There were 18 monasteries in Mozhaisk in the period of its prosperity in 15-17 centuries. However, to our day there remained only the Luzhetsky Monastery.
It was established by the order of the apanage prince Andrei of Mozhaisk, the younger son of Dmitry Donskoi and the brother of Grand Prince of Moscow Vasily, on the high bank of the Moscow river in 1408. Prince Andrei established many monasteries in his lands.
The Luzhetsky Monastery was established by St. Therapont (1331-1426). In the age of forty he became a monk of the Simonov Monastery in Moscow. In that time a monk Cyril lived in the same monastery, and both of them were disciples of Sergius of Radonezh. After Cyril had a vision of Theotokos he and Therapont went to the Lake Beloye in the Vologda Region where the former established the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery.
Several kilometers from it Therapont founded the Ferapontov Monastery which was inscribed by UNESCO on the World Heritage List for the paintings of Dionysius. After that both monks were known as Cyril and Therapont of Belozersk.
Eleven years later Therapont of Belozersk returned to Moscow and founded the Luzhetsky Monastery in Mozhaisk. The white stone Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin was finished in 1542 and the Church of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary with a refectory - in 1547. In 1994 the relics of St. Therapont were discovered and still kept in the Nativity Cathedral.
There is a holy place related to the life of the founder of the monastery - the well of St. Therapont - in the village Isavitsy near the Luzhetsky Monastery. According to a legend, the well was dug out by Therapont himself.
