Born in Toporăuți, a village outside Cernăuți, the capital of the Duchy of Bukovina, his parents were the Orthodox priest Constantin and his wife Elena (née Popescu).
As a Bukovina refugee, he enlisted in the Romanian Land Forces, seeing frontline action during the Battle of Mărășești as a second lieutenant in the reserves.
As a lawyer in Cernăuți, he specialized in economic and cooperative cases.
He headed the Society of Romanian Craftsmen, Sellers and Industrialists of Upper Moldavia.
He was active in the history institute created in November 1942 at the Cernăuți theology faculty.