The Ilyinsky Church is first mentioned in the land books of 1627 and 1628 as a wooden temple. It had altars in honor of Saints Boris and Gleb and the Great Martyr Catherine. In 1739, the construction of a new stone church began, financed by merchants Yakov Lisitsyn and Khariton Antonov Pastukhov. By 1760, a two-story stone church was erected. The first floor was heated with an altar dedicated to Saint Catherine, while the second, unheated, had altars for the prophet Elijah, the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, and Saints Boris and Gleb. The roof was covered with iron of a copper color. The floor in the altar of the second floor was stone, while the first floor was wooden. A wooden bell tower with seven bells was added to the church. The windows were made of oak and protected by iron grilles. The holy altar and the sacrificial table were made of oak, the upper board of the altar was made of cypress, and the holy antimins was made of white satin.

The church housed many ancient icons, including the image of the Prophet Elijah, the Savior, Saints Boris and Gleb, the Last Judgment of God, and the Most Holy Theotokos of Sorrows, which, according to legend, was gifted to the church by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. The church was richly decorated with church utensils, including copper-silvered chandeliers, prefiguring lamps, crystal and silver lamps, as well as candlesticks made of red and yellow copper.

From 1884 to 1917, a church school operated in the parish of the church. At the end of the 19th century, the external appearance of the church changed, acquiring features of the pseudo-Russian style.

From 1924 to 1943, the church served as the cathedral of Tula. During the Great Patriotic War, a carpentry workshop was located there, in the late 1980s, a sewing workshop, and in the early 1990s, the Central Design Bureau.

On March 1, 2006, the church was returned to the believers, and on August 2, the first service was held there under the guidance of Archbishop Alexy of Tula and Belev. Currently, restoration work continues in the church.