In this episode, I talk with Josh Lazie, a former bassist for Danzig, to talk about a reality many of us live with but rarely name: the persistent sense that something is missing.

For years, he tried to fill that void with music, drugs, success, and the constant noise of the rock-and-roll lifestyle. For a time, those things worked. Eventually, they didn't.

We talk honestly about what that world gave him, what it cost him, and the moment he realized that nothing he was chasing would ever make him whole. We explore the restlessness beneath addiction and ambition, the fear of stillness, and why silence can be more confronting than chaos.

Now a catechumen in the Orthodox Church, he reflects on how faith didn't simply distract him from emptiness, but began to heal it—through discipline, repentance, and a reorientation of what it means to live fully.

Sponsors:

Harmony Icons: https://harmonyicons.com/counterflow

Podsworth App: https://podsworth.com
Code: BUCK50 for HALF off your first order!
Clean up your recordings, sound like a pro, and support the Counterflow Podcast!
Full Ad Read BEFORE processing: https://youtu.be/F4ljjtR5QfA
Full Ad Read AFTER processing: https://youtu.be/J6trRTgmpwE

Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow

Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com

Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com

Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts! Thanks!

In this episode, we sit down with Father Hans Jacobse to discuss the crisis facing men today, and why isolation, secrecy, and private struggle are not compatible with the Orthodox life. Fr Hans started the St Paisios Brotherhood where men have been able to have a safe brotherhood for many years now. We explore the role of brotherhood in confronting temptation, forming men for marriage and family, and grounding masculine identity in the life of the Church.

This conversation addresses pornography, marriage, community, and the unique role Orthodox brotherhood plays in forming whole men capable of serving their families, parishes, and the world.

For more on this, go here: https://www.stpaisiosbrotherhood

Sponsors:

Harmony Icons: https://harmonyicons.com/counterflow

Podsworth App: https://podsworth.com
Code: BUCK50 for HALF off your first order!
Clean up your recordings, sound like a pro, and support the Counterflow Podcast!
Full Ad Read BEFORE processing: https://youtu.be/F4ljjtR5QfA
Full Ad Read AFTER processing: https://youtu.be/J6trRTgmpwE

Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow

Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com

Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com

Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts! Thanks!

In this episode, Buck sits down with Father Turbo Qualls for a wide-ranging and sobering conversation about spiritual warfare, ecumenism, and the modern pressure on the Orthodox to trade truth for comfort.

Beginning with reflections from St. Mary of Egypt and the Synaxis of Hagia Sophia, the discussion moves into how external forces — political, cultural, and spiritual — have repeatedly targeted the Church, often in ways that are subtle, coordinated, and unseen.

Father Turbo revisits a past conversation with Buck about the COVID era, exploring how major disruptions in Church life coincided with key feasts, fasts, and liturgical moments — not as a matter of human conspiracy, but as part of a deeper "powers and principalities" reality that operates beyond individual actors.

For more from Fr Turbo and to see his hand-painted icons, go here:
https://www.desertwisdombookstore.com/shop
...and his parish : https://stmaryofegypt.net
...and here: https://www.skool.com/synaxisofsophia

Sponsors:
Fox n Sons Coffee: https://www.foxnsons.com
Code: BUCK15

Harmony Icons: https://harmonyicons.com/counterflow

Podsworth App: https://podsworth.com
Code: BUCK50 for HALF off your first order!
Clean up your recordings, sound like a pro, and support the Counterflow Podcast!
Full Ad Read BEFORE processing: https://youtu.be/F4ljjtR5QfA
Full Ad Read AFTER processing: https://youtu.be/J6trRTgmpwE

Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow

Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com

Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com

Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts! Thanks!

In this interview, we speak with Oath Keepers founder and firsthand participant in the January 6 events, Stewart Rhodes, to explore what actually happened that day, from early morning intentions to the chaos that unfolded, the legal aftermath, and the long-term personal consequences.

We examine the gap between mainstream media narratives and lived experience, discuss federal involvement, accountability, and political responsibility, and reflect on the mental, spiritual, and moral toll of becoming a symbol in one of the most polarizing events in modern American history.

For more information on Stewart, go here: https://oathkeepers.info

...and here: https://givesendgo.com/Oath

Sponsors:

Perfect Spiral Capital: https://PerfectSpiralCapital.com/counterflow

Podsworth App: https://podsworth.com
Code: BUCK50 for HALF off your first order!
Clean up your recordings, sound like a pro, and support the Counterflow Podcast!
Full Ad Read BEFORE processing: https://youtu.be/F4ljjtR5QfA
Full Ad Read AFTER processing: https://youtu.be/J6trRTgmpwE

Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow

Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com

Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com

Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts! Thanks!

In this episode, Buck sits down with Fr. Emmanuel Lemelson to discuss a recent event widely framed as a historic step toward Christian unity, and why, from an Orthodox perspective, it feels anything but unifying.

