The Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is located in the village of Vozdvizhenskoe, situated "on the hill by the Pukhta River" in the Priluksky district. This area historically belonged to the Uglich principality and the medieval Uglich district, which has been drawn to Uglich since ancient times.

Before the gubernatorial reform of 1777, the village was part of the Urban district of Uglich, which occupied a large part of the territory of the modern Uglich district. On the right bank of the Volga, it stretched from the village of Krasnoe to the village of Uchma, reaching the village of Falyukovo along the Yaroslavl road, and to the village of Dubrovo along the Rostov road. On the left bank of the Volga, the district extended from the village of Priluki to the village of Sera. Away from the Volga, it ended beyond Korozechnaya, bordering the Katsky and Yelotsky districts, and in the area of the Sutka River, with the Yaroslavl district, which included the central and northern parts of the modern Myshkin district.

There is no exact data on the origin of the village of Vozdvizhenskoe, but it is believed to be connected with the Nativity of Christ Monastery in Priluki. According to M.S. Cherkasova, the Nativity Monastery has been known since the 1330s, when Saint Pavel Obnorsky was tonsured there. It is likely that in the first half of the 15th century, during the feudal war, these lands and the monastery came under the ownership of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, although there is no precise information about this.

In the census books of the Uglich district from 1629-1631, there is mention of the settlement of Zdvizhenskaya on the Puksha River, where there was a wooden church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross with monastic and secular property.

This indicates that Vozdvizhenskoe at that time was a settlement adjacent to Priluki and the Nativity Monastery. It is likely that the church and the village were founded at the initiative of the monastery, which was engaged in their establishment. The estate of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery was described in 1594, indicating the existence of Vozdvizhenskoe and the church already in the 16th century, and possibly even earlier.