In 1903, a church was built on the southern side of the monastery in honor of St. Seraphim of Sarov. It is designed in the style of 17th-century architecture and covers the cell where the great elder lived and peacefully passed away.

That same year, celebrations took place in the Sarov Desert in honor of the canonization of Seraphim of Sarov, attracting hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all over Russia. Emperor Nicholas II, along with members of the Imperial family and other high-ranking officials, attended these events. The Russian people held St. Seraphim in deep reverence. From 1903 to 1917, over 220 churches, chapels, monasteries, as well as educational and medical institutions were consecrated or named in his honor across the country. The first of these was the church above the cell of the great elder in our city.

The building of the church in Monastery Square has been preserved, but since 1949 it housed the city theater. In 2003, the church was restored.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the canonization of Seraphim of Sarov in 2003, complex tasks had to be solved to return the church. The restoration work united the efforts of clergy, the Orthodox community, the authorities of Sarov and the Nizhny Novgorod region, as well as employees of the Russian Federal Nuclear Center. More than two dozen enterprises and thousands of people from different corners of Russia participated in the final stage of the work. The state customer for the restoration of the church was the enterprise 'Nizhny Novgorod Engineering Construction', while the general designer and contractor was the Regional Engineering Center from Vladimir.

In 2002, the church building was returned to the Nizhny Novgorod diocese. During the restoration work, the foundation of St. Seraphim's cell was discovered, which was recreated based on preserved photographs and descriptions.

In July 2003, in honor of the upcoming event, Sarov was gifted a bell tower with eight bells, placed next to the restored church. The largest of them, weighing four tons, was gifted by the President of Russia, V.V. Putin.

On July 30, 2003, during the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the canonization of Seraphim of Sarov, the church was consecrated in the presence of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia and representatives of all local Orthodox churches. Currently, services are held in it for the renewed Sarov Monastery.