It is not clear when the monastery was established. Its name is popularly derived from the Russian word for "living together". This may be explained by the fact that nuns were allowed into this cloister prior to 1504. The cloister boasted a rich library, collected with a help from the Slavophile Kireyevsky brothers, both buried within the monastery walls (photo). The philosopher Konstantin Leontyev lived at the monastery for four years and took the tonsure here. The local starets Saint Amvrosy is said to have been a prototype of Father Zosima in Dostoyevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov.