The Saransk Peter and Paul Monastery, previously functioning as a male monastery, was located in the city of Saransk. It emerged in the second half of the 18th century as a result of the unification of several monasteries. The history of this monastery is full of ambiguities and confusion caused by the merging of monasteries and their renaming, where alongside old names, new ones were used. Until March 5, 1775, the monastery was called the Ilyinsky.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the monastery occupied a plot in the city center, bounded by Bazarna, Ilyinskaya, and Moskovskaya streets, on the site of the modern Cathedral of Feodor Ushakov. The main buildings of the monastery were constructed in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The complex, rectangular in shape, measuring 170 by 75 meters, included the abbot's and brotherhood's quarters, a spiritual gymnasium, several wooden structures, and a stone fence with four corner towers. The entire ensemble looked very elegant, with the churches and bell tower seemingly competing in beauty. The center of the composition was the summer Peter and Paul Church, built in 1765 and 1787, with five domes and three altars, the tallest, with a bell tower 52 meters high. The main altar was consecrated in honor of the apostles Peter and Paul in 1781; the right chapel was dedicated to the prophet Elijah, and the left to Saint Dmitry of Rostov. The iconostasis of the main church was five-tiered, while the chapels had three tiers. In the southern part of the complex was a two-story winter Vladimir Church with altars for the Exaltation of the Cross and the Vladimir Mother of God, built with funds from the townspeople in honor of the victory over the French. The Vladimir Church was single-domed, low, but very airy, almost "lace-like." The Peter and Paul Church, on the contrary, was elongated upwards, with five domes, like many churches of that time. The main relic of the monastery was an ancient copy of the miraculous Vladimir icon of the Mother of God, adorned with a precious robe. Later, the complex was supplemented with monastic buildings, of which only the former spiritual gymnasium building in the courtyard of the Marriage Palace has survived. Outside the monastery walls, at Bazarna Square, there were 19 stone shops, and on Moskovskaya Street, 9, built in 1853 by merchant D. L. Krotkov. For eight years, the shops were the main source of income for the monastery. The monastery owned land, forest, a fish pond, and a mill on the Insara River.

Initially, the Peter and Paul Monastery was part of the Patriarchal area and was subordinate to Moscow, then, after the church reform, it came under the direct jurisdiction of the Synod. It was listed in the Synodal area, and after its transformation into the Moscow diocese, it was under the jurisdiction of hierarchs. However, how long this lasted is unknown. It is only known that during the division of dioceses into classes, the monastery was subordinated to the Tambov hierarchs, from 1799 to the Kazan ones, and from December 4, 1803, until its closure, to the Penza and Saransk hierarchs. The complex was closed on June 2, 1928, simultaneously with the Spassky Cathedral of Saransk. The Peter and Paul Church was dismantled in 1931, and the Vladimir Church was converted into a local history museum, but was soon demolished as well. The bricks were used for the construction of the "Central" hotel, which was demolished in 2002. On this site, the Cathedral of Saint Feodor Ushakov was erected.

There are still many ambiguities regarding the names of Saransk monasteries, which causes confusion that misleads researchers of cult structures in Saransk. In the last century, a discussion was held in the "Penza Diocesan Gazette" about the number of male monasteries in Saransk in the 17th century, two or three? At the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, according to some sources, there were two, while others claim three male monasteries in Saransk: Ilyinsky, Saransk Peter's, and the Mother of God. In 1764, many monasteries in Russia underwent a revision, and of the two existing male monasteries in Saransk at that time, the Ilyinsky was removed from the staff, while the Peter's was designated as staff. But already in 1775, after the revision, a highest decree followed to reconsider the closure of monasteries. The Synod, by its decision on March 5, 1775, transferred the monks of the Peter's monastery to the Ilyinsky, and to avoid changes in the staff, the Ilyinsky monastery was ordered to be called the Peter's. Since a church had already been built in the Ilyinsky monastery in memory of the Epiphany of the Lord with two chapels, the abbots consecrated its main altar in the name of Peter and Paul, and the monastery began to be called the Peter and Paul Monastery. In 1787, most of the buildings of the Peter's monastery were transferred to the Peter and Paul monastery, and from that time the area of the old Peter's monastery, not far from the Trinity Church, gradually came under the city's jurisdiction and was occupied by urban buildings.

Documents do not clarify what title the abbots of the monastery held before the transfer of the Peter's staff to it. The abbots of the old Peter's were called builders. With the unification, the Peter and Paul monastery received an abbot of the rank of igumen, and from 1798, "for the splendor in church service," the abbot became an archimandrite. Although there was a case before this when the Ilyinsky monastery was headed by an archimandrite, who was arrested for a ceremonial meeting with Pugachev and sent to Kazan, where he was defrocked and imprisoned. It is possible that Alexander was not an abbot but the Saransk dean, as in the year of the uprising, the abbot was igumen Peter, who adorned the Peter and Paul temple with four more domes. The next abbot, igumen Joseph, finally abolished the Peter's monastery and moved its buildings to Ilyinskaya Street. Other abbots were also engaged in construction: archimandrite Ambrose built a new dormitory, archimandrite Arkady restored the monastery after the fire of 1852. Earlier, in 1817, the monastery had to be rebuilt almost from scratch after a fire that affected all the churches of the upper city. In 1869, the monastery suffered again and was restored. At that time, the monks faced provincial authorities who prohibited the restoration of the trading row under the walls of the monastery, and only after government intervention did the monetary interests of the monastery prevail.

The monastic buildings had significant architectural and historical value. The monastery was surrounded by a wall, and the territory represented a rectangle 80 and 35 fathoms long and wide. Four towers rose at the corners of the fence, which initially had a defensive character but were later adorned with church domes with crosses. By the beginning of the 20th century, two of them still existed. It is difficult to highlight any remarkable buildings among the others, as even photographs have not survived, but from one surviving house, it can be concluded that the architects cared about safety during their construction. The stone mansion in the courtyard of the Marriage Palace gives a gloomy impression with its massive walls and somber rooms. However, this building is notable for the fact that archimandrite Alexander held a dinner in honor of Emelyan Pugachev here, and it was here that the leader ordered the hanging of the priest of the Resurrection Church. From 1788 to 1803, a spiritual gymnasium operated in this house, divided into three classes: syntactic, grammatical, and informatory. The church character of education prevailed in Russian culture until the revolution, and the gymnasium prepared personnel for seminaries. After the closure of the gymnasium, its best students were taken to the Kazan Spiritual Academy, while the others were transferred to the Simbirsk Russian school. Some gymnasiasts ended up in the Tambov and Alatyr schools.

In 1808, a Russian school was opened in the gymnasium building, preparing the children of clergymen for clerical positions. Money was collected from the parents of the students to support the school. The school was closed in 1848 due to reforms in the educational management of the spiritual department.

The monastery housed several relics. First of all, it was a silver cross, created in 1693 by hieromonk Herman, depicting the scene of the crucifixion and figures of the Mother of God and John the Theologian. The cross contained the relics of martyrs Athinogen, Dmitry of Rostov, and Tatiana. The famous icon of the Vladimir Mother of God of ancient writing was kept in the Vladimir Church. There was a misunderstanding with this icon: a similar icon was kept in the Vyas Monastery, and there was doubt about which one was authentic. An examination was conducted, during which three youths chose the brought icon, and the Saransk one was declared a copy. Both images perished in the 1930s. Despite this, the relic in the Vladimir Church was known far beyond the monastery.

The monastery was closed simultaneously with the Spassky Cathedral of the city on June 2, 1928, and the Vladimir Church was converted into a local history museum. In 1931, the Peter and Paul Church was dismantled, and soon the Vladimir Church shared its fate. The bricks were used for the construction of the "Central" hotel, which was demolished in the early 2000s for the construction of the Feodorov Cathedral in 2004 and 2006.