Demetrius (aka Dimitry) left Pereslavl since he thought it was too crowded, and moved north.

He first decided to settle down on the Obnora River (currently in Gryazovetsky District), but he was not accepted warmly by the local population, so he moved further north.

The Grand Dukes of Moscow (starting with Dmitry Donskoy) supported this monastic establishment in order to expand their influence in the Russian North.

Vasily III of Moscow visited the monastery personally in 1528, when he and his wife Elena, childless for a long time, had set on a pilgrimage across the Russian North to pray for a child.

Their son Ivan is known to have prayed before the Cilician ivory cross from the monastery before his decisive attack on Kazan in 1552.

The buildings were subsequently used for a variety of purposes, including living quarters, a prison, a depot, and a museum.

[2] The monastery is built as a fortress, has an approximately rectangular shape, and is completely surrounded by a wall, which has four corner towers and three gates.