Drawing from firsthand experience and deep ecclesial memory, the conversation explores why language of "unity" often masks unresolved (and unresolvable) theological differences between Rome and Orthodoxy. Together, they speak candidly about papal authority, conciliarity, modern ecumenism, and why converts are often the first to feel the spiritual consequences of institutional ambiguity.

This is not a polemic but a sober conversation about truth, faithfulness, and what Orthodoxy cannot surrender without ceasing to be itself.

For more from Fr Emmanuel, check these links:

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Lemelson
Substack: https://lemelson.substack.com

Connect with @Lemelson on social media:
https://facebook.com/lemelson
https://twitter.com/Lemelson
https://instagram.com/lemelson
https://tiktok.com/@fr_emmanuel_lemelson
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmanuellemelson

Sponsors:
Fox n Sons Coffee: https://www.foxnsons.com
Code: BUCK15

Perfect Spiral Capital: https://PerfectSpiralCapital.com/counterflow

Podsworth App: https://podsworth.com
Code: BUCK50 for HALF off your first order!
Clean up your recordings, sound like a pro, and support the Counterflow Podcast!
Full Ad Read BEFORE processing: https://youtu.be/F4ljjtR5QfA
Full Ad Read AFTER processing: https://youtu.be/J6trRTgmpwE

Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow

Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com

Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com

Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts! Thanks!

In this episode, we're joined by Christina Taylor, founder of Orthodox Family Life, for a wide-ranging and honest conversation about marriage, parenting, education, and faithfulness in a desensitized modern world.

Christina shares her personal journey into Orthodoxy, how her understanding of family life has deepened over time, and the unique pressures Orthodox parents face today—especially converts raising children without the support of extended Orthodox communities.

We explore the tension between overprotective parenting and permissiveness, the roles of men and women within marriage, the lingering effects of feminism inside and outside the Church, and the challenges of raising children faithfully amid cultural chaos.

This episode is especially for parents (and future parents) asking not just what to teach their children but who they are becoming.

For more from Christina, go here :
https://www.youtube.com/@UCyVEOCzGT9E-wE86PPJ01tA

Sponsor:

Podsworth App: https://podsworth.com
Code: BUCK50 for HALF off your first order!
Clean up your recordings, sound like a pro, and support the Counterflow Podcast!
Full Ad Read BEFORE processing: https://youtu.be/F4ljjtR5QfA
Full Ad Read AFTER processing: https://youtu.be/J6trRTgmpwE

For the official CounterFlow T-shirt, send $30 via PayPal to buck@counterflowpodcast.com with your size and shipping address, or order online: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com/store

Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow

Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com

Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com

Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts! Thanks!

In this episode, I speak with Fr. Deacon Ananias about Orthodox epistemology and the claim that true knowledge is not grounded in autonomous reason but in God's self-revelation. Contrasting Athens and Jerusalem, this conversation explores why Orthodoxy understands truth not as an idea, but as a Person: Jesus Christ.

We discuss revelation as theophany, the limits of philosophy, the apophatic tradition, and how knowledge in the Church is personal, communal, and transformative, not merely intellectual.

Topics include:
- East vs. West on knowledge and reason
- Revelation as encounter, not information
- Apophatic knowing and humility
- Philosophy: rejected, redeemed, or baptized?
- Why truth is known in communion

For more from Fr Deacon Ananias, go here:
https://www.patristicfaith.com

...and here:
https://www.youtube.com/@esorem

Sponsors:
Fox n Sons Coffee: https://www.foxnsons.com
Code: BUCK15

Perfect Spiral Capital: https://PerfectSpiralCapital.com/counterflow

Podsworth App: https://podsworth.com
Code: BUCK50 for HALF off your first order!
Clean up your recordings, sound like a pro, and support the Counterflow Podcast!
Full Ad Read BEFORE processing: https://youtu.be/F4ljjtR5QfA
Full Ad Read AFTER processing: https://youtu.be/J6trRTgmpwE

Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow

Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com

Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com

Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts! Thanks!

My guest this week is Ben, host of Cleave to Antiquity. Formerly an associate pastor in a Protestant Evangelical church and active in online Protestant apologetics, Ben began to realize that many of the arguments he made against Orthodox theology and dogma didn't hold up. That realization forced him to confront some difficult truths and make major changes in his life.

Today, Ben is a catechumen in the Orthodox Church. We talk about his journey, what led him to re-examine his assumptions, and the lessons he has learned along the way.

Sponsor:

Podsworth App: https://podsworth.com
Code: BUCK50 for HALF off your first order!
Clean up your recordings, sound like a pro, and support the Counterflow Podcast!
Full Ad Read BEFORE processing: https://youtu.be/F4ljjtR5QfA
Full Ad Read AFTER processing: https://youtu.be/J6trRTgmpwE

Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow

Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com

Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com

Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts! Thanks!