The Old Believers of the Belokrinitsky agreement in Kazan, belonging to the Ancient Orthodox Church of Christ, were able to build their church in the city only after the issuance of the manifesto by Emperor Nicholas II on April 17, 1905, which reinforced the principles of religious tolerance.

In November 1906, a subscription list was opened to collect donations for the construction of the church. Funds came from dozens of merchants from Kazan and Moscow. The laying of the church took place in July 1907 under the guidance of two Kazan Old Believer priests, Pyotr Danilovich Zaletov and Alexei Ivanovich Kalyagin.

On September 6, 1909, according to the old style, the church was consecrated in honor of the appearance of the icon of the Mother of God in Kazan.

Beneath the altar of the church were buried Bishop Joasaph of Kazan and Vyatka and Father P. D. Zaletov. Their burial site was only discovered in 2016.

A. I. Kalyagin served in the Protection Church from its founding until its closure during the Soviet era.

In May 1922, the Commission for the Seizure of Church Values confiscated over two poods of silver from the Protection Cathedral in the form of icon covers, censers, vessels, and coins. A few years later, the church was closed.

Later, the building of the church was transferred to the Central State Archive of the TASSR, where documents from the pre-revolutionary funds were kept. During the Great Patriotic War, part of the evacuated archives in Kazan was also housed there. According to Vasily Kirillov's recollections, the building was completely filled with shelves of documents, while the church itself was closed and surrounded by a concrete fence.

By the decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Tatarstan No. 642 dated August 1, 1996, the building of the Protection Old Believer Church was transferred to the registered religious society of Old Believers of the Belokrinitsky agreement to meet the religious needs of the faithful.

In 1997, the Kazan-Vyatka Diocese of the RPSC was restored, and the Protection Church became the cathedral. Its gradual restoration began.

Bishop Andrian of Kazan and Vyatka decided to create a museum at the church. Archpriest Gennady Chetvergov recalled that they discussed how important it was to share rare icons and books with people so that they could feel the grace emanating from these relics.

Due to the unfinished restoration, it was not possible to hold the Consecrated Council in the church at the end of 2009.

On December 6, 2016, a monument to Metropolitan Andrian was unveiled in front of the Protection Cathedral, created by the team of the Irek group of companies.