In 1920, nuns from the Lesninsky Monastery moved to Hopovo from Bessarabia at the invitation of Serbian Patriarch Dimitrije. They were led by Abbesses Ekaterina (Yefimovskaya) and Nina (Kosakovskaya). They revived female monasticism in Serbia, which had been lost during Turkish rule.

In Hopovo, the sisters tried to preserve their traditions, but this was only partially successful. Restoring the economic power of the Lesninsky Monastery under new conditions did not succeed, despite the efforts of Abbesses Ekaterina and Nina. Russian and Serbian patrons helped to overcome economic difficulties, with King Alexander I being the main patron from the Serbian side, who visited the monastery in 1923.

In Serbia, the nuns could not continue their extensive charitable activities or provide material and medical assistance, but they made the monastery a center of spiritual and cultural life for the Russian emigration. In Hopovo, they maintained the tradition of caring for and raising orphans, introduced by Abbess Ekaterina in 1884. This tradition became especially important abroad, and Russian children left without parents or abandoned found shelter in the Hopovo orphanage. Over 20 years, more than 500 children were raised in the orphanage.

In September 1925, the Third Congress of the Russian Christian Student Movement took place in Hopovo, gathering about a hundred participants from various European countries.

In this ancient monastery, many Russian nuns, sisters of the Lesninsky Monastery, including Abbess Ekaterina, as well as Russian refugees, including soldiers, found peace.