In the land books of 1629, the church is mentioned as "Goritsky Pogost," indicating its construction near an old cemetery. The nearest settlement to the church was Goritsy. The Goritsky pogost was located by Lake Nikolsky, 150 versts from the provincial city and 30 versts from the district city, on the border of Muromsky district and Nizhny Novgorod province.

In the land books of 1629-1630, there was a church on the pogost in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, built from wooden logs, indicating its simple structure. The church had a priest, a deacon, and a prosphora-baker. The church lands included 8 quarters of arable land, 4 quarters of forest, and 30 bundles of hay.

In the revenue books of 1676, the same church in Goritsy is mentioned, which had the house of priest Vasily, as well as the houses of deacons and prosphora-bakers. The parish included the village of Sonino with 14 peasant and 4 landless households, the village of Beltevo with 6 peasant households, and the village of Goritsy with 15 peasant and 5 landless households. Priest Vasily had 2 quarters of church land and 30 bundles of hay. At the end of 1795, the church at the Goritsky pogost was rebuilt, and icons from the Sretenskaya church of the city of Murom were transferred there.

In 1863, the old wooden church was dismantled and a new one was built, also wooden, by carpenters from Goritsy and Sonino. The church's refectory was consecrated in 1863, and the main church was completed and consecrated in 1872. The church was erected with funds from Count Dmitry Nikolaevich Sheremetev, son of Praskovya Zhemchugova, as well as donations from the residents of Sonino, Goritsy, and Beltevo. The new church had three altars: the main one in honor of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, in the warm refectory in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and St. Michael Malein. The church was well supplied with utensils, vestments, and liturgical books. The icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which had a silver cross with relics of unknown saints, was especially venerated by the parishioners.