The village of Gorbatovo originally belonged to Prince Shuysky-Gorbaty, but Ivan IV transferred these lands to the Spaso-Efimev Monastery. Later, Catherine II seized the village from the monks and transformed it into a district town of the Nizhny Novgorod province. In 1858, the Sorrowful Church was built at the city cemetery of Gorbatovo in honor of the icon of the Mother of God 'Joy of All Who Sorrow.' It was affiliated with the Trinity Cathedral of Gorbatovo, but it was closed in the 1930s. Today, the church has been restored: the roof and parts of the facades have been rebuilt, and since 2008, services have resumed. The church is now affiliated with the Nikolayevsky Georgievsky Women's Monastery in the village of Ababkovo, Pavlovsky District.