Near the monastery of Karakal there is the most famous Russian cell – the Elevation of the Cross. The cell is located on a hill between the monastery of Karakal and a cell of St. Artemius. It was founded in X century right after constructing of the monastery of Karakal to which it and belongs.

The cell of the Elevation of the Cross is located on the east slope of the Sacred mountain in half an hour of walking to the sea coast. Behind the cell there is a huge hill covered with chestnut groves adding special beauty to this area. The cell is surrounded by huge cypresses and attracts travellers with the belltower and domes.

In the XIX century the cell should have become a skete but because of intervention of Protat the transformation was not accomplished. The basic restoration of the cell by Russian monks had been made in the middle of XIX century.

The cell possessed a forge, a joiner’s shop, a shoe workshop, a sewing workshop and even a photoworkshop as well as several parts of the True Cross, relics of 30 Saints and a part of the head of St. Panteleimonas.

In 1894 hieromonk Panteleimonas (Pyotr Vazhenko) native of Kursk province became the head of the skete. He arrived to the Sacred Mountain in 1878 and became a novice of famous elder Hadji-Georgiy famous for his strictness.

Being the prior the cell the monk Pantelejmonas used to spend a lot of time in Constantinople where he created a town church of his cell in 1900. He purchased the Faransky monastery near Jerusalem and established a brotherhood of 7 monks with the assistance of Russian consulate on the blessing of Jerusalem patriarch Damian.

In the end of XIX century – beginning of XX many Russian Athos monks prepared places in the monasteries far from Athos keeping in mind the there was increasing nationalism towards non-Greek brotherhood. Besides acquisition of this ground was an important issue for counteraction to the Catholics actively operating during this period on the Sacred earth.

Russian Athos monks from the cell initiated the revival of a monastery of St. Prophet Ilia near Beirut the place where St. George defeated the serpent. So Russian brotherhood moved on to the East. The cell of the Elevation of the Cross had a town church in Jerusalem near Beirut. The purpose of the church was to help the Russian pilgrims.