In late 1758 and into the following year, Orthodox unrest rose in Transylvania, caused by harsh measures taken by the head of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church, Petru Pavel Aron, as well as the local authorities.
A series of ministerial conferences took place in Vienna and decided to name an Orthodox bishop, with the stipulation that he was forbidden to oppose the spread of Greek-Catholicism.
In spite of internal dissent which viewed the deteriorating situation as the work of Karlovci and proposed it be dealt with by expelling and arresting emissaries of the Serbian metropolitan, Empress Maria Theresa approved the plan.
One account holds that Petru Pavel Aron, head of the latter institution, officiated a liturgy in an empty, formerly Orthodox church, while Novaković did the same in the yard, drawing a large crowd.
In September, von Buccow installed him in St. Nicholas Church in Șcheii Brașovului, reading the decree in Latin, following which the bishop delivered a speech in the same language.
The following year, the empress issued a new decree of toleration, this time accompanied by eleven conditions meant to facilitate conversion to Greek Catholicism.
During one of his absences, the building was taken over by the head of the local post office, forcing the bishop to move to a three-room peasant house in Rășinari that still stands.
[11] The new bishop, received coldly due to his foreign origins and particularly because he had been named from Vienna; faced with serious restrictions that impeded his work; and longing for his Serbian followers in Buda, submitted his resignation in December 1762.
Upon the orders of Maria Theresa, the majority went to the Roman Catholic orphanage in Sibiu, while part of it ended up with the Greek-Catholic theological seminary in Blaj.