It is the first Orthodox Convent of the St. Petersburg eparchy of the Russian Orthodox Church. Initially the monastery was located in the area of Smolny Cathedral in the Summer palace of the empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Catherine the Great had established a school for the maidens from noble families there, which was then transformed into Smolny institute. By 1797 some nuns were taken into other convents, and in 1827 Voskresensky Novodevichy Convent was closed. In 1845 the emperor Nikolay I signed the decree about the renewal of the Convent. Later, in the autumn of 1848 the Convent was transferred closer to the Moscow triumphal arch, where it is nowadays. The last time of the abolishment of the Convent in 1937, but since 1995 it became active again, and so up to the present days.

The Novodevichy Convent has recently become a place of worship the well-known Sacred objects from Athos, which were brought to St. Petersburg. On could see the multikilometer lines along Moskovsky Avenue even to Obvodny Canal : people went to venerate the relics of Saint Defenders. From 20 Ocober to 24 October 2011 the Holy Belt of the Virgin was kept in the convent, and in January,2014 the Holy Gifts of Magi were brought to St. Petersburg from  the Monastery of Agios Pavlos. Besides, in the Kazan church the worshippers can always see the "shuitsa" (the left hand) of Saint Iaoann Damaskin.

On the gravestone of one of the graves of the Voskresensky cemetery, located near the Convent (not far from the entrance) there is Jesus Christ's bronze statue. It is a tomb of the spouse of the general Alexey Vershinin - Anna Vershinina. They say, that Vershinina was anxious about her family's destiny, she was afraid that their family grave will be forgotten. And once, Anna heard a voice of Christ in a dream: "Buy a place for your family grave  in advance  and put my bronze image there. Then each passerby will pray near it and will remember you". Since then the worshippers regard the statue as wonder-working.