He came from a family of priests. His wife was Erzsébet Csucska (according to other sources, Andrea), whom he married on March 3, 1881. He was ordained a priest by the Bishop of Uzhhorod in 1881. His wife passed away eight months after their wedding. They had one child, Mária. He arrived in the United States on March 3, 1889, and was the first Greek Catholic priest of Hungarian descent to settle in North America. From 1904, he served as a diocesan councilor and as the secretary for Greek Catholic church affairs. In 1913, he was appointed vicar of the American Hungarian Greek Catholics.
He helped establish several churches: Wilkes-Barre, PA (1888), Passaic, NJ (1890), New York, NY (1890), Leisenring, PA (1892), as well as in the U.S. towns of Trenton, NJ, Streator, IL, Hazleton, PA, Scranton, PA, Johnstown, PA, Homestead, PA, and Braddock, PA.

Because he had remarried, he was suspended. On July 30, 1916, he converted to the Russian Orthodox Church, where he became a monk. One day later, he was appointed archimandrite. On August 15, 1916, he became the head of the Orthodox Vicariate of Pittsburgh and was consecrated a bishop. He spent eight years in the Orthodox Church, then on May 12, 1924, he asked Pope Pius XI to readmit him to the Catholic Church. His canonical status was resolved on May 15, 1924, when he publicly asked for forgiveness and was forgiven. He then retired to the Roman Catholic monastery in Garrison. He served as a consistorial canon in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. He died suddenly in Trenton, PA. His grave is also located there.