The Flood narrative
The Genesis account (chapters 6-9) relates that, because of the pervasive wickedness of humankind, God resolved to blot out life upon the earth, but that Noah found favor in his sight. Noah was directed to build an ark and to bring into it his wife, his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, their wives, and pairs of the living creatures, so that they might be preserved through the deluge.
When the waters had subsided, Noah offered burnt offerings, and God made a covenant with him and with all his descendants, declaring that the earth would never again be destroyed by a flood. The rainbow set in the clouds is given in the narrative as the sign of this covenant (Genesis 9:13). Noah and his sons are blessed and commanded to be fruitful and to multiply (Genesis 9:1).
Commemoration among the Holy Forefathers
In the Eastern Orthodox Church Noah is counted among the Holy Forefathers — the Old Testament ancestors who lived before and under the Law, including Adam, the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the matriarchs, the prophets, judges, and kings. These figures are commemorated on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers, the second Sunday before the Nativity (falling between December 11 and 17), and again in the Forefathers cycle that prepares for the feast of the Nativity.
The commemoration draws attention to the lineage of faith linking the Old Testament righteous to the coming of Christ, presenting them as part of the history of salvation that culminates in the Nativity.
Patristic typology
Orthodox commentators have read the figure of Noah and the ark typologically. By patristic interpretation, the ark is understood as a figure of the Church — called the "Ark of Salvation" — through which the faithful are carried safely through the waters; in some readings the saving vessel is also associated with the Theotokos. This typological reading is presented as the Fathers' interpretation of the Old Testament event as prefiguring the saving work of Christ through His Church, and is distinct from the events recorded in the Genesis narrative itself.
Witness in the New Testament
The New Testament treats Noah as a model of righteousness and faith. The Letter to the Hebrews lists him among the exemplars of faith, commending him for building the ark in reverent fear (Hebrews 11:7). The Second Letter of Peter calls him a "preacher of righteousness" (2 Peter 2:5).
Christ refers to "the days of Noah" in speaking of the coming of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:37-39), and the First Letter of Peter likens the deliverance of the few souls brought safely through the water in the ark to the salvation effected in baptism (1 Peter 3:20).
