The Ascension Monastery on the Mount of Olives is an Orthodox women's monastery located at the top of the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, managed by the Russian Spiritual Mission of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Currently, about fifty nuns from different countries reside in the monastery.

In 1870, Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin) purchased a large plot near the Chapel of the Ascension of the Lord on the southern peak of the Mount of Olives, planning to establish a men's monastery there. During the planting of trees, the first mosaics and tombs were discovered, leading to the start of archaeological excavations in late May 1871. As a result, burial caves, a bust of Herod the Great, various utensils, and mosaic floors of Byzantine churches from the 6th-7th centuries were uncovered. These mosaics can now be seen in the Chapel of John the Baptist and in the Archimandrite's house. A stone was also found, on which, according to tradition, the Virgin Mary stood during the Ascension of Jesus Christ. Excavations were halted in 1873.

In 1905, under the head of the Russian Spiritual Mission, Archimandrite Leonid (Sentsov), a women's community was established, led by a senior sister, consisting of 15 sisters. The Holy Synod approved it by decree on December 15, 1906. The community lived according to the rules of the Gornensky community. By 1907, there were 70 sisters living here, and by 1914, their number increased to over 100. With the construction of new buildings, a hotel, a charitable institution, and workshops for gold embroidery and icon painting were opened.

With the onset of World War I, the monastery buildings were occupied by Turkish soldiers, and the church was sealed. Some of the nuns moved to Alexandria, while others settled in Greek monasteries. The Jerusalem Patriarchate provided the sisters with flour and bread, and they were allowed to pray in the church in Lower Galilee.

In 1917, part of the buildings was occupied by English troops, while another part housed the sisters. The military supplied them with bread, tea, and sugar. The remaining sisters returned from Alexandria in early 1919, and in June, services in the cathedral were resumed. At this time, the community came under the jurisdiction of the Higher Russian Church Administration Abroad.

In 1924, at the request of Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) with the blessing of Patriarch Damian of Jerusalem, the Olivet community was granted the status of a monastery.

In 1937, the refectory church in honor of Saint Philaret the Merciful was consecrated.

By 1930, about 300 sisters lived in the monastery, but their number gradually decreased, and by the mid-1990s, there were about 50 nuns and novices, making it the largest in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

After the events of April 9, 1948, when Jewish formations Etzel and Lehi massacred the Arab population of the village of Deir Yassin, and in July, Arab residents were expelled from Ein Karem, most of the nuns from the Gornensky Monastery (about 100) moved to the Ascension Monastery. Due to the transfer of the Gornensky Monastery by Israeli authorities to the Soviet government (Moscow Patriarchate), many of them remained in the Ascension Monastery, not wanting to transition to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Since 1951, the monastery has been the residence of the heads of the Russian Spiritual Mission under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

On August 29, 2006, the first hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, Metropolitan Lavr (Shkurla), led the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the monastery. By the end of the liturgy, Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem arrived with members of the Holy Synod of the Jerusalem Patriarchate and the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre.