The church in honor of Saint Martyr Mina is located in the southern part of Staraya Russa, away from the center, at the intersection of Georgievskaya Street and Writer's Lane. Nearby are the Georgievskaya Church and the F.M. Dostoevsky House Museum. The temple belongs to the type of four-pillar, single-domed, single-apsidal with a sub-church.

The exact date of the church's construction is unknown, as it lacks chronicle dating. The first mention of it is found in the land registry book of the Shelonskaya Five from 1497-1498. For a long time, historians studying Staraya Russa noted the antiquity of the church without specifying the time of its construction. In 1885, local historian M.I. Polyansky claimed in his book that the Mina Church was the oldest in the city. Priest V. Pylaev also considered it one of the oldest but noted that determining its exact age was difficult. Modern historians and architects have also been unable to establish the date of construction accurately. In 1944, Leningrad architect S.E. Brovtsev wrote that the Church of Mina resembles the Novgorod Nereditsa and other 12th-century churches, but dating it to that century is challenging. L.G. Drobychevsky attributed the monument to the 13th century, while local historian I.N. Vyazinin pointed to the 14th century, later, no later than the 15th century. In the post-war list of architectural monuments of the Novgorod region, the church is dated to 1371. In 1939, the director of the Novgorod Museums A.A. Strokov attributed its construction to the 15th century. I.V. Antipov, who conducted archaeological research in 2002, suggested that the church was built in the 1410-1430s. Excavations showed that the stone church was preceded by two wooden ones, destroyed by fires. V.A. Yadryshnikov believes that the first church was built in the late 1370s, then, after a fire, a new one was erected in the late 14th century, and in the late 1410s, the stone one that has survived to this day.

During the Swedish occupation, the Church of Mina was looted. The land registry book of 1624 reports that the church was empty, and church property was seized. In the second half of the 1650s, the temple was restored with funds from the Iversky Monastery, and in 1751 it was completely renovated. The church's parish was large, encompassing 15 villages. In 1832, the parish decreased, but parishioners from other churches were added to it. In 1874, the church became warm, and in 1887 it was plastered and whitewashed. Gradually, the role of the temple diminished, and services were held only on holidays. After the October Revolution, the temple remained active for 20 years, but after the arrest of the rector in 1938, it was closed and handed over to the city executive committee. During the Great Patriotic War, the temple suffered greatly. In 1948-1949, restoration work was carried out, but without research. In 1960-1962, under the guidance of L.M. Shulyak, a more thorough restoration was conducted. After that, the temple was not used and gradually fell into disrepair. In 1988, its condition was recognized as unsatisfactory. In the late 1980s, research began under the guidance of G.M. Shtender, but was soon halted. In 1994, G.P. Nikolskaya proposed two options for restoration, and in 2002, the second option was approved. The work was completed in 2008, accompanied by archaeological excavations, during which 43 burials from the 16th to 18th centuries were discovered in 2007.