See how God did everything out of his esteem for the human being. As in the case of the destruction of human beings in the flood he destroyed also along with them the whole range of brute beasts, so in this case too, when he intends to show his characteristic love for the good man out of his regard for him, he extends his goodness to the animal kingdom as well, the wild beasts, the birds and the reptiles. God was mindful of Noah, the text says, and of all the wild beasts, all the cattle and all the reptiles that were with him in the ark. God sent a wind upon the earth, and the water subsided. Being mindful of Noah, the text says, and of those with him in the ark, he directed the flood of water to halt so that little by little he might show his characteristic love and now give the good man a breath of fresh air, free him from the turmoil of his thoughts and restore him to a state of tranquility by granting him the enjoyment of daylight and a breath of fresh air. God sent a wind upon the earth, and the water subsided. The torrents of the depths and the sluice gates of heaven were shut off.

And the Lord sent a breath over the earth and the water subsided. I do not believe that this has been said because under the name of breath we may think of the wind. In fact the wind had no power to dry the deluge. Otherwise the sea, which is moved every day by the winds, would become empty. How would the sea become empty because of the strength of the winds alone? Isn’t it true that the strength that overcame the deluge spread all over the earth to the so-called Columns of Hercules^[1] and the vast sea boiling over the tops of the highest mountains? There is no doubt, therefore, that that deluge was subsided by the invisible power of the Spirit, not through the wind as such but through divine intervention.

The springs of the abyss and the floodgates of heaven were open forty days and forty nights and the ark was afloat for one hundred fifty days.^[1] But after one hundred fifty days the waters began to subside and the ark came to rest on Mt. Qardu.^[2] In the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen. In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. In the second month, that is, Iyor, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Therefore Noah and those with him had been in the ark three hundred sixty-five days, for from the seventeenth of the second month, that is, Iyor, until the twenty-seventh of the same month the following year, according to the lunar reckoning, there were three hundred sixty-five days. Notice then that even the generation of the house of Noah employed this reckoning of three hundred sixty-five days in a year. Why then should you say that it was the Chaldeans and Egyptians who invented and developed it?

Noah wanted to know how things stood on the face of the earth when the inundation had come to an end, and he sent forth a raven, which scorned to return to the ark,^[1] signifying those who, although they have been cleansed by the waters of baptism, nevertheless neglect putting off the very black dress of their old selves by living more faultlessly; and lest they deserve to be renewed by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, they at once fall away from the inmost unity of catholic peace and rest by following exterior things, that is, the desires of the world.

As a sign that the flood had abated

the dove is now bringing

Back to the ark in her beak

the budding green branch of an olive.

For the raven, held captive by gluttony,

clung to foul bodies,

While the dove brought back

the glad tidings of peace that was given.

But for the present we need to explain the reason why the bird [the raven] did not come back. Perhaps, with the waters subsiding, the bird, being unclean, happened upon corpses of men and beasts and, finding nourishment to its liking, stayed there! This would have been something that proved to be no little sign of hope and encouragement for the just man [if the raven had returned].

You do not know when that last hour is going to come and yet you say, I am reforming. When are you going to reform? When are you going to change? Tomorrow, you say. Behold, how often you say, Tomorrow, tomorrow.^[1] You have really become a crow. Behold, I say to you that when you make the noise of a crow, ruin is threatening you. For that crow whose cawing you imitate went forth from the ark and did not return.

It is not difficult to see why everlasting peace is signified by the olive branch that the dove, returning, brought back to the ark. For we know that the smooth surface of oil is not readily hindered by a different liquid. And the olive tree itself is forever in leaf.

The oil is not for the synagogue, since it does not possess the olive and did not understand the dove that brought back the olive branch after the flood. For that dove descended afterwards,^[1] when Christ was being baptized and dwelt with him, as John brought witness in the Gospel saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven as a dove, and it remained upon him.^[2]

After [the raven] he sent a dove, and it came to him in the evening, carrying in its mouth an olive branch with green leaves.^[1]

You are paying attention, I believe, and with your intellect you anticipate me as I speak. The olive branch with green leaves is the grace of the Holy Spirit, rich in the words of life, the fullness of which rests upon Christ, [as] the psalm says, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.^[2] Concerning this gift given to Christ’s fellows, John speaks: You have the anointing from the holy one, and you know all things.^[3] And by a most beautiful conjunction the figure is in agreement with the fulfillment—a corporeal dove brought the olive branch to the ark which was washed by the waters of the flood; the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a corporeal dove upon the Lord when he was baptized in the waters of the Jordan. Not only the human beings but also the living things which the ark contained, and also the very wood from which the ark was made, prefigure us members of Christ and of the church after our reception of the washing of the waters of regeneration. Through the anointing of the sacred chrism may we be signed with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and may he deign to keep it inviolate in us who himself gave it [to us], Jesus Christ our Lord who with the almighty Father in the unity of the same Holy Spirit lives and reigns for all ages. Amen.

