The Feodorovsky Monastery was founded in the early 14th century, after the victory of the people of Pereslavl over the people of Tver during one of the wars between princes for dominance over Pereslavl. The monastery was consecrated in honor of Saint Theodore Stratelates, the patron saint of warriors.
Two and a half centuries later, Tsar Ivan the Terrible took the monastery under his personal protection, because in 1557 his wife Anastasia Romanova gave birth to a son, who was named Feodor. Having received substantial financial support from the tsar himself, the monastery was literally transformed. First of all, it was decided to build a church in the name of Theodore Stratelates and in honor of the birth of the tsarevich. This was the monastery's first stone building and its most important one.
The cathedral was a square brick building with five domes and three apses. On the northwestern side there was a Baroque bell tower, which, unfortunately, has not survived. In 1886, a stylized gallery appeared, surrounding the building on three sides, with single-domed side chapels in the eastern part. Even earlier, in 1704, the porches, worn down by time, were renovated.
Ivan the Terrible commissioned Moscow icon painters to create several icons for the cathedral; some of these ancient relics are now kept in the Pereslavl Museum.
