The project for the construction of a stone cathedral church in Nikolaevsk, Samara province, now Pugachev in Saratov region, was reviewed and approved by the technical construction committee on June 12, 1875. The construction of the cathedral dragged on for more than twenty years. In 1895, construction stopped due to the death of the main benefactor, S. O. Loktev, and resumed only in February 1899 thanks to the efforts of the local priest Vasily Paradoxov, chairman of the church guardianship. The main altar was consecrated on September 12, 1899, by Bishop Guriy Burtasovsky of Samara and Stavropol, and the next day the right chapel was consecrated in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. A bell tower was built next to the church with three bells: the large one, weighing 624 puds, was cast in Saratov, the medium one, weighing 300 puds, in Yaroslavl, and the small one, weighing 200 puds.

In 1936, the cathedral's bell tower was destroyed. There were plans to demolish the church itself, but for unknown reasons, this did not happen. In November-December 1935, almost all the clergy of Pugachev, including the vicar bishop Stefan Vinogradov, were arrested. In 1937, the church was finally closed, and its building was used as a grain storage facility. In 1942, services resumed, but the church was only returned to the believers in 1945.