“It takes a real man to descend and walk next to someone whose fire is raging because he’s hurt . . . to walk alongside [that person] and not get sucked into rage. That takes real strength – not to get sucked into rage. That’s the challenge. And for many of us, we’ve never seen examples of true strength. Now I will say, if you look on the walls of your church, there are tons of images of true strength in fact, if you look at the masculinity communicated by the Church, ultimately reflecting Christ.” (Dr. Philip Mamalakis, Excerpt from Christian Masculinity)
Full Transcript of “Christian Masculinity”
“It takes a real man to descend and walk next to someone whose fire is raging because he’s hurt . . . to walk alongside [that person] and not get sucked into rage. That takes real strength – not to get sucked into rage. That’s the challenge.
And for many of us, we’ve never seen examples of true strength. Now I will say, if you look on the walls of your church, there are tons of images of true strength in fact, if you look at the masculinity communicated by the Church, ultimately reflecting Christ.
You want true strength? Imagine soldier’s coming to arrest and kill you? Peter acts like a human being – is scared and just reacts. Christ – true strength – stays peaceful and stays there. Any coward can react in anger. True strength is staying peaceful when the fire is raging.
[And] what does Christ know about fires, and drawing close to the fires? The three youths in the fire? King Nebuchadnezzar?
King Nebuchadnezzar said “Burn some incense to this idol.” [And the three youths] said, “No thank you.” [And] he said “Gehh – errr, you’re done” – he got so angry that he threw them in the furnace, that he stoked the fire so hot … we know the story … that the guards were burned! And then after a few minutes, they look in the furnace and what do they see? Three youths and an angel type figure, which the fathers understand to be an image of Christ before his incarnation – a Christophany.
What did Jesus not do? He did not put the fire out. Why did Christ not put the fire out? He didn’t need to. What happens to us when we have fires? We rush to put them out because we do not have authority over fire. Fire can destroy us. Christ doesn’t put the fire out because he doesn’t need to. He has authority over the fire. So when he joins us in the fire, his goal for us is that we acquire that type of authority over our fire. So he does not take the fire out.
Now that sounds like a dramatic example, but have you ever tried to draw close to a kid who is screaming and melting down? It is hard! I’m challenging every man in this room. It takes real strength. Take a deep breath. Stay calm. And draw close. Because we are communicating something powerful to our kids: I’m not here to fix these problems. I’m here to walk alongside you.”
THE ORTHODOX FAMILY 
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