He was ordained priest on 19 July 1835 and returned to Galicia where he served as preached and teacher of religion.

In February 1848 he was appointed as Greek Catholic pastor of the St. Barbara parish in Wien.

Soon after he was appointed honorary Canon, and in 1852 he became the first rector of the newly established Greek Catholic seminary.

[2] At the death of Cardinal Mykhajlo Levitsky in 1858 he was appointed Administrator of the Archeparchy.

After the death of Metropolitan Hryhory Yakhymovych, on 30 June 1863 Spyrydon Lytvynovych was designed Metropolitan of Lviv by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and so confirmed by Pope Pius IX on 28 September 1863.