Question: Where did the different races come from? Were they descendents of Noah? Dr. William Skendelas
Answer: Holy Tradition is based on Holy Scripture, that makes reference that; all humans on earth today are descended from Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives, and before that from Adam and Eve (Genesis 1-11). We have many different groups, often called “races,” with what seem to be greatly differing features. Then there is the “Tower of Babel Theory”: (See Scripture) Biblical Scholars discern that the various groups, plausibly, have arisen by evolving over tens of thousands of years; spreading to the different areas of the world and adapting to regional, seasonal, dietary, and climate changes, is the significant variable. (Genesis 11:1-2) “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the East, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there” (Genesis 11:7) “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech” (Genesis 11:8-9) “So the lord scattered them abroad from hence upon the face of all the earth and they left off to build the city. Therefore, the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from hence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” The message from Genesis seems to be that the Babylonian citizens who built the tower did so without God and without praise of or assistance from God.
Also the Festal Kondakion of Pentecost Sunday, 8th Tone, reads:
“When the Most High came down and confounded tongues of men at Babel, He divided the Nations. When He dispensed the tongues of fire, He called all to unity, and with one voice we glorify the most Holy Spirit.”