The traditional story of the monastery's founding says that, during a journey to the Holy Land, the ship transporting Saint Andrew went off course and struck rocks here.

[3][better source needed] A bi-communal technical committee was created in 2008 to be responsible for protecting the island's cultural heritage.

Initially the Church of Cyprus refused to co-operate because a document prepared by the United Nations Development Programme did not name it as the owner of the monastery, but merely donors, with Archbishop Chrysostomos II saying he was willing to let the historic monastery collapse rather than sign up to a plan that did not recognize the Church of Cyprus as the owner.

The UNDP signed separate protocol agreements with the Church of Cyprus and Turkish Cypriot EVKAF's religious foundation EVKA.

[5] On 12 January 2013, authorities in Northern Cyprus stated that the monastery will undergo extensive restoration costing more than 5 million euros.