The monastery was founded by Saint Dionysios in 1374, and funded by Alexios III Komnenos, the Emperor of Trebizond. This established a long and rewarding relationship with Trebizond and the Hellespont (the Black Sea) area. Later in the 16th century, because of the spiritual influence of St Nifon, who was both a monk of the Monastery and also the Ecumenical Patriarch, the rulers of Wallachia and Moldavia (Neagoe Basarab and Petru Rares, respectively), assumed the role of new founders and funded the cost of restoration and expansion of the Monastery.
