In 1295, a hunter from Rylsk found an icon of the Mother of God on the shore of Tuskari, at the roots of a large elm. The icon lay face down, and when he lifted it, a spring gushed forth at that spot. A chapel was built here.

The icon was kept in the chapel and protected it. The Crimean Tatars repeatedly tried to set the chapel on fire, but it would not catch flame. Learning from the priest the reason for their failures, the Tatars took the icon and cut it in two, after which the chapel caught fire. Years later, the priest, returning from captivity, found the halves of the icon. When he joined them, the icon fused together so that the place of connection was almost unnoticeable.

In 1597, Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, son of Ivan the Terrible, brought the icon to Moscow and, sending it back, ordered the establishment of a male monastery. Thus, the Korennaya Desert was born. In 1611, it was destroyed by the Crimean Tatars, and in the 18th century, the monastery underwent reforms under Peter I and Catherine II. However, the monastery continued to grow and prosper, increasing the number of monks. Above the spring and the stump of the elm stood an old wooden church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Life-Giving Spring," which Field Marshal B.P. Sheremetev rebuilt in stone after the victory at Poltava.

In the 19th century, it was one of the largest and most famous monasteries in Russia. Its development was aided by a fair, the second largest in the country after Nizhny Novgorod.

The Soviet power dealt with the monastery more harshly than all previous disasters. The cathedral was blown up, and the pilgrimage site and Holy Spring were cordoned off by the police. In 1989, the remnants of the monastery were returned to the Church, and its restoration began. To this day, much has already been restored.