Leon Malyi was born in the family of Yan and Henovefa (née Hutsal) Malyi in the Podolia. After graduation of the school education, continued to study at the Lviv cinema college. In the same time he joined the clandestine Roman Catholic Theological Seminary under the supervision of Father Henrik Mosing:[1] he was ordained as priest on June 7, 1984, by clandestine Bishop Jan Cienski[2] (single Roman Catholic bishop in the territory of Ukraine) after graduation of the theological studies.[1]