The original church with a high altar dedicated to SS. Boris and Gleb was there since the second half of the 14th century (to the south of the now-existing church, as archaeological data evidence) and appeared, most likely, as a house church of a rich estate owned by merchants. The wooden church was named after SS. Boris and Gleb. It was first mentioned in the 1434 chronicle because of a famous Moscow holy fool Maximus buried there, "On 12 November, God's servant Maximus, fool for Christ's sake, passed away. He was brought to the Church of SS. Boris and Gleb in Varvarka Street and buried there by a blessed man Fyodor Kochkin." Time was when the Fyodor Kochkin's house was used as a guide for the church. In the 1460 letter, the Church was mentioned as the church "near the Kochkin's house".
In 1568, a stone church replaced the wooden one. The Church was built by Vasily Bobr and his brotherhood.
It is known that the Church was on fire in 1676 and then reconstructed by Tsaritsa Natalya Naryshkina, the Peter the Great's mother. In those days, when a new building was constructed, the previous one was rarely completely destroyed. They tried to preserve and use the old foundations and walls. Sometimes, new buildings consisted of whole fragments of previous constructions. Everything was so greatly merged, that it was quite difficult to distinguish them.
The now-existing church (the third one), built in 1698 and 1699, was named after Maximus the Blessed, the above mentioned fool for Christ. In the late 17th century, two rich guest merchants, Maxim Sharovnikov from Kostroma and Maxim Verkhovitinov from Moscow, constructed a new church. It was consecrated in 1698 (7206 according to the old calendar).
The high altar is dedicated to St. Maximus the Blessed. On the south (right), there is the side chapel of St. Maximus the Confessor (prominent church figure of the 6th and 7th centuries). It was arranged in the wooden church of SS. Boris and Gleb after 1434.
The present building, raised on a high basement, is a one-dome double-height rectangular with an apse and refectory with a southern side chapel dedicated to St. Maximus the Confessor. The Church stands on a steep slope of the elevated shore, where Varvarka Street goes. The northern facade faces the Street's frontage line. Because of the very relief terrain, the basement is seen from the southern side only. The Church's rectangular, completed with a wide entablement with a row of large kokoshniks, was focused on artistic principles of the previous epoch. The simply decorated facades with smooth pilasters and profiled cornices are also non-typical for the late 17th century. The apse's and refectory's windows have Baroque platbands with triangular knobs, which appeared after the 1737 reconstruction. An Empire bell tower (1829) with two tapering off rectangular tiers adjoins the north-west corner of the refectory. Elements of the 18th and 19th century paintings and two white stone fitting boards have survived in the interior.
In the late 1920s, the Church's regent was monk Platon (Izvekov, the Most Holy Patriarch Pimen of Moscow and All Russia in 1971–1990).
In the 1930s, the Church was shut down. It was ravaged. "In 1965, the dome was demolished. The Church looked slovenly and dirty. The building was occupied by Mosremchas Plant management, watch repair. In the late 1967, the Church was repaired and painted; domes were installed; crosses were gilded. The Church was made presentable." (M. Bogoyavlensky).
In 1965 to 1969, the Church was reconstructed under the supervision of architect Sergey Pod'yapolsky. In 1970, the building was handed over to the National Society for the Protection of Nature to hold exhibitions.
By the decision of the Moscow City Hall of 25 July 1991, the church was returned to the believers.
The Church of the Great Martyr Barbara, which lent its name to one of Moscow's oldest streets, was built on this site in 1514 by the Italian architect Aloisio the New to a commission from the rich "surozhane" (people who came from the merchant town of Surozh, now Sudak) Vasily Bobr, Fyodor Vepr and Yushka Urvikhvostov (it is thought that Yushka was...
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