
Bishop Nicholas was born in Damascus, Syria, in January 1963 to an Antiochian Orthodox family. He attended the French Lycée Laïque elementary and middle school, and the Omia High School. For the first 18 years of his life, he attended the Antiochian Orthodox Patriarchal Cathedral of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in Damascus.
In February 1981, Bishop Nicholas emigrated to the United States, where he began a course of study at Northeastern University. He earned several degrees, including Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Master of Science in Computer Engineering, and a Specialization Certificate in Object-Oriented Design, Architecture, and Coding. He has also attended many professional engineering conferences, as well as courses and conferences on psychology and human behavior.
Bishop Nicholas worked for nearly 20 years as a Computer Engineer at several companies in the Electronics Design Automation industry, such as ViewLogic Systems and Synopsys Co. He was also promoted to the highest technical ranks as a Lead Software Architect, Principal Software Engineer, and Software Engineering Manager. He represented his companies to many conferences in Sweden, France, England, Germany, Italy, and USA, and also served as a lecturer in Electronics Circuitry, Circuit Theory, and Digital Computers at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA.