Ornament - Rainbow
Materials - Beads from Noah's Ark Rosary (Already had)
Read Genesis 6:9-7:6,7:11-24,8:1-24
—Elder Nectarius of Optina
“For a hundred years Noah called people to him, but only the dumb animals came."
-From John of Damascus, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith
For from the beginning the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and anew the Scripture
witnesseth that water has the power of purification. In the time of Noah, God washed away the sin of
the world by water. By water every impure person is purified, according to the law, even the very
garments being washed with water.
-St. Gregory the Great
It took Noah a hundred years to build his ark; log upon log he dragged to the construction. Do as he
did; drag log upon log to your construction, patiently, in silence, day after day, and do not inquire about
your surroundings.
The Way of the Ascetics, by Tito Colliander
Remember that Noah was the only one in the whole world who 'walked with God'
(Gen. 6:9), that is, in prayer. Imagine the crowding, the darkness, the stench, that he had to live in until
he could step out into the pure air and build an altar to the Lord. The air and the altar you will find
within you, explains St. John Chrysostom, but only after you have willingly gone through the same
narrow gate as Noah.
It should not frighten you that in the Church the bad are many and the good few. For the Ark, which in
the midst of the Flood was a figure of this Church, was wide below and narrow above, and at the
summit measured but one cubit (Gen. 6:16). And we are to believe that below were the four-footed
animals and serpents, above the birds and men. It was wide where the beasts were, narrow where men
lived; for the Holy Church is indeed wide in the number of those who are carnal minded, narrow in
those who are spiritual. For where she suffers the morals and beastly ways of men, there she enlarges
her bosom. But where she has the care of those whose lives are founded on spiritual things, these she
leads to the highest place; but since they are few, this part is narrow .... And so the more the wicked
abound so much the more must we suffer them in patience; for on the threshing floor few are the grains
carried into the barns, but high the piles of chaff that are burned with fire.
-Patriarch Jeremiah II, 16 century
Therefore, since it is undoubtedly and completely sure that we must believe without doubt, only this remains, that which it is necessary to seek with all one's might and is to be found by every means. What in reality is this?
It is this: that we may attain salvation with all that we do. For idle faith and works without faith are both rejected in the sight of God. Let us consider what has been said in the light of the following:
for God, who has shown himself to us as being of three hypostases, has also shown this most
evident way to us. And, indeed, know also that faith, hope, and love [cf. I Cor 13:13], the golden
threefold rainbow, when kept by us, effects salvation for us.
From the Prologue from Ohrid, by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich, December 9
Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God (Genesis 6:9).
To be righteous among the righteous is a great and praiseworthy deed, but how far greater and more
praiseworthy a deed it is to be righteous among the unrighteous. Noah lived among men who were
filled with unrighteousness and evil; he lived among them for five hundred years and remained
righteous before God: Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8). The Most-high Judge,
who looks at all the works of mankind and evaluates them without prejudice and without error, valued
the labors of Noah because, in the midst of a corrupt and perverse generation, he remained in the
righteousness of God; and God rewarded him with His grace. Assuredly, Noah endured much misery
and bitterness from his evil neighbors. Assuredly, he was unable to have a friend among them. The
greatest satisfaction for a sinner is to drag a righteous man down into his own mire and to share his sin
with him. But Noah did not allow himself to be dragged down or misled. Noah favored God's
friendship over that of unrighteous men. It was dearer to him to walk with God without men, than to
walk with men without God. Fear of God, the Creator and Judge, preserved him from the worldwide
corruption; and he was not only righteous but also perfect in his generations. That is, he did not allow
himself, even in the least, to be contaminated by the common evil, but rather he cleaved to God's
righteousness. The allurement of sin and the ridicule of the sinners: everything merely served to
separate him all the more from them. When the universal flood befell the human race, God did not
abandon his faithful Noah to perish with the others. Instead, He saved him and glorified him, making
him the progenitor of a new generation of men. Brethren, this shining example of Noah teaches that
each one of us can please God even in the midst of sinners, if only we want to.
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