Bishop Paul was born Peter Popov in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, in 1813, in the Yeniseysk province of Russia. His father was a priest. Peter Popov attended the Irkutsk Seminary, graduating in July 1834. On October 18, 1834, he was ordained a priest and assigned to the church in Nerchinsk. Then, in 1837 he was assigned to the cathedral in Krasnoyarsk, where on December 6, 1838, he was raised to the rank of archpriest.