In the 1390s, it is believed that the venerable Macarius of Unzha and the Wonderworker of Zheltovodsk, a monk of the Pechersk Nizhny Novgorod Monastery, founded a male monastery named in honor of the Epiphany of the Lord, known as the Makariev Desert. According to tradition, Saint Macarius and his disciples dug a well with healing water under the mountain. In the early 17th century, during the Russo-Polish War, the monastery was destroyed but later restored under Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich. The monastery had a wooden church in honor of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity. In the mid-18th century, in the village of Nagorny, parishioners funded the construction of single-altar parish churches: a summer five-domed church of the Resurrection of Christ and a winter church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The complex included an octagonal pillar-like bell tower with a high tent roof, characteristic of the Kostroma type, the base of which served as the narthex of the Resurrection Church. There was a cemetery near the churches. The temple complex is an example of the late use of pre-Petrine architectural forms in the 18th century. In 1764, the monastery became a non-staff institution and found itself in a dire situation. In 1767, instead of the dilapidated wooden church of the Holy Trinity, a winter stone church with a tent bell tower was built, decorated with paintings and carved Royal gates. The church had three altars: in honor of the Life-Giving Trinity, Venerable Macarius of Zheltovodsk, and Great Martyr Catherine. Ancient icons were kept here. In 1833, the monastery was enclosed by a stone fence with five towers. It survived the storm of 1844 and the fires of 1854 and 1855, but again found itself in a dire situation. In 1900, Maria Smertina, the future Venerable Animaisa of Ostretsovsk and Rodnikovsk, entered the monastery and took monastic vows here. In 1901, the monastery was transformed into a women's monastery, and its reconstruction began. The most revered were the image of Venerable Macarius and the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. On July 25, 1911, the foundation of a church in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was laid, but its construction was interrupted by revolutionary events. After 1917, the monastery functioned as a women's agricultural artel and was closed in the late 1920s. On March 13, 1929, the property of the monastery was transferred to the parish church of the Nativity of Christ in the village of Reshma. In 1940, the last functioning church was closed. The Church of the Holy Trinity and the new Kazan Church, as well as some monastery buildings, were dismantled in the 1940s. The bell tower and fence were destroyed during the war. Later, a school was built on the site of the Trinity Church, and the former two-story cells housed the educational building of the boarding school. The parish church of the Resurrection was turned into ruins during the Soviet era. In 1991, the surviving parish church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker opened in Reshma, and the Holy Nicholas parish was formed. In 1992, monks from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra arrived at the church, and the revival of monastic life began. In 1994, the Holy Nicholas parish was transformed into the Makariev-Reshemsk Monastic Community, and in 1998, into a men's monastery. Later, the monastery again became a women's monastery.

The monastery conducts educational work, operates the Orthodox School named after Venerable John of Kronstadt, publishes the almanac "Light of Orthodoxy," holds lectures, and the residents study liturgics and Orthodox pedagogy. The monastery houses relics of Venerable Macarius of Zheltovodsk and other saints.