According to legend, in the 8th century the place was the summer residence of the Archbishop of Sourozh, St Stephen. After the icon of the Mother of God was found in 1825 in a cave near the St Stephen spring in the Kiziltash Valley, two wandering pilgrims settled here, but the monastery was not established until 1858. The monastery was closed in October 1923, and its revival began in 1995.