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On [[September 1]], 1923, Tokyo was hit by the Great Kanto Earthquake. The earthquake caused serious damage to the [[Holy Resurrection Cathedral (Tokyo, Japan)|Holy Resurrection Cathedral]] (Nikolai-do) at the mission's headquarters in Surugadai Kanda in Tokyo. The main bell tower collapsed onto the central dome severely damaging the building and the subsequent fires burned much what was left of the interior. Thus, Sergius had inherited adversity greater than would be expected. Rebuilding Nicolai-do became central for Sergius and in this he did not give up. He toured throughout Japan asking for donations. He asked a young musician, [[Victor Pokrovsky|Victor A. Pokrovsky]], a refugee of the defeated White Army, to develop and lead the cathedral choir which toured Japan to raise money for the re-construction of the cathedral. Through these extraordinary efforts Nikolai-do was re-built and re-consecrated in just a little over six years. The re-consecration was held on [[December 15]], 1929 with 5,000 guests present including [[Abp. Nestor (Anisimov)]] from Harbin. Then, in 1931, Sergius was elevated to ''Metropolitan of All Japan'' by the [[Holy Synod]] in Moscow.
Then, as the Japanese church began its recovery under the leadership of Metr. Sergius, the specter of militaristic nationalism began to rise in Japan. Under this new political climate pressures increased on all that was foreign and Christian. Eventually, in 1940, the pressures became too great. Eventually, in 1940, the pressures became too great. In September of 1940, the government enacted a law that Japanese nationals had to head all religious organizations. Thus, Sergius, his choir director, Victor Pokrovsky, and other non-Japanese were removed from their positions in the church. The metropolitan and his choir director were to spend World War II in obscurity, harassment, under suspicion of being Russian/American spies, and were finally arrested in the Spring of 1945 by the the special police. In mid 1945, Sergius ended up under house arrest, his health impaired, and died under unusual circumstances on [[August 10]], 1945, only five days before Japan's part in World War II ended.
With Japan in disorder as the war was ending, Metr. Sergius's body was carried for the last rites and burial in a "honey bucket" cart, as he had predicted to friends some years before when he pointed to such a cart that was passing them. The metropolitan was buried beside St. Nicholas of Japan, his predecessor, in the Yanaka Cemetery in Tokyo.