The future Bishop Michael was born on April 19, 1949 in Westerly, RI, the first son of Charles and Marguerite (Cardinal) Crowley, named Timothy James. He was raised across the river in Pawcatuck, CT, a sub-section of the town of Stonington. On the day he was baptized in a convent of the Roman Catholic Church, he was told that his aunt, a nun, placed him on the altar and offered him to God. He had an older sister, Charlene, now deceased, as well as a brother, Archpriest Brendan. A much younger sister was born when he was sixteen, Dr. Karen Crowley of Brown University.

Timothy attended Catholic parochial schools for the first nine years of education, only changing to the public high school as a sophomore. He graduated from Stonington High School in 1967, and matriculated to Boston University, graduating with a B.A. in English Language and Literature in 1971.

His experience at university in those tumultuous years was fairly typical except for one life-altering moment: "One evening toward the end of my sophomore year I experienced an ‘epiphany’ of sorts which occurred very unexpectedly. In that moment, and going forward, I realized that God is real, Jesus Christ is Lord, and that I would have to be in submission to God and fashion my life accordingly; that God and the Kingdom of Heaven are within. The path ahead would be the search for the realization of this in living – for ‘Goodness, Truth, and Beauty.’"

After graduation he traveled for some months looking for people of like mind with whom to associate. Returning home disappointed on Christmas (NS), 1972, he considered pursuing a teaching job rather than building nuclear submarines like the rest of his family. Again, the remarkable occurred: "On Christmas night, my brother and I decided to take a walk to the downtown area to find a place to sip on a coffee. We found one small diner that happened to be open and went in. We had never been to this place before. Almost immediately a foreign looking man (actually, a Moroccan Jew who grew up in Egypt) who was the short-order cook came over to the counter and began conversing with us. It turned out that he was married to a high school classmate of mine who I had not seen since graduation. He told us of a group of young people living together in a near monastic manner who were followers of Jesus Christ. So began my twenty-year journey in the Holy Order of MANS, a brotherhood which began as a kind of ‘New Age’ Christianity and ended in Orthodoxy."

Then-Fr. Michael was "ordained" in the HOOM on September 7, 1977, and was first sent to Chicago to teach "novices," one of whom was the future Nun Cornelia (Rees) of OrthoChristian.com, then a young woman. After six months, he returned to California to work closely with Mrs. Ella Rigney, the founder of the Raphael House Family Shelter in San Francisco as both Administrator and mentor to the thirty or so brotherhood staff.

He married Nancy Nixon, a brotherhood member, on April 18, 1979, and they continued at Raphael House for one year. She found it quite humorous to tell people they were married in a homeless shelter.

In April of 1980, they were assigned to Indianapolis, IN, to be the Midwest Regional Directors for the brotherhood. There were many small-to-medium-sized groups of people scattered throughout this part of the U.S. He became well acquainted with the now Abbess Michaila of St. Paisius Monastery during this time, as she was the director of a smaller version of Raphael House in Saint Louis, MO.

By the mid-1980s, it became apparent to the Crowleys that they needed a firm traditional connection, that eclectic "theology" could not sustain either their communities or the growing number of families rather than single people that now comprised them.

Under the leadership of the now-reposed Vincent Rossi, the future Fr. Maximos of St. Silouan Monastery in CA, they began an energetic study of Christian Tradition. They published a journal, "Epiphany," that more or less chronicled this study. He was later the editor from 1991-1994. One day, Rossi was visiting the Epiphany office and happened upon a stack of periodicals that they had received in trade for their own. This was the "Orthodox Word" from St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood. Rossi took them home and, reading through them all, was entirely taken with the work of Fr. Seraphim (Rose). He shared this "discovery" with the Crowleys. Fr. Seraphim had fairly recently reposed, so they formed a relationship with Fr. Herman (Podmoshensky).

