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With the start of World War I, Fr. Nestor returned to western Russia, where he participated in the battle front medical care efforts, including rescuing wounded from the battlefield and caring for the wounds and providing both physical and spiritual comfort. Near the end of 1915, Fr Nestor was relieved of his war time duties. He was elevated to [[archimandrite]] and returned to his mission in Kamchatka. On [[October 16]], 1915, Fr Nestor was [[consecration of a bishop|consecrated]] a bishop and appointed the ruling bishop of the newly formed Diocese of Kamchatka.
In 1917, Bp. Nestor returned again to western Russia to participate in the [[All-Russian Church Council of 1917-1918|Local Council of 1917-1918]]. As part of a commission under Metr. Benjamin of St Petersburg to evaluate damages to the Moscow Kremlin during the October 1917 events, Fr. Nestor published the results of study in a book ''Shooting of the Moscow Kremlin'' that resulted in his arrest by the Bolsheviks and his imprisonment for a month. In 1919, he returned to Kamchatka with great difficulty through a roundabout route of Kiev, Odessa, Turkey, Egypt, India, and China as the direct route through Siberia was blocked by the Russian civil war. His stay in Kamchatka was short as he was soon exiled by the Bolsheviks.
The nearest place free of Bolsheviks was Manchuria in China. The area had a large population of Orthodox Russians, as the Russians had been building Chinese Eastern Railway, a direct route for the Trans-Siberian railway through Manchuria to Vladivostok. In 1921, Bp. Nestor arrived in the principal city of Harbin where he established a representation of the Diocese of Kamchatka.
Through the twenties and thirties, Bp. Nestor participated in the religious activities in Manchuria as well as in Japan, including participation in the re-consecration on [[December 15]], 1929 of the [[Holy Resurrection Cathedral (Tokyo, Japan)|Holy Resurrection Cathedral]] (Nicolai-do) in Tokyo, Japan. He participated in the consecration of [[Nicholas (Ono) of Japan|Nicholas (Ono)]] as the first Japanese bishop at St Nicholas Cathedral in Harbin on [[April 6]], 1941.
[[Image:Harbin Church.jpg|left|thumb|100px|St. Nicholas Cathedral, Harbin, Manchuria, China]]
He established a House of Mercy to provide aid to destitute victim of the turmoil of the Russian civil war. In 1933, Bp. Nestor was elevated to [[archbishop]]. Also, during these decades Bp. Nestor visited many exiled [[hierarch]]s in Europe and Asia as well as participating in missionary work in India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
