The Great Gate had two minor doorways, one in the north and one in the south. The one to the south, no man ever entered through it. [The reason for] this is explained by [the prophet] Ezekiel, as it is stated (Ezekiel 44:2): Hashem said to me, ”This gate shall be closed, it shall not be opened; a man shall not come through it, because Hashem, the God of Israel, comes through it; it shall be closed.”  He took the key and opened the minor doorway and entered the cell, and from the cell [he went] to the Heichal. R’ Yehudah says: He would walk within the thickness of the [Heichal’s] wall until he is found standing between the [Heichal’s] two sets of doors; and he opened the outer [doors] from the inside and the inner [doors] from the outside.