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(A brief history of the monastery)

The monastery was founded in the first quarter of the seventeenth century by monk Jonah Golovitsyn, who became the abbot of the monastery in 1624. The wooden Assumption Church was constructed by him. At that time the monastery was called «New Hermitage of the Assumption ofthe Holy Virgin in Berezovsky Bork (forest)”. Since 1724 in the official documents it has been called the Assumption Zolotnikovskaya Hermitage under the name of the nearby river Zolotostruyka.

In 1632 Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich donatedtheland to the monastery,to show gratitude a side altar consecrated in honor of the patron prince Ioann Belogorodskiy was erected in the wooden church. By the abbot Nikon on the site of the wooden church a new stone church of the Assumption was built and consecrated in 1651 followed by two other stone built churches of the complex: All SaintsorGateway church (1656) and the winterchurch dedicated to the Kazan icon of the Mother of God on the second floor of the refectory (1657). In the second half of the seventeenth — early eighteenth century the hermitage enjoyed fame. In 1663Mitrofan, later the Bishop of Voronezh took his monastic vows in the Assumption Church. The hermitage was frequently visited by the Metropolitan Illarion of Suzdal, here he accepted Tsarinа Praskovya Feodorovna. Tsar Peter I and Tsarevna Sophiadonated a lot to the monastery. All stone buildings of the monasterywere rebuilt on these donations at end of the seventeenth century.

In the eighteenth centurythe hermitage became poorer; its buildings fell into decay. In 1725 according to the Synod orderthe Hermitage was supposed to be affiliated with the Savior-Efimievsky monastery of Suzdal, but on the petition of the abbot and his brethren it remained independent. In 1764 the monastery was recorded as a provincial one. At the beginning of the XIX century there was a certain revivalof the hermitage. In 1806 the abbot house was erected, in 1810 — 20 the monastery was surrounded by the brick walls, built on the donations of Alexey Sergeyevich Sheremetev, landlord of Yakimova village of Suzdal district. In the second half of the XIX century stone cells, which were not preservedtill present time, were constructed. On the sides of the adjacent to the Gateway church the buildings of the public school and hotels for the pilgrims were erected.

In 1931 themonastery was closedand a barbaric destruction began. The all SaintsGateway Church, brick walls and monks´cells were completely destroyed. In1930 — 1950 the Kazan Church was nearly turned into ruins. The Assumption Church also suffered serious damages. Only the abbot house, which after the monastery closure was transformed into a primary school, was not destroyed and generally retained its original features.

As a monument of a religious architecture,the ensemble of ZolotnikovskayaHermitage was identified and put on the governmental account in 1947.In 1960 the Assumption Church was put under the state protection of the national importance. By the grace of God since 2007 and until now, the holy cloisterhas been restoring.