St. Hippolytus of Rome's Commentary on Genesis 8

This is St. Hippolytus of Rome's commentary on Genesis 8 taken from Catena. I post it on here because a thread on Twitter would have been too impractical but I still wanted to have this commentary saved.

"Hippolytus, the expositor of the Targum, and my master, Jacobus Rohaviensis, have said: On the twenty-seventh day of the month Jiar, which is the second Hebrew month, the ark rose from the base of the holy mount; and already the waters bore it, and it was carried upon them round about towards the four cardinal points of the world. The ark accordingly held off from the holy mount towards the east, then returned towards the west, then turned to the south, and finally, bearing off eastwards, neared Mount Kardu on the first day of the tenth month. And that is the second month Kanun. And Noah came out of the ark on the twenty-seventh day of the month Jiar, in the second year: for the ark continued sailing live whole months, and moved to and fro upon the waters, and in a period of fifty-one days neared the land. Nor thereafter did it float about any longer. But it only moved successively toward the four cardinal points of the earth, and again finally stood toward the east. We say, moreover, that that was a sign of the cross. And the ark was a symbol of the Christ who was expected. For that ark was the means of the salvation of Noah and his sons, and also of the cattle, the wild beasts, and the birds. And Christ, too, when He suffered on the cross, delivered us from accusations and sins, and washed us in His own blood most pure. And just as the ark returned to the east, and neared Mount Kardu, so also Christ, when the work was accomplished and finished which He had proposed to Himself, returned to heaven to the bosom of His Father, and sat down upon the throne of His glory at the Father's right hand. As to Mount Kardu, it is in the east, in the land of the sons of Raban, and the Orientals call it Mount Godash; the Arabians and Persians call it Ararat. And there is a town of the name Kardu, and that hill is called after it, which is indeed very lofty and inaccessible, whose summit no one has ever been able to reach, on account of the violence of the winds and the storms which always prevail there. And if any one attempts to ascend it, there are demons that rush upon him, and cast him down headlong from the ridge of the mountain into the plain, so that he dies. No one, moreover, knows what there is on the top of the mountain, except that certain relics of the wood of the ark still lie there on the surface of the top of the mountain."

From my understanding the voyage would have looked something as shown in the image below. The starting point I took as the Temple Mount (Holy Mount), and the destination to be Mount Kardu as mentioned in the commentary (also known as Mount Judi or Mount Cudi)

Racial themes of good and evil (Part II)

As a continuation to the last post on racial themes in Christianity I have compiled various examples from scripture and tradition to demonstrate the existence of racism in our Tradition. I recommend to read the first article, as it introduces this topic. 

The first story is of St. Christopher the Great Martyr. As he was being martyred for his faith he received a vision. "The blessed one [St. Christopher] would say, that he saw a tall and large-bodied man, fair in countenance, who wore white garments, and with the lightning bolts flashing from his countenance, he covered the brilliance of the sun. On his head was a bright crown, and around him were soldiers with a fiery form, against whom fought others who were black and ugly, and they appeared to be victorious. But when that awesome ruler turned with anger, he frightened and trampled all those who battled against him, and he received from them authority and power." Perhaps this vision relates to Archangel Michael and Lucifer warring in Heaven, nevertheless, the symbolism is clear.

Next is the very obscure writing of St. Ambrose "Noe et Arca", which is about Noah's ark. I have only managed to find this in Latin, with it not being discussed at all in the English language. In book 1, chapter 34, paragraph 128 St. Ambrose writes the following:

"Color Aethiopis tenebras animae squaloremque significat, qui adversus lumini est, claritatis exsors, tenebris involutus, nocti similior quam diei."

This translates to:
"The colour of the Ethiopians signifies darkness and the squalor of their soul, which is opposed to light, excluded from clarity, is wrapped in darkness which is more similar to night than day"

Moving further, also on the same topic of 'Ethiopians', another Church father, Pope St. Peter I of Alexandria comments in his Canonical Epistle, in canon 4 on Jeremiah 13:23. He speaks of the "reprobate, and unrepentant, who possess the Ethiopian's unchanging skin". The 12th century Byzantine chronicler and canonist, John Zonaras comments on this canon adding that this type of people "carry about with them perpetually the inherent and indelible blackness of sin, as of an Ethiopian's skin, or the leopard's spots." 

To speak further on racial themes, St. Paul in his Epistle to Titus 1:12 "One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." Is St. Paul racist against Cretans? Maybe not since both St. Paul and the Cretans are White...