Welcome!

The faithful of St. Seraphim are looking forward to hosting our diocesan clergy and their matushki for the 2025 Clergy Conference for the Diocese of the South. Below you will find links for registration, the schedule of events, and a biography for our guest speaker, Rev. Dn. Sampson (Ryan) Nash, MD.

Registration Links

Please click on the links below to register for the 2025 DOS Clergy Conference. It is important you register so arrangements can be made for food, travel, and housing.

Schedule of Events


Monday, February 17th
Bishop’s Council Meeting – Afternoon (TBD)

2 – 5 PM time frame followed by meal.

Tuesday, February 18th
Diocesan Council Meeting – Morning (probably 9 – 11 AM CT/10 AM- Noon ET)

(Zoom for all non-local D.C. members)

All clergy expected to arrive no later than 12:00pm
Light lunch provided – 12:00 – 1:00pm
First Session with Fr. Dn. Sampson – A Framework and Overview for Doing Ethics – 1:00 – 3:00pm
Break – 3:00 – 3:30pm
Second Session with Fr. Dn. Sampson – Pastoral Concerns about Technology, Transhumanism, and Artificial Intelligence – 3:30 – 5:00pm
Vespers in the Cathedral – 5:15 – 6:00pm
Cocktails and Fellowship – 6:00pm – 6:45pm
Texas BBQ Supper – 6:45pm

Wednesday, February 19th
Hierarchical Liturgy – 9:30 – 11:30am
Deanery Lunches – 12:00 – 2:00pm

Matushki Luncheon with Bishop Gerasim – 12:00 – 2:00pm
Third Session with Fr. Dn. Sampson – Pastoral Concerns about Sex, Gender, and Reproduction – 2:30 – 4:30pm
Supper in the Parish Hall – 5:00pm

Movie Popcorn & Sneak Peek Viewing of the new feature length film El Tonto Por Cristo (Fool for Christ) – 6:15 – 8:15pm

Thursday, February 20th
Fourth Session with Fr. Dn. Sampson – Guiding People Through a New Culture of Mistrust – 9:00 – 11:00am
Final Words from the Bishops and Chancellor – 11:00 – 11:30am
Closing Prayer and Travel Blessing – 11:30am

Departure – Noon

NOTE: All Clergy and invited guests arrive no later than noon on Tuesday, February 18.

No one departs until after the session which ends at 11:30 AM and travel blessing on Thursday, February 20.

Rev. Dn. Sampson (Ryan) Nash, MD, MA -Medical Plenary Speaker

Medical Plenary Speaker: The Hagop S. Mekhjian, MD, Endowed Chair in Medical Ethics and Professionalism & Director of The Ohio State University Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities The Rev. Dn. Sampson (Ryan) Nash, MD, MA is the Hagop S. Mekhjian, MD, Endowed Chair in Medical Ethics and Professionalism and the Director of The Ohio State University Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities. He also holds appointments as adjunct Professor of Christian Ethics at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary and Professor of Medicine at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. In addition to being an active educator, administrator, and serving as a healthcare ethics and clinical bioethics advisor and consultant, Dr Nash continues to be active in Palliative Medicine caring for patients primarily with advanced cancer. Dr Nash’s scholarship focuses on practical, procedural, and policy issues related to Medicine, Clinical Bioethics and Palliative Medicine. He also explores ethics foundations at the nexus of medicine, ethics, theology, religion, and culture. Dn Sampson serves at St. Gregory of Nyssa Orthodox Church (OCA) in Columbus, Ohio. He is the grateful husband of Sarah and proud father of four daughters. He occasionally helps them run their small farm north of Columbus. Dr. Nash received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and his master’s degree in Bioethics from Trinity International University. He completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Texas Medical School, a fellowship in palliative medicine at the University of Alabama School of Medicine and was a fellow and visiting scholar at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine. Dr. Nash has been recognized as a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Care, and Fellow in the Academy of Fellows of the Center of Bioethics and Human Dignity. He has repeatedly been named to the “America’s Best Doctors” and “World’s Best Doctors” lists.

“The true aim of our Christian life consists in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. As for fasts, and vigils, and prayer, and almsgiving, and every good deed done for Christ’s sake, they are only means of acquiring the Holy Spirit of God.”


St. Seraphim of Sarov

Patron of St. Seraphim Orthodox Cathedral