He was born in Teiuș, Alba County, the son of Ștefan Bălan and Ana, née Muntean.

After graduating high school in Blaj, he studied theology in Budapest, and was ordained a priest in 1903.

He continued his studies in Vienna, moved to Blaj and then in 1909 to Bucharest, where a Greek-Catholic confessor was needed.

In 1936, after Alexandru Nicolescu became Metropolitan of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia, he was consecrated Bishop of Lugoj.

In 1948, the new Communist regime outlawed his church and he was arrested in October after refusing to convert to Romanian Orthodoxy.