He is the former dean of St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary in South Canaan, Pennsylvania, and serves there as Rector[2] and Associate Professor of New Testament and Ethics.

Michael entered the clergy through the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese, being ordained to the priesthood by Bishop John (Martin) in 1973.

The son of Ann (Rosics) and the late Peter Dahulich, Michael was born in Johnson City, N.Y., on August 29, 1950.

From the age of ten until he graduated from college and went to Seminary, Michael served as an altar boy under the tutelage of his pastor, Fr.

[3] He was ordained by Bishop John, first to the Diaconate on February 3, 1973, in St. Peter the Apostle Chapel in Johnstown; and then to the Holy Priesthood the following day, in Christ the Saviour Cathedral.

Peter and Paul Church in Homer City, Pa., a small mission community which had never had a full-time priest, on Sunday, February 18, 1973.

Two days later, en route to dinner at his best friend’s home in Jenners, Pa., he and his wife were in a car accident; she was killed instantly, and he was hospitalized for three months.

Upon his graduation from St. Vincent College, he was named Prefect of Student Life at Christ the Saviour Seminary, a position he held for five years, until SS.

During that time Michael also served as Religious Education Director for the Johnstown Deanery and as Associate Editor of The Church Messenger.

He continued as Vice-Chancellor and Secretary to Bishop Nicholas of Amissos, until December 1985, when he was transferred to Holy Ghost Church in Phoenixville, Pa., where he served as pastor for 16 years.

He served for more than a decade as the Dean of the Mid-Atlantic Deanery parishes of the Carpatho-Russian Diocese, and Vice-Chairman of the Harvest 2000 Committee on Missions, Evangelization and Diocesan Growth.

Michael was part of the team that earned national accreditation for the Seminary from the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.

On August 24, 2009, Father Michael was selected as a nominee for Bishop of the Diocese of New York and New Jersey, by clergy and lay delegates at a Special Diocesan Assembly.

On September 22, the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America elected him to the episcopacy, for the Diocese of New York and New Jersey.