Atanas Trendafilov Nikolov was born on 2 March 1972 in Smolyan in the then People's Republic of Bulgaria.

[1] On 21 July 2004, Daniel was sent for obedience to the Rozhen Monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[2] On 15 June 2010, Daniel was appointed vicar of the diocese in the US, Canada and Australia of the Bulgarian Patriarchate.

On 2 December 2011, the Holy Synod "took note of the letter from Metropolitan Joseph of the USA, Canada and Australia, notifying that permission had been received from the American emigration authorities to fulfill the obedience assigned by the Holy Synod to Bishop Daniel of Dragovitia, who can already leave and take on responsibilities, as metropolitan vicar of the USA, Canada and Australia".

[5] In December 2018, Metropolitan Daniel condemned the Unification Council in Kyiv, calling it uncanonical.