Soter Stephen Ortynsky de Labetz was born in Ortynychi [uk], Lviv Oblast, Ukraine, on January 29, 1866, then part of Galicia.

May 28, 1913, the Apostolic See named Bishop Ortynsky as exarch, granting him full ordinary jurisdiction, making him independent of every Latin diocese.

On August 17, 1914, the Congregation de propaganda fide put out a decree about the governance of the Greek Catholic Church for the next ten years, called “Cum Episcopo”.

His short tenure as Bishop was noted by his work setting up orphanages and a cathedral in Philadelphia, but unfortunately also for schism with the priests and parishes under his authority.

Furthermore, in a 21 August 1912 open letter to the Amerikansky Russky Viestnik, the parishioners of Holy Trinity Greek Catholic Church in Browerville, Minnesota announced that they had refused to surrender the parish and cemetery deeds to Bishop Soter Ortynsky.