Archbishop Ionatan (Copalovici Ivan) was born on June 8, 1912, in the village of Oleșnik, Transcarpathian region.
He graduated from the Theological Seminary in Sremski Karlovci (Serbia) and from the Faculty of Theology in Prešov, earning a doctoral degree. From 1945, he served as secretary of the Diocese of Mukachevo, and from 1949 as archpriest of the Orthodox churches in Hungary.
On November 28, 1965, he was consecrated Bishop of Teghel, serving as vicar of the Russian Diocese of Berlin. Between 1965 and 1970, he administered several Russian dioceses outside the borders of the USSR. From 1970 to 1972, he served as Archbishop of Tambov and Michurinsk.
Beginning October 11, 1972, he became Archbishop of Chișinău. During his tenure, in 1989, the first liturgical book in Romanian published in the Moldavian SSR—the Trebnic (Book of Needs), printed in Cyrillic script—was issued in Chișinău. He established a disciplinary commission and guided and recommended several young men to pursue theological studies, many of whom later became clergy of the diocese. He paid special attention to Jăpcă Monastery, which he supported and visited regularly. On October 30, 1979, he convened a general assembly of the clergy, attended by all the clergy of the diocese.
In 1987, due to health reasons, he resigned. On May 21, 1990, he reposed in the Lord and was buried within the grounds of the Monastery of Saint Hierarch Nicholas in the town of Mukachevo.