At the Orthodox cemetery, in addition to the Church of the Holy Spirit, there were three other subsidiary churches. One of them, dedicated to St. Athanasius of Athos, was located in the western part of the cemetery. Originally, it was a monastery church and was long associated with the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery. In 1653, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich granted the monastery a plot of land where the monks built a wooden church in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, serving as a spiritual support for the monks and workers. In 1744, Archimandrite Mephodiy replaced the wooden church with a stone one, consecrated in the same name. The old church was moved to the monastery garden and consecrated in honor of St. Athanasius of Athos, who has long been considered the patron of monasticism.

Inside the church was a four-tiered iconostasis, created in 1892 with funds from merchant D.I. Artemyev. The side altars were adorned with single-tier carved iconostases, one of which was established with funds from merchant V.I. Smirnov in 1882. The frescoes of the church were completed in 1847 under Archimandrite Vassian and updated in 1892. Surrounding the church were the graves of monks and residents of Astrakhan. Among them was the blessed Peter Andreevich Sazonov, buried near the left choir.

In 1923, the Church of the Holy Spirit was seized by Renovationists, while the other two churches in the cemetery remained sealed. The Church of Athanasius of Athos became the only functioning Orthodox church in the cemetery. After the seizure of the Mikhail-Archangel and Vvedensky churches by Renovationists, the parishioners moved to the Athos church, which began to serve as a parish church.

In 1932, the Church of Athanasius of Athos was closed and soon demolished. For a long time, a three-story stone church house, serving as housing for clergy, reminded of it. In the 1970s, the western part of the cemetery, where the church stood, was demolished along with the church house. The remains of some clergy were transferred to the preserved part of the cemetery, while the other burials were destroyed. Garages for the workers of the regional party committee were built on the site of the cemetery, which still exist today.