> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://theparnassian.com/en/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Not with seven diamond seals is the eternal entrance to God's paradise locked, It does not beckon with glitter and temptations, And the people know nothing of it
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/ne-semiu-pechatiami-almaznymi-v-bozhii-rai-zamknulsia-vechnyi-vkhod-on-ne-manit-bleskom-i-soblaznami-i-ego-ne-vedaet-narod/
- Published: 2025-10-15T19:49:19.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T09:14:47.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Faith, Art, Books

It is a door in a wall long abandoned,  
Stones, moss and nothing more,  
Beside it a beggar, like an uninvited guest,  
And the keys hang at his belt.

Knights and men-at-arms ride past,  
The howl of trumpets, the jangle of silver,  
And no one glances at the gatekeeper,  
The radiant apostle Peter.

All dream: "There, at God's tomb,  
The doors of paradise will open for us,  
On Mount Tabor, at its foot,  
The promised hour will ring out."

So the slow monster passes by,  
Howling, the ringing horn blares,  
And the apostle Peter in a tattered robe,  
Like a beggar, is pale and wretched.

*Literal translation*

**"The Gates of Paradise", Nikolay Gumilyov, 1910**

*Illustration: a drawing from Alexander Ivanov's graphic cycle "Biblical Sketches"*