Legend has it that the monastery was erected on the burial spot of Adam's head—though two other locations in Jerusalem also claim this honor—from which grew the tree that gave its wood to the cross on which Christ was crucified.

As the founder of the church, scholars name Bakur, an Iberian prince, grandfather of the famous Peter of Iberia, who held the position of Dux Palestinae at that time.

[citation needed] The monastery was built in the eleventh century, during the reign of King Bagrat IV by the Georgian monk Prochorus the Iberian.

The crusader section houses a church,[dubious – discuss] including a grotto where a window into the ground below allows viewing of the spot where, reputedly, the tree from which the cross was fashioned grew.

[citation needed] Under Sultan Baybars (1260–77) the monks were executed after being accused of being spies for the Ilkhanate Mongols, who had recently destroyed Baghdad.

[12][clarification needed] In many places (e.g. near the figures of St. Luke and St. Prochore) the outline of Georgian letters are clearly visible under the recently added Greek inscriptions.

On February 7, 2012, suspected Jewish extremists spray painted graffiti calling for "death to Christians" in what is described as price tag attack.

The church contains ancient murals and inside a side chapel one can see a hole in the ground where, according to tradition, the tree once grew from which the Holy Cross was fashioned.