According to legend, the monastery was founded around 891 by Tauride Greek sailors, who were overtaken by a storm near Fiolent. The ship almost crashed on a coastal rock, but the sailors prayed to Saint George the Victorious, and the saint of God appeared to them on a rocky island off the coast, after which the wind died down; The rescued sailors found an icon of St. George at the site of the apparition. In gratitude for their salvation, the sailors founded a monastery with a cave church in the name of St. George the Victorious on the coastal slope. A cross was installed on the rock itself.