The Venerable Adrian of Andrusovo owned a rich estate in Andreyevshchina, located 9 versts from the monastery of Venerable Alexander of Svir. In 1493, while hunting for deer, he met Alexander of Svir and began to visit him often for guidance. Over time, Adrian started bringing bread to his companions. Leaving his estate, he took monastic vows at the Valaam Monastery under the name Adrian. A few years later, with the blessing of Alexander of Svir, Adrian settled in a secluded place on the peninsula of Lake Ladoga. Soon, other monks joined him, and they built two churches: in honor of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos and Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. Vasily III granted the monks of the Adrian Desert alms from the treasury and exempted them from fishing duties.

According to legend, opposite Adrian's desert on Salo Island, bandits hid, engaging in robbery on Lake Ladoga. The chieftain, unhappy with the appearance of the monastery, demanded the monks leave. Lacking means for a ransom, Adrian pleaded with the bandit to leave the peninsula to peaceful workers, promising to pray for him and persuading him to abandon his unjust deeds. The chieftain initially laughed but, touched by Adrian's persistence, allowed the monks to stay.

Later, the chieftain encountered another gang at the neighboring Storozhevsky Cape, was defeated, and bound, thrown into a boat. Suddenly, he saw Adrian, who said that by the mercy of the Lord, for whom they had asked for mercy, he was free, and vanished. The chieftain found himself unbound on the shore and hurried to Adrian's monastery, where he found everyone singing psalms. Astonished, he asked to be accepted into the brotherhood and remained in the monastery, ending his life in repentance. Another chieftain from a different gang also repented, taking monastic vows under the name Cyprian of Storozhensk.

Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich learned about the monastery and made contributions to it. In August 1549, Adrian was invited to baptize Ivan the Terrible's daughter Anna. However, upon returning from Moscow, he was killed by peasants from the village of Obzha, who hoped to find money with him.

In 1551, the incorrupt relics of Adrian of Andrusovo were discovered, and his memory is celebrated on May 17.

The monastery suffered greatly during the Russo-Swedish War of 1570-1582. In 1572-1573, the Swedish commander Herman Fleming devastated the Ladoga Karelia. By the 1580s, only the stone Nicholas Church remained from the Andrusovo Desert; all wooden structures had been burned, and the abbot was killed. With the arrival of the Romanov dynasty, the monastery was restored.

In 1764, by the decree of Catherine II, the Andrusovo Monastery was abolished.

The revival of the monastery is associated with the abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Innocent, who, according to legend, was saved twice in Lake Ladoga by the prayers of Adrian and vowed to restore the monastery. However, it was only in 1817 that he was able to begin fulfilling his promise. With contributions from S. F. Chusov and A. S. Sergeev, the desert was restored and attached to the Valaam Monastery.

Emperor Alexander I, visiting the Olonets Province in 1819, wished to pay his respects to Adrian and went to his grave. Later, he sent vessels and books for the church.

In 1828, with the establishment of the Olonets Diocese, the saint's relics were transferred to the new stone church of the Entry of the Theotokos. At the site of Adrian's death, a chapel with a bell tower was built between 1882-1885.

After the Bolshevik coup in 1917, the Andrusovo Monastery ceased to exist. The monks took refuge in the Valaam Monastery, located in Finland, which saved them from Bolshevism.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the lands of the monastery were transferred to the Orthodox parish of the village of Ilyinsky.

In July 2011, the administration of the Olonets district transferred a plot to the Mitrofaniev Desert, part of which is historical territory of the Nikolaev Andrusovo Desert. There, the ruins of the Vvedensky and Nikolsky churches, the foundations of the monastery fence, and six residential buildings have been preserved.

The monastery is actively being revived. By September 2013, two houses had been built on the former foundations, one of which includes a house church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, a refectory, and cells. Construction of a brotherhood building has begun.

Excavations of the ruins of the Vvedensky and Nikolsky churches are being conducted. A temporary chapel has been erected over the place where the relics of Adrian of Andrusovo rest.

Auxiliary buildings and a bathhouse have been constructed for the needs of the monastery. The road to the monastery has been drained and leveled.

On December 5-6, 2013, a commission visited the monastery to consider the possibility of transferring the male monastery Mitrofaniev Desert to the village of Ilyinsky and renaming it the Nikolski Adriano-Andrusov Monastery. On March 19, 2014, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to officially open the monastery and appointed Hieromonk Tita Bukhanov as its abbot.