His baptism and Confirmation was received on 24 June 1939 in the Greek Catholic church in Terszowie. Years were spent in a Spas, where the religious life of the inhabitants of dominant influence was the famous monastery of St. Onofriy Basilian Fathers in nearby Ławrowie. The father of the future Metropolitan was drafted during World War II by the Soviet Army and was killed in a German POW camp near Dresden.