The Ascension Cathedral is the main Orthodox church in Elets and the cathedral church of the Elets Diocese. Previously, there stood a cathedral built in 1745, with altars in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and St. Dmitry of Rostov. By the end of the 18th century, this church could no longer accommodate all the parishioners and did not meet the needs of the growing city. The idea of building a new church arose among the residents of Elets in 1800, when the benefactor Fyodor Safronievich Popov, at the request of the parishioners, raised the issue of the necessity of erecting "a spacious and beautiful Cathedral church." Fundraising began, and in 1815 the first architectural plan was drawn up. The first project of the cathedral appeared in 1824. Under the merchant Ivan Gerasimovich Petrov, elected as benefactor in 1841, the Kharkov provincial architect Fyodor Ivanovich Danilov developed a project in "Byzantine and partially Italian style," but it was not approved by the Holy Synod. The next project by the architect Brychkov from the Orlov provincial chamber was rejected by the parishioners and townspeople. In May 1842, I.G. Petrov turned to Konstantin Andreyevich Ton in Moscow with a request to create a project and estimate for the cathedral. The project and estimate were approved by the Holy Synod, the Construction Committee, the Provincial Construction Commission, and the Elets City Duma. The laying of the church took place on August 22, 1845. The well-known architect Ivan Osipovich Valpredi oversaw the construction. The construction lasted 44 years, and towards the end, Alexander Stepanovich Kaminsky joined the oversight, who also designed the cathedral's iconostasis.

The bell tower, intended to be 7 meters higher than the cross of the main dome, remained unfinished. The ornate porches above the northern and southern entrances were not completed, and the wall paintings, executed by A.I. Korzukhin and K.V. Lebedev, were not fully finished.

The consecration of the cathedral took place on August 22, 1889, conducted by the Bishop of Oryol and Sevsk, Misael.

In 1934, the Ascension Cathedral was closed. Icons were burned right in the church, and gold from the covers and details of the iconostasis was washed away in a galvanic workshop, where "every drop of precious metal had to be accounted for." The looted cathedral was turned into a grain storage facility, and trucks drove right inside. The cathedral was reopened in 1947. From 1954 to 1958, its rector was Hieromonk Sergiy (Petrov), and from 1958 to 1981, Archimandrite Isaakiy (Vinogradov).