Christ is a dove because he commands his holy ones to be as doves when he says, Be simple as doves. But the prophet speaks of what Christ the dove is when, in his person, he describes his return to heaven after his suffering: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I shall fly away and be at rest? When Christ the Lord, therefore, initiated the sacraments of the church a dove came down from heaven. I understand the mystery, and I recognize the sacrament. For the very dove that once hastened to Noah’s ark in the flood now comes to Christ’s church in baptism.

The secular powers often and for a long time spare the wicked from corporal punishment and relieve some of them from their harassments, but the hearts of holy men never have any respite until the end of the world from the sinful conduct of men. It is thus we have the fulfillment of what the apostle said, as I cited it, that all who will live godly in Christ suffer persecution.^[1] Their suffering is more bitter in proportion to its inwardness. This is so until a man^[2] passes over the deluge where the ark shelters the raven and the dove.

Then all creation was cleansed as if of some blemish, removing all defilement caused in it by human wickedness. Its countenance was made resplendent; God then finally commanded the just man to disembark from the ark, freeing him from that awful prison with these words, Then the Lord God said to Noah, ‘Disembark, you and your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives with you, as well as all flesh, from birds to cattle; take off with you every reptile that crawls upon the earth, and increase and multiply on the earth.’ Notice God’s goodness, how in everything he encourages the good man. After ordering him to disembark from the ark along with his sons, his wife, his sons’ wives and all the wild animals, then lest great discouragement should gradually overtake him by this further development and he become anxious at the thought that he would be on his own, dwelling alone in such a vast expanse of earth, with no one else existing, God first said, Disembark from the ark, and take off everything with you, and then added, Increase and multiply, and gain dominion over the earth. See how once again this good man receives that former blessing that Adam had received before the fall. The same words were as man heard when he was created: God blessed them in the words increase and multiply, and gain dominion over the earth.^[1] So too this man now hears the words increase and multiply on the earth. In other words, just as the former man became the beginning and root of all creatures before the deluge, so too this just man becomes a kind of leaven, beginning and root of everything after the deluge. From this point on, what is comprised in the make-up of human beings takes its beginning, and the whole of creation recovers its proper order, both the soil reawakening to productivity as well as everything else that had been created for the service of human beings.

For as Noah’s ark preserved alive everyone whom it had taken in when the world was going under,^[1] so also Peter’s church will bring back unhurt everyone whom it embraces when the world goes up in flames.^[2] And as a dove brought the sign of peace to Noah’s ark when the flood was over,^[3] so also Christ will bring the joy of peace to Peter’s church when the judgment is over, since he himself is dove and peace, as he promised when he said, I shall see you again and your heart will rejoice.^[4]

When Noah was ordered to enter the ark and was entrusted with the safeguarding of the seed of the earth, he was given this command, which reads, Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. He had separated them from their wives, so that with the help of chastity they might escape the deep and that worldwide destruction. However, after the cessation of the flood, the command was Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Here, see how marriage was again permitted for the sake of increase.

Now let us examine why, at the moment of entering the ark, the order of entry was that Noah entered first with his sons, then his wife and the wives of his sons,^[1] but when they got out, the order of exit was changed. In fact it is written, Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. According to the literal meaning the Scripture wants to emphasize the abstinence from the faculty of generation at the moment of the boarding on the ark and the use of this faculty at the moment of disembarking. At the beginning of the deluge the father entered first with his sons and the sons with the father, secondly his wife and the wives of his sons. There is no mixing of the sexes at the boarding, but there is at the disembarking. In a plain way, through the order of the people boarding, it is being made clear to the righteous that the time when death loomed over everybody was not suitable to concubinage and erotic pleasures. . . . With good reason, later, after the deluge ended, marriage was again in use and considered for the generation of other men.

Those whom he had brought in one by one in order to maintain chastity on the ark, he now brought out two by two so that they might be fruitful and multiply in creation. Even with respect to the animals that had preserved their chastity in the ark God said, Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may breed abundantly on the earth.

Let us fix our gaze on those who have perfectly served his magnificent glory. Let us take Enoch, who was found righteous in obedience and was taken up without there being a trace of his death.^[1] Noah was found faithful by reason of his service; he proclaimed a new birth to the world, and through him the Lord saved the living creatures who entered in harmony into the ark.^[2]