In 1792, a warm church was built in the Cross Exaltation parish of Arzamas in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, as a miraculous image had been found by the townspeople in 1643. Local historian N. M. Shchegolkova mentioned that in 1643, the miraculous Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was transferred to Arzamas and glorified, which now resides in the Cross Exaltation Church. That summer, due to a prolonged drought, a procession was organized around the city. On the morning of the procession, parishioners of the Cross Exaltation Church noticed a monk named Daniel passing by with a large icon of the Kazan Mother of God. They asked him where he was taking the icon, to which Daniel replied that he was taking it to the Monastery of the Life-Giving Trinity, located at the site of the current Holy Spirit Church. However, the parishioners persuaded him to leave the icon in their church. The news spread quickly, and the abbot of the Spassky Monastery, schemamonk Theodosius, ordered the procession to first visit the Cross Exaltation Church. There, a prayer service was held before the newly brought icon, after which the icon participated in the procession. When the procession reached the cemetery of the Church of the Prophet Elijah, the icon performed a miracle: light emanated from it, and myrrh flowed, followed by rain.

By 1860, a parish school was operating at the church, a public spiritual library opened in 1862, and in 1889, the first church-parish school in Arzamas was established.

In the spring of 1929, the Cross Exaltation Church was dismantled for bricks by the decision of the city council. From June of that year, the Kazan Church housed a Sanitation and Enlightenment House. In November 1945, the Pioneer House moved there, and later, a public service for the population.

On November 4, 2003, the Kazan Church was returned to the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese. The first service took place on the eve of Christmas, January 6, 2004. On January 16, 2011, the church was consecrated by episcopal ordination.