EOB: Official Site of the Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible (Old and New Testament)
EOB (Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible):
EOB Footnote:
KJV (King James Version):
WEB (World English Bible):
Benton LXX (Vaticanus):
Douai-Rheims (Vulgate):
Apostoliki Diakonia (LXX):
YLT (Young Literal Translation )(MT):
BBE (Bible in Basic English):
EOB Commentary:
Commentary on Genesis 6:16
The Window of the Ark and Divine Illumination
The instruction to make a tsohar (window or opening for light) in the ark carries profound typological significance that the Church Fathers consistently recognized. This single opening, placed at the top of the ark, becomes a powerful image of how salvation comes from above and how the faithful receive divine light.
St. Ambrose of Milan interprets this window as representing the eye of the soul turned heavenward. Just as the ark received its only light from above, so too the Church and each Christian soul receives illumination solely from Christ, the Sun of Righteousness. The positioning at the top indicates that Noah and his family could not look outward at the destruction surrounding them, but only upward toward heaven—a spiritual lesson about fixing our gaze on divine realities rather than the perishing world.
The Ark as Type of the Church
The Fathers universally understood the ark as a type of the Church, and within this framework, the single window takes on ecclesiological meaning. St. Augustine notes that light entering through one opening signifies the unity of faith by which the Church is illuminated. There is one source of truth, one Gospel, one baptism through which enlightenment comes to all within the saving vessel.
The three levels of the ark, combined with this single source of light from above, have been read as imaging the Trinitarian faith that illumines all ranks within the Church—whether understood as clergy, monastics, and laity, or as the three stages of spiritual growth: purification, illumination, and theosis.
Christological Dimensions
Christ Himself is the true Window of heaven, the opening through which divine light enters the darkened world. The Incarnation represents God making an opening in the barrier between heaven and earth. Through Christ, the Light of the World, those within the ark of the Church receive the knowledge of God.
Liturgical Resonance
In Orthodox temple architecture, the dome with its central image of Christ Pantocrator functions similarly to the ark’s window—light descending from above, illuminating the gathered faithful. The faithful, like Noah’s family, gather beneath this heavenly opening, receiving grace from on high while the waters of judgment rage outside.
The reading of this passage during the Vesperal Liturgy of Holy Saturday connects the ark’s preservation through water to baptismal regeneration, where the neophyte emerges into the light of the Paschal dawn, having passed through the saving waters into the illuminated interior of the Church.
The Book of Leviticus receives its English title from the Latin Vulgate, which is derived from the Greek Septuagint (LXX) title Leuitikon (Λευιτικόν), meaning “Levitical” or “pertaining to the Levites.”
The Book of Exodus receives its English title from the Greek Septuagint (LXX), where it is called Exodos (Ἔξοδος), meaning “departure” or “exit.” This name was chosen because the central
I. Date and Authorship Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church, affirmed by the Fathers and the liturgical usage of the Church from the earliest centuries, attributes the Book of Genesis
Does Hebrews 11 on the Maccabees Show Stronger Alignment with 4 Maccabees than 2 Maccabees? Hebrews 11 (the famous “Hall of Faith” chapter) does not explicitly mention the Maccabees by
