During the Russo-Japanese War, Nicholas stayed in Japan. Those days were very difficult for him. His love for the land of his birth conflicted with his duty as the bishop of Japan to support his faithful and to pray for the Japanese Emperor and the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. In the Orthodox liturgy at that time, priests had to explicitly pray not only benediction on the sovereign and his army but also for the defeat of his enemies in the intercession. Nicholas, therefore, did not participate in any public services during the war; instead, he encouraged his Japanese faithful both to pray for and to contribute to the Army and the Navy. Some encouraged him to go back to Russia, but he refused and worked eagerly for Japanese faithful and Russian prisoners of war. In a letter on the conditions of a camp in Hamadera, Osaka, Nicholas wrote of his astonishment at the Russians soldiers' illiteracy: nine of ten captives could not read.
