In 1919, Archimandrite Nikolaj was consecrated Bishop of Žiča but did not remain long in that diocese, being asked to take over the office of Bishop in the Eparchy of Ohrid (1920-1931) and Eparchy of Ohrid and Bitola (1931-1936) in southern parts of Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Whether that was his own wish is not clear. It was in a way a mission post for the people of the lately recovered Serbian territory were backward and there were still vestiges of the Ottoman days still prevailing in habit, pagan superstition and even black magic.