For the next couple of years, they would periodically fly Fr. Herman to Indianapolis, where he would conduct his "New Valaam Theological Academy" to their delight and edification. This Holy Tradition of Orthodoxy was what they had been searching for. It was around this time that their community was renamed "Christ the Savior Brotherhood."

The future Bishop Michael was baptized by Fr. Herman in the spring of 1988. Since theirs had always been a "sacramental" community, they also needed ordination. Fr. Herman was in trouble with ROCOR and so, even though all that he had taught was essential ROCOR practice, he connected them with a "bishop" in Queens, NY. This "Metropolitan Pangratios" was strange to the Crowleys but, in their ignorance, they followed Fr. Herman’s direction. Fr. Michael was ordained a priest on July 2, 1988. They purchased an historic church building in downtown Indianapolis and began serving in the Orthodox way. It is now in the Bulgarian Archdiocese named "The Joy of All Who Sorrow" in honor of St. John of Shanghai & San Francisco.

This was again a somewhat tumultuous time, a few in the community wanting to hold on to the past while others became sometimes over-zealous converts. The Crowleys stayed for two more years in Indianapolis, where four of their five daughters were born, then in 1990 decided to move to Maine where Fr. Michael’s brother, Fr. Brendan, was living and serving a tiny mission church. Matushka Anne’s parents had both reposed by this time and her inheritance allowed them to buy a house and move their family. Their fifth daughter was born one month after the move.

After Fr. Michael’s first year in Maine, Fr. Brendan and his family moved to Connecticut. The employment situation in Maine was tight and he was unable to find supporting work. Fr. Michael took over serving the mission church and after some struggle was able to find employment at a modest-sized company, Seafax, Inc., where he worked as an enterprise systems administrator for the next 22 years. He had natural technical abilities and the company paid for all of his advanced training.

At the same time, he decided that he needed more theological education. The Crowleys had done years of self-directed study in all things Christian and Orthodox, but he still felt lacking. In 1991, he enrolled in a graduate degree program at the Bangor Theological Seminary at its new branch in Portland. He was awarded the Master of Theological Studies in May 1994. Since this was a Protestant institution, he kept the focus of my studies on Scripture and Church History.

As he reached the end of his degree program, Fr. Michael became completely uneasy with the leadership. During Bright Week of 1994, he expressed his disquiet to his friend, Fr. Basil Arabatzis of the Greek Archdiocese, who in turn invited him to speak with Elder Ephraim, who was visiting a parish in New Jersey, and offered to translate. After listening to Fr. Michael’s story, the elder told him to go to Bishop Hilarion of ROCOR, "He knows me, tell him I sent you." After corresponding and meeting with the future Metropolitan, Fr. Michael was "regularized," ordained to the priesthood on September 22, 1994 at Synod. He continued serving at their small mission in South Portland until he was called to be the pastor of St. Xenia Church in Methuen, MA, in September, 2002. Matushka Anne, well loved and respected by all who knew her, passed away after 42 years of marriage on March 5, 2021. Bishop Michael is now in his 24th year in the parish. All of his daughters are married to Orthodox husbands. He has eighteen grandchildren.

Since coming to ROCOR, Bishop Michael has volunteered many summers at St. Seraphim Camp, and at various St. Herman Youth Conferences, hosting the conference at St. Xenia’s in 2009. He and his now adult daughters have a continuing commitment to Orthodox youth.

He was elected Bishop of Boston, Vicar of the Eastern American Diocese (upon tonsure to monasticism), by the Synod of Bishops on December 9, 2025.

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church confirmed this decision on December 26, 2025 (Journal № 125). 

On February 6, 2026, Bishop Luke of Syracuse tonsured him a monk with the name Michael in honor of St. Michael, Metropolitan of Кiev in Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville.

On February 8, 2026, the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, Bishop Luke of Syracuse elevated him to the rank of abbot and then to the rank of archimandrite in Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville.

He was nominated a bishop on February 14, 2026, and consecrated on February 15 during the divine services in Holy Trinity Monastery led by Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America & New York.