Born around 1270 in the župa of Pilot (present-day Pult, in northern Albania),[1] his given name has not been recorded, only that he belonged to a Serbian noble family.

[1][2] He was endowed with a fine intellect and a noble disposition; he had received an excellent education at the hands of the most learned men in Medieval Serbia and in Byzantium.

[1] After his novitiate, he went to Peć at the request of the Serbian archbishop Jevstatije, where he was made a presbyter priest.

[3] After that, he progressed quickly in the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church: first as abbot of Hilandar (c. 1306–1311), then as bishop of Banjska (1312–1315), and finally as archbishop from 1324 until his death in 1337.

As a result of his work, many historical details concerning both the rulers of medieval Serbia and the members of the Nemanjić dynasty have been preserved.