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As he was married, he and his wife traveled to different monasteries in Harbin, Manchuria, which at the time was ruled by Japan. In Harbin, Fr. John was [[tonsure]]d a [[monk]] under the name of Nicholas and his wife Vera was tonsured a [[nun]] with the name Helen.
[[Image:Harbin Church.jpg|left|thumb|150px|St. Nicholas Cathedral, Harbin, Manchuria, China]]
On [[April 6]], 1941, Fr. John was consecrated the Bishop of Tokyo and All Japan in St. Nicholas Cathedral in Harbin by the hierarchs of the ROCOR: Metr. Meletius (Zaborovsky) of Harbin and All Manchuria, Abp. [[Nestor (Anisimov) of Kamchatka ]] and Petropavlovsk, Bp. Juvenal of Qiqihar, Bp. Demetrius of Hailar and Bp. [[John Maximovitch|John (Maksimovich) of Shanghai]]. (Some sources name Abp. Victor (Svyatin) of Beijing instead of Bp. John.) Thus, Bp. Nicholas became the first Japanese national to be consecrated an Orthodox bishop.
After the end of World War II, the jurisdiction over most of the communities of the Japanese Orthodox Church was assumed by the American Metropolia, the predecessor of the [[OCA]], while a minority, under the leadership of Bp. Nicholas aligned itself with the Moscow Patriarchate. On [[May 27]], 1954, Bp. Nicholas was reconciled with the Japanese Orthodox Church, then led by Bp. [[Ireney (Bekish) of New York|Ireney (Bekish)]]. Bp. Nicholas died at the age of 83 on [[November 19]], 1956. He is buried in Yanaka Cemetery in Tokyo, alongside his predecessors: St. Nicholas, the Enlightener of Japan, and Metr. Sergius.
