Over the past hundred years, the historical center of Moscow has changed significantly, yet Varvarka Street with its churches still preserves the spirit of old Moscow. Here, since pre-Petrine times, stands the unique church of Saint Maxim the Confessor, which locals have long called after another saint, Maxim the Blessed.

Maxim of Moscow, the holy fool, was buried in 1434 on Varvarka near the Boris and Gleb Church. He was canonized in 1547. After a fire, the church was rebuilt in stone and consecrated in honor of Saint Maxim the Confessor with an altar dedicated to Boris and Gleb. In the 17th century, it was again damaged by fire, and the church was restored under Tsarina Natalia Kirillovna Naryshkina.

In 1698, merchants Maxim Sharovnikov and Maxim Verkhovitinoff erected a new stone church on Varvarka in honor of their heavenly patrons. This church has survived to this day. The main altar was consecrated in honor of Maxim the Blessed, while the southern altar was dedicated to Maxim the Confessor, giving the church two names. However, it also suffered from fire during the Trinity fire of 1737, after which it was updated in the Baroque style, which did not quite match the old Moscow Kitai-Gorod.

After Napoleon's invasion, the church of Maxim the Confessor underwent changes again, receiving a new two-tiered bell tower instead of the old belfry. In this form, it blended more harmoniously into the appearance of Moscow, and this became the last significant change to its exterior. Today, one can see fragments of unique frescoes and the oldest lower floor of the church, where Muscovites took shelter from fires.

In the 1930s, the church was desecrated, and the domes were removed. However, the building survived thanks to the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation, to which it belonged. The revival of the church began in 1994.