Among the shrines of the Kursk region, the Gornal Holy Nicholas Belogorsky Male Monastery, located near the city of Suja, holds special significance. The monastery was founded over 325 years ago, in 1672.

The first monks, Theodosius, Lavrenty, and Elder Nectarios, settled here from the devastated Ostrogozhsk Divnogorsk Monastery in the Voronezh province. Soon, the monastery received royal donations: lands, a mill on the Psel River near the village of Velikie Rybitsy, as well as church books, vestments, vessels, and utensils. The monks brought with them an icon of Nicholas the Wonderworker, in honor of whom a wooden church was built in 1688.

The first abbot was Hieromonk Theodosius. The monastery sustained itself by selling lime, and with the proceeds, a wooden church of the Transfiguration of the Lord was built, which was called a cathedral due to its size. A description of the church has survived: a stone floor made of multicolored tiles, an iconostasis with carvings, and icons of bright colors. The main attraction was the icon of the Mother of God Pryazhevskaya, painted on canvas and restored after the monastery was closed in 1792.

By 1733, the monastery had fallen into disrepair: the bell tower collapsed, and it became dangerous to serve in the Transfiguration church. The wooden buildings were dismantled, and from the remnants, a chapel was built in the cemetery, placing old iconostases there. Under the abbacy of Paisius, a stone church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, a bell tower, and a monastery wall were constructed.

By 1770, the monastery owned 80 peasant households and two mills. The main income came from lime and brick factories, fruit orchards, vegetable gardens, as well as from the sale of honey and wax. A fair was held here on St. Nicholas Day.

Economic independence helped the monastery avoid closure, but in 1785 it was still closed and turned into a parish, leaving only the Transfiguration church. The new church of Saint Nicholas and other buildings were dismantled.

After the closure, according to legend, candles were lit in the Transfiguration church before the icons until the Pryazhevskaya icon of the Mother of God was found in 1792. After praying before this icon, the Suja merchant Kosma Kupreyev was healed and decided to restore the monastery at his own expense. The first inhabitants included Kosma Ivanovich himself and his sons Theodor and Vladimir.

Under the abbacy of Nestor, a stone church in honor of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker was laid, and four years later, the domestic church of the Protection of the Holy Virgin was consecrated. In 1888, the third cathedral church of the Transfiguration of the Lord was laid.

The great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky visited the monastery in 1878 and reflected his impressions in the novel "The Brothers Karamazov."

The architectural ensemble of the monastery, rising on a white pedestal, harmoniously blended with the surrounding landscape. The domes of the Transfiguration Cathedral and the Protection Church in the Russian-Byzantine style were visible from afar. In 1905, 85 monks and several dozen novices lived in the monastery.

The Belogorsky Nicholas Monastery was closed in 1922, but the monks continued to live, hiding in caves and preserving the Pryazhevskaya icon. In 1937, the monastery was finally closed, the monks were expelled, and many were sent into exile. The monastery housed a colony for juvenile delinquents, and later, a boarding school for orphans.

Metropolitan Juvenal of Kursk and Rylsk repeatedly raised the issue of transferring the monastery to the Church. The first divine service in the returned monastery was held by him on December 19, 2001, on the feast day of Saint Nicholas.

The monastery's abbot, Igumen Pitirim (Plaksin), reported that since the transfer of the monastery, significant restoration work has been carried out: the roof of the temple complex and two adjoining wings have been repaired, work on the arrangement of the cells has been completed, and the roof of the brotherhood building, the holy gates, and the administrative building has been covered.