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On December 24, 1949, he was baptized in Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church, which had been consecrated by Saint Tikhon in 1905, during his tenure as Archbishop of North America. Upon graduation from high school in 1967, he enrolled in Christ the Saviour Seminary, Johnstown, PA.
On August 8, 1970, he was tonsured a monk of the [[Lesser Schema]] and given the monastic name [[Nicholas|Nikolai]]. The following day, he was ordained to the [[diacondeacon]]ate. He was ordained to the [[priest]]hood on June 4, 1972 at Saint Stevan Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, Alhambra, CA.
After graduation from the seminary in 1972, Father Nikolai was sent to Billings, MT, where he organized Saint Elijah parish. In 1974, the parish’s new church building was consecrated. While residing in Montana, Father Nikolai worked in secular positions with the State of Montana as a juvenile parole officer from 1972 until 1976 and as assistant principal of Billings Central High School from 1976 until 1978. He also pursued graduate studies in Rehabilitation Counseling.
His Grace, Bishop Nikolai of Baltimore, Auxiliary to Metropolitan Theodosius, began overseeing the life of the Diocese in June 2001 after the transfer of His Grace, Bishop Innocent to the auxiliary see of Hagerstown, MD.
On October 31, 2001 Eighty-two clergy and lay delegates from parishes of the Orthodox Church in America's Diocese of Alaska unanimously voted to nominate His Grace, Bishop Nikolai of Baltimore, as the candidate for the vacant episcopal see of Sitka and Alaska. At a special session of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America, His Grace, Bishop Nikolai of Baltimore and Auxiliary to His Beatitude, Metropolitan Theodosius, was canonically elected to fill the vacant diocesan see of Sitka and Alaska<ref>http://oca.org/news/archived/archimandrite-nikolai-soraich-consecrated-to-episcopacy-at-dallas-cathedral</ref>.
[[Image:Bishops Peter and Nikolai.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Bishops [[Peter (Loukianoff) of Cleveland|Peter]] ([[ROCOR]]) and [[Nikolai (Soraich) of Sitka|Nikolai]] ([[OCA]]) greet one another at an OCA episcopal consecration service in May 2005.]]
He was installed as the 18th ruling bishop of the Orthodox Church in America's Diocese of Sitka and Alaska on March 4 and 5, 2002 at the historic Archangel Michael Cathedral in Sitka, AK and resided in Anchorage, AK as diocesian bishop.
