity He preceded all things, and from His humanity He came among all things, He who became both the end of the departing Judea and the beginning of the succeeding Gentile world. — Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 2, Homily 8