It is the main church for the Vardø parish which is part of the Varanger prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland.

[1][2] The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1307 when the oldest known church in Vardø was consecrated by the Archbishop Jorundr which is around the time that this part of Northern Norway was settled by Norwegians.

A map from 1601 depicts the building outline which shows that it was a long church with a rectangular nave and a narrower chancel on the east end and a small entry porch on the west end.

In 1714, a new timber-framed, cruciform building was constructed about 190 metres (620 ft) north of the old church site.

That wooden church stood for about 75 years before it was burned down by the retreating Germans near the end of World War II.