Around 1282, at the site of the current Resurrection Church, a monastery was founded in honor of Saint Daniel the Stylite by the first Moscow prince, Daniel Alexandrovich. In 1330, the monastery was moved to a new location: Prince Ivan Kalita decided to transfer it to the Kremlin, near the Church of Spas na Boru, to create a monastery next to his palace. Later, Ivan III would move this monastery to Krutitsy, where the Novospassky Monastery would arise. The old site of the Danilov Monastery fell into disrepair and remained abandoned for a long time. Under Tsar Ivan the Terrible, in 1560, the monastery was restored, but already further north of the previous location, across the ravine, where the Danilov Monastery is located today.

At the old site, a cemetery with a small wooden church remained, which was rebuilt in stone in 1699 with funds from Fyodor Vasilyev. The dedication in honor of Daniel the Stylite disappeared, and the main altar took the name of the Resurrection of the Word, with three chapels: Peter and Paul, Nikolsky, and Ilyinsky. The current church was built between 1834 and 1837 with funds from Ivan Nazaryevich Rybnikov, the owner of the Danilov manufactory. His Empire-style estate on the banks of the Moscow River has partially survived and was restored in the early 2010s.

The Church of the Resurrection of the Word, designed by architect F.M. Shestakov, is executed in the style of late Empire: the massive cube of the main temple is adorned with six-column Ionic porticos with pediments and topped with a dome with a light rotunda. On the western side, there is a large refectory and a three-tiered bell tower above the main entrance. In addition to the three chapels from the old church, a fourth was added in the refectory, in the name of John Chrysostom. To the southwest of the church, a small one-story clergy house has been preserved.

After the revolution, the Resurrection Church continued to function, and monks from the Danilov Monastery who remained free moved here. However, in 1932, services ceased. The building was used by various production institutions, including the Moscow umbrella manufacturing association. The interiors of the church were completely destroyed, and the domes with crosses were lost from the outside. Formally handed over to the believers along with the Danilov Monastery in 1983, the Resurrection Church became active again only in 1989. After a lengthy restoration completed in 1998, the church was returned to its historical appearance: the finishes were restored, late partitions and ceilings were dismantled, and the paintings and Empire-style iconostasis were recreated.