[2] Right after Stephen the Great[3] won the battle in which he conquered the Kilia citadel, he began work on the monastery as a means to give thanks to God, on July 10, 1466 – the church was to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Previous eremitic life (on the place the monastery was built) was proven by humans buried deep under the foundation of the oldest buildings from Stephen the Great.

A chronicle of the time mentions that Stephen bought the Vicovu de Sus village in exchange for 200 zloty, and awarded the land and revenue to the treasury of the monastery.

On September 3, 1470, during a ceremony attended by Stephen and all his family, the monastery was consecrated by Metropolitan Teoctist, and subsequently became the most important religious site in the area.

For long, the site was believed to have been designed by a Greek architect named Theodor - the interpretation of the Kilia chronicles on which this was based has since been proven wrong.