The article deals with the features of development of Orthodoxy in the Caucasus in the period of mass resettlement in the region. Due to its independence from the government, the Cossacks were able to revive and develop the ancient Veche system of self-government that disappeared by that time in Russia. The settlers developed their own procedure for satisfying the religious services, which helped to keep the national and confessional identity in the harsh conditions of the Caucasian reality.

The previously unpublished sources allowed us to reconstruct the history of the Kizlyar Holy Cross monastery, the first men’s monastery in the North Caucasus. The article deals with a difficult way of formation of the monastic way of life and economic development of the monastery in the conditions of multi-confessional environment and the Caucasian war.

Involvement of previously unpublished sources allowed to reconstruct the history of the formation of the Black Sea, Yekaterino-Lebyazhy Nikolaevsky desert - one of the oldest monasteries for men in the North Caucasus. Originally created for monastic feats of Cossacks, it could not reach the true monastic spirit for a long time due to a number of subjective factors that are analyzed in the article.