St. nishan mission school
Approximately 1912
This photo was in Onnik Melikian's possessions, and appears to show his class at the St. Nishan Mission, a monastery school in Sepastia.
The Armenian caption reads: "Orphans and their guardians and teachers at Sepastia (school?)"
The student who looks most like Onnik is at the far right, in the first row of students standing behind the teachers.
Onnik was sent to this residential school (also an orphanage) after his mother died when he was 11. His father worked in Russia, so could not raise him.
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According to Wikipedia:
Sourb Nshan monastery was established by prince Atom-Ashot, the son of King Senekerim. The monastery was named after a celebrated relic that Senekerim had brought from Varagavank monastery, and which was returned there after his death.[1]This was one of notable center of enlightenment and scholarship of Lesser Armeniaduring Byzantine, Seljuk Sultanate of Rum and Ottoman reigns until the Armenian genocide in 1915. In 1915 Sourb Nshan monastery was the main repository of medieval Armenian manuscripts in the Sebastia region and at least 283 manuscripts are recorded. The library was not destroyed during the Armenian Genocide and most of the manuscripts survived. In 1918 about 100 of them were transferred to the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem.
The monastery had three churches – their names were Sourb Astvatsatsin (Armenian: Սուրբ Աստվածածին) (Holy Mother of God), Sourb Khatch (Armenian: Սուրբ Խաչ) (Holy Cross), and Sourb Hovhannes Karapet(Armenian: Սուրբ Հովհաննես Կարապետ) (Saint John the Precursor).
The monastery today is entirely destroyed and a sprawling military base occupies the site. The date of the destruction is uncertain. The monastery stood on a low hill overlooking Sivas and was surrounded by a plain and undefended outer wall. On one side of that enclosure wall, encircled by a wall of mud brick, was a large garden containing fruit trees and vegetable plots. Several farms were also attached to the monastery.