The main church of Melitopol and one of the two cathedrals of the Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol diocese of the UOC-MP is the Church of Alexander Nevsky. Previously, there was an Armenian-Gregorian church on this site, built in 1884 by a merchant from Eupatoria, Averk Hlebnikov. After the revolution, it was closed, and in the 1930s, a dairy research laboratory was located in the building.

In 1941, during the occupation of the city, an Orthodox cathedral was opened on the site of the former Armenian-Gregorian church. The church was named in honor of the great prince Alexander Nevsky, in memory of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, built in 1861 in Melitopol. This cathedral was located 300 meters south of the current one and was originally a stone structure with a wooden dome. In 1867, a stone bell tower was added to it, and in 1899, a new cathedral building was erected. In the mid-1930s, during the anti-religious campaign, the church was completely destroyed.

After the war, the Soviet authorities considered that the cathedral opened in 1941 was occupying the building illegally. In the summer of 1946, attempts were made to evict it, but the Christian community managed to preserve the church. Until 1973, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral remained the only functioning church in Melitopol.

In 2003-2004, the cathedral underwent major reconstruction. It was decided to preserve only the body of the old building. The walls were adorned with new frescoes, the iconostasis was updated, and a heating system was installed under the floor. The shape of the old domes was changed, and a new dome was added over the altar. An additional floor was added to the old bell tower.