The founder of the Makarov Churchyard, a monastic complex located five kilometers far from Saransk, is the boyar Makar Polyansky, who laid the St. John the Theological Cathedral in the late 17th century. According to the legend, everyone who passed by was involved in the construction of this cathedral. The boyar himself insisted on this. And the name was given to the churchyard in honor of its founder.
In the years of Soviet power the Bolsheviks destroyed almost all the historic buildings of the Makarov Churchyard. Only the St. John the Theological Cathedral, dated 1693, and the bell tower survived in their original form. The rest of the temples as well as fences with two towers and the gate bell tower were restored only at the end of the 20th century. There is a hotel for pilgrims on the territory of the churchyard, who come here first of all to see the local relic - the exact list of the icon "The Inexhaustible Chalice".