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From these times until the end of the sixteenth century little documentation remains as historical source material as records were destroyed during each raid. Beginning in the sixteenth century, reports by travelers provide descriptions of the caves and the monastic life then practiced at the monastery. These reports noted the length of the underground caves, whose entries resemble entrances to mines, and which also noted that liturgy was celebrated in the two underground churches every Saturday. By the late sixteenth century the monastery had once again recovered. At this time it was granted [[stavropegial]] status by the Patriarch of Constantinople. This freed the monastery from the control of the metropolitan of Kiev. The monastery was also granted the status of a [[lavra]].
Following the [[Union of Brest-Litovsk ]] in 1596, those who supported the union and became Greek Catholics made an effort to gain control of the lavra, but the Orthodox prevailed and retained control. The Kievan Cave Monastery Press, the first printing press in Kiev, was established at the monastery in 1615 by [[Archimandrite]] Yelisei Pletenentsky. The monastery was further restored and improved by Archimandrite [[Peter Mogila]], later metropolitan, who in 1631 opened the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery school with a "western" curriculum. This school was, in 1632, combined with the Kiev Epiphany Brotherhood School into a college that later became the Kiev Mogila Academy. In 1688, the Lavra was subordinated directly under the Moscow patriarchate, but still with its stavropegial status.
A major fire in 1718 severely damaged the monastery. The main church and the printing house, with the library and archives, was destroyed. Restoration of this damage took ten years. In 1720, Peter I’s government prohibited printing of new books and imposed synodal censorship on all publications from the monastery. This severely limited the monastery’s cultural influence.