This week, Notes from the Fires host John Rabe takes us to the Sahag-Mesrab Armenian Christian School.
This week, Notes from the Fires host John Rabe takes us to the Sahag-Mesrab Armenian Christian School, near Lake Avenue and Altadena Drive. What is now a pile of pillars, bricks, and rubble used to be a Bible-based K-8 school founded in 1980. The school, which included a mansion built in 1912 by Col. G. G. Green, burned in the Eaton fire.
The ruins of the Sahag-Mesrab Armenian Christian School in Altadena.
Photo by John Rabe
But left miraculously standing - and reasonably unharmed - is a giant brick-red intricately carved Armenian Genocide memorial. John talks with the school’s founding principal, Ben Aroyan, about rebuilding, saving the memorial, and the role of prayer and music in his life.
Ben Aroyan with the Armenian Genocide Memorial at the Sahag-Mesrab Armenian Christian School in Altadena.
Photo by John Rabe
To close today’s episode, we’ll listen to Hayrapetakan Maghterg, a sacred song by the Armenian monk Komitas, performed by arranger and pianist Tigran Hamasyan.
