The Great 'O' Antiphons: O Clavis David - December 20th

O key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel,
You open and no one can shut;
You shut and no one can open:
Come and lead the prisoner from the prison house,
those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

We forget just how important keys are until we lose them, then it's a frantic search in all kinds of places and if as sometimes happens, we shut our car keys in the car or lose the house key, urgent telephone calls for help! To be locked out of somewhere is not a pleasant experience and it leaves us feeling disorientated and helpless. What a relief it is when we finally can unlock the door and enter!

So important were keys to our ancestors that in many societies they became a badge of authority. To hand over the keys was a sign of possession and stewardship. In ancient times official keys were very large and weighty, some of them could have been carried on a persons shoulder, although possibly the antiphon's reference is really about a badge or design representing the key!

Homer in the Odyssey (written about 700 BC) describes Odysseus' storehouse key as being of brass, curved, large and weighty. Other keys were made of wood. Even today when an Anglican priest takes charge of a parish, part of the installation ceremony is the official handing over of the old church key!

The two images of the key bearer locking and unlocking are taken from Isaiah's story about King Hezekiah's faithful servant Eliakim. (Is 22.22) The keeper of the Treasury before him, Shebna, was unfaithful and so the Lord promises Eliakim the sole possession of the keys to the treasury and also the authority and privileges associated with the House of David. This is also of course a prophecy about Christ too, who possesses the only keys that matter!

Whatever size these ancient objects were they clearly represent power and in the context of the poetic prayer of O Clavis David , an unlimited, cosmic and, divine power given to Christ who holds the keys both of the Kingdom of Heaven and of the Underworld, which he has unlocked in his descent into hell! Christ opens the gates of both, but as he sometimes warns, he can shut the wicked out of heaven and lock them in the dark places!

But there is more , Isaiah tells us of a growing authority of David's throne and kingdom which will culminate in an outpouring of love and care, the blind will see, those prisoners in the deepest, darkest dungeons of whatever misery human existence provides will be brought free into the light! ( Is 9.7;42.7.)

Christ is not only the true key to salvation, but he is the door through which we enter the Kingdom.(Jn 10.9)

O Clavis David, O Key of David, set us all free!

Fr Robin Gibbons is an Eastern Rite Catholic Chaplain for the Melkites in the UK. He is also an Ecumenical Canon of Christ Church Oxford