The church, consecrated in honor of John the Baptist, is known in Uglich for the dramatic history of its creation. The Nativity of St. John Church was built in two years, from 1689 to 1690, with funds from the Yaroslavl merchant Nikifor Grigorievich Chepolosov. He dedicated it to the memory of his six-year-old son, tragically killed by a servant, the steward Rudak. This man kidnapped the boy on his way to the teacher and, hating the merchant, kept him captive for two weeks, trying to force him to renounce his father. The boy showed courage and did not recognize the kidnapper as his father, for which he was killed. After his death, several miracles occurred: the knife fell from the wound only upon the appearance of the murderer, and the boy's body did not decay. In a dream, the boy appeared to his parents, asking them not to execute his tormentor, and he was left alive, but, according to legend, later 'eaten by worms.' The church was dedicated to the memory of the little martyr.

In the 1960s, during repairs in the northern chapel of the church, a niche with the incorrupt relics of Vanya Chepolosov was accidentally discovered. Due to the significance of the church, the project for the construction of a hydroelectric power station in Uglich was changed to avoid flooding the church. The hydroelectric station was ultimately built upstream on the Volga. The church was closed in 1935 and used for economic purposes. From 1961 to 1970, it was restored according to the project of architect Semyon Evgenievich Novikov. The discovered relics of the boy were later transferred to the Korsun Church, where they remain today.

In 2007, the church was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church and handed over to the Resurrection Monastery. However, it is mostly closed, and it can only be viewed from the outside. The church represents great historical and artistic value. It is a classic five-domed church with chapels and a bell tower with a tented roof, set on a high plinth. The original porch of the church is depicted in the painting by Nikolai Roerich from 1904, 'Uglich. The Porch of the Church of John the Baptist.' The facades of the church, like those in the Alexeyevsky Monastery, are decorated with colorful tiles. In 1840, the church was painted by the Uglich icon painter Dmitry Grigorievich Burenin.

The Preobrazhenskaya Church impresses with its beauty. It looks magnificent both from afar and against the backdrop of the white walls of the Resurrection Monastery. In sunlight, its sparkling domes and tents resemble a fairy-tale palace, and the golden walls reflect in the blue expanse of the Volga.