There is some information as regards the founding of the monastic establishment, whose church is delved into a rock. According to the historians, the church might have served as a Christian catacomb during the Roman period.
Tradition associates the setting up of the monastery with the discovery of a miracle-working icon of the Saint Theotokos; it is said that the icon was painted by the Apostle and Evangelist Luke himself, and it was discovered during the reign of Negru Voda Voivode.
The correlations of the iconographic elements with the historical documents indicate that the church was re-constructed in 1547.
Mircea Ciobanu Voivode had bequeathed his estate in the village Namaesti to Boyar Dumitru, stipulating that, should he have no inheritors, the land would be given to the church that was carved into a rock.
Inside the church, there is the above-mentioned miracle-working icon of the Theotokos. The icon was framed in silver by Enache Postelnicu in 1778, and then it was set into a larger frame (covering the initial one) by Elena Rosty in 1913.
In 1843, the church was enlarged by further caused into the rock.