After the plague epidemic of 1770-1771, the authorities, concerned about sanitation, prohibited burials within the city limits and moved cemeteries beyond the Kamer-Kollegsky rampart. One of these cemeteries was Kalitnikov, located beyond the Pokrovskaya gate. In 1773, a wooden church was consecrated here in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "All Who Sorrow Joy."

According to legend, the name of the area is connected to the fact that the Moscow prince Ivan Kalita gifted this land to the Krutitsy Metochion, but historians have disproved this version. It is more likely that kalitniki, craftsmen who made leather bags and purses called "kalitas," lived here. The prince's nickname derived from this word.

All cemeteries established in 1771-1772 had temporary wooden churches for funerals. At Kalitnikov Cemetery, the Sorrowing Church was built, but it burned down in 1776 and was replaced by a new wooden church with an altar in honor of the Bogolyubskaya icon of the Mother of God. The work was funded by Moscow's chief of police N.P. Arkharov.

From 1834 to 1838, a stone church was built according to the design of N.I. Kozlovsky. A memorial pillar with the Bogolyubskaya icon of the Mother of God was placed at the site of the altar of the old wooden church.

The main building of the church is designed in the Empire style: a cubic shape with a rotunda, dome, and small cupola. To the west, there is a refectory with two chapels, of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and Alexander Nevsky. In 1868, a two-tiered bell tower was added to the church with funds from merchant A.A. Chelnokov.

In 1881, merchant I.A. Kupriyanov financed an extension to the bell tower for a sacristy. A four-tiered iconostasis was created from 1905 to 1912 with funds from N.S. Pomansky, and wall paintings appeared at that time based on the design of architect I.T. Baryutin.

In the 19th century, Kalitnikov Cemetery was not considered prestigious, as slaughterhouses were nearby. Later, the Nizhny Novgorod railway station with warehouses and workshops appeared nearby. Therefore, there are almost no noble burials here; merchants and townspeople prevail. In the northeastern part of the cemetery, there is a large pond. A House of Free Accommodation for poor women for 80 people was established by I.Ya. Kupriyanov and A.I. Perlov in memory of the assassination of Emperor Alexander II.

In the 20th century, the church of the Mother of God "All Who Sorrow Joy" remained open and preserved the decor from the beginning of the century.