On April 24, 1920, Bishop Dimitrius (Verbitsky) ordained him a priest, and in the following months he was appointed Dean of a church in Ternivka, in the Cherkasy region.
With the blessing of the Administrator of the Warsaw Metropolia in the freed Ukrainian lands, headed by Archbishop Polikarp (Sikorsky), Bishops Nikanor and Ihor, tonsured Fr.
Archbishop Michael was transferred to the Mykolayiv Diocese due to pressure from German authorities[citation needed].
By the conclusion of the war in 1945, Archbishop Michael had travelled widely across Europe: to Odessa, Akerman, Galac, Vienna, Warsaw, and throughout Germany and Slovakia.
With the blessing of Metropolitan Polikarp, Archbishop Michael was given the responsibility to look after the Ukrainian Orthodox flock in Bavaria, with its headquarters in Munich.
Within a few years, with Metropolitan Polikarp's blessing, the Consistory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada invited Archbishop Michael to become her ruling bishop.
However, during the XV Sobor in 1975, Michael resigned as Metropolitan, stating that he wished to remain as the head of the Eastern Diocese.
Metropolitan Andrew (Metiuk) said at his graveside: "He was a great intercessor before our Lord God, and for his people and his Church."