To All Orthodox Priests, Physicians, Psychologists, Nurses and All in the Health Care Field

July 17th, 2011

To all Orthodox Priests, Physicians, Psychologists, Nurses and All in the Health Care Field,

I am writing to you as the president of the Orthodox Christian Association of Medicine, Psychology and Religion (OCAMPR), and I would like to inform you of our work in general, and of our conference this November. I would like to encourage all of you to consider membership in this SCOBA/Assembly of Bishops-endorsed organization, to support our work and mission, and to join us this November 4th and 5th at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Seminary in Brookline MA for a wonderful conference on “The Science and Theology of Conception”.

We have, for the past three years, been revamping and reviving the Association after a period of relative inactivity. We are redefining our mission and will be amending our Charter to reflect that at this year’s annual conference noted above. We at OCAMPR are clinicians looking to the Church for Her wisdom as we practice and treat our patients in our daily work in a complex world amid a myriad of bioethical issues. We are pastors looking to our clinicians for guidance as new science and technology is born. We are striving to work together and collaborate as clinicians and pastors to better care for our parishioners and patients, seeking also to provide an annual forum for fellowship with one another at our conferences.

Given this perspective of mutual reliance we have recruited a wonderful Advisory Board to help guide OCAMPR’s future down a God-pleasing path. They are respected pastors, ethicists and academics of our Church, and in this process of selection we have also sought jurisdictional balance. Our Advisory Board members are Bishop Michael (Dahulich), Mother Gabriella (of the Holy Dormition Monastery in MI), Fr. John Breck, Fr. John Abdallah, Dr. Stephen Muse, Fr. Alexander Veronis, Dr. Julianna Orr-Weaver and Fr. Peter Gilquist.

We are also planning ministries that we believe will be useful to our Church – such as Orthodox Advanced Directives for our parishioners and patients, a Parish Nursing Program, and a Bioethics clearing house. We will keep an informal unpublished list of professionals for referrals available to the clergy and hierarchs as needed. We are also hoping to link with other important ministries of the Assembly of Bishops such as OCMC, IOCC, OTSA, teen pregnancy groups, and Prison Ministries.

Our Conference this year is entitled “The Science and Theology of Conception”. We hope to address the complexities of the science of fertilization and embryology, the anthropology of human development over time from conception to adulthood and death and finally, what the Church Fathers and our Faith teach us about conception. We hope to engage all the participants during a panel discussion after the lectures. This timely topic will be covered by three speakers we are pleased to announce as follows: Dr. Gayle Woloschak will be offering the science section, Dr. Daniel Buxhoeveden will be doing the Anthropology part, and Dr. Timothy Patitsas will be presenting the Theology segment. We have arranged to have the relics of St. Anna, the patron of fertility and pregnancy difficulties, at the conference. As you can see we are hoping for a very wonderful conference, rich both academically and spiritually.

We encourage each of you to support OCAMPR and become a member of what we feel is a very important mission of helping our Church by learning to collaborate with one another as clergy and clinicians to better the care of our parishioners and patients. We also look forward to our annual conference as a time for fellowship and a chance to forge new friendships and relationships. We invite you to join and hope that you all become integral members of our association.

Do not hesitate to contact OCAMPR if you have any questions about our work at

Sincerely and with love in Christ,

Michael Christakis, MD, FACP

PO Box 872

West Brookfield, MA 0155