# John Main > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/John_Main > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/John_Main.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Main > Source revision: 1352784652 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Priest and monk}} {{other people}} {{EngvarB|date=June 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}} {{Infobox person |name = Dom John Main, OSB |image = Fr John Main.gif |image_size = |caption = [Benedictine](/source/Benedictine) [monk](/source/monk) and teacher |birth_name = Douglas William Victor Main |birth_date = 21 January 1926 |birth_place = [London](/source/London), England |death_date = {{dda|1982|12|30|1926|1|21|df=y}} |death_place = [Montreal](/source/Montreal), Quebec, Canada }} '''John Douglas Main''', [OSB](/source/Order_of_Saint_Benedict), (21 January 1926 – 30 December 1982) was an English Roman Catholic priest and [Benedictine](/source/Order_of_Saint_Benedict) monk who presented a way of [Christian meditation](/source/Christian_meditation) which used a prayer-phrase or [mantra](/source/mantra). In 1975, Main began Christian meditation groups which met at [Ealing Abbey](/source/Ealing_Abbey), his monastery in West London, England, and, later, in [Montreal](/source/Montreal), Quebec, Canada. These were the origins of the ecumenical network of Christian meditation groups which have become the [World Community for Christian Meditation](/source/World_Community_for_Christian_Meditation) (WCCM). ==Life== John Main was born in London as Douglas Main, the fourth of six children of David and Eileen Main. In the 1940s he joined the [Canons Regular of the Lateran](/source/Canons_Regular_of_the_Lateran) and studied at the diocesan seminary of [St Edmund's College, Ware](/source/St_Edmund's_College%2C_Ware) in England before being chosen to pursue theology studies at the [Pontifical Athenaeum Angelicum, Rome](/source/Pontifical_University_of_St._Thomas_Aquinas_(Angelicum)). He began to doubt his vocation to the priesthood and decided to leave his order to go to [Dublin](/source/Dublin) (where his family then lived), where he studied law at [Trinity College](/source/Trinity_College%2C_Dublin). He graduated in 1954 and joined the [British Colonial Service](/source/British_Colonial_Service), working as a civil servant.{{cite web|title=John Main's Monastic Adventure|work=Fr Laurence Freeman, OSB|url=http://www.wccm.org/images/JMMonasticAdvent3.htm|accessdate=16 November 2006|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108070456/http://www.wccm.org/images/JMMonasticAdvent3.htm|archivedate=8 January 2007|df=dmy-all}}''UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960''; Douglas W. V. Main; Occupation: Civil servant. Birth: 21 Jan 1926 Departure: Hong Kong, China. Arrival: 2 Aug 1956 - London, England Main became a strictest and was assigned to [Kuala Lumpur](/source/Kuala_Lumpur) in Malaya, where he met Dr Swami Satyananda (1909-1961), who taught him meditation using a [mantra](/source/mantra) as the means to arrive at meditative stillness. The swami taught Main to meditate by giving him a Christian mantra.{{cite web|title=Silent Teaching: The Life of Dom John Main|work=Paul T. Harris, Spirituality Today, Vol.40 No. 4, pp. 320–32|url=http://www.spiritualitytoday.org/spir2day/884043harris.html|accessdate=16 November 2006|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061230032139/http://www.spiritualitytoday.org/spir2day/884043harris.html|archivedate=30 December 2006|df=dmy-all}} Main through his own work understood that mantra was also an ancient Christian tradition. The mantra he recommended was ‘Maranatha’, an ancient Aramaic phrase meaning ‘Come Lord’.{{Cite web |title=Christian Meditation – Mind Matters COI |url=https://mindmatters.ireland.anglican.org/2022/09/23/christian-meditation/ |access-date=2024-01-23 |language=en-GB}} In 1956, Main returned to Dublin and taught law at Trinity College. In 1959 he decided to join the [Benedictines](/source/Order_of_Saint_Benedict) at Ealing Abbey in London. He took the name of John, in honour of St [John the Apostle](/source/John_the_Apostle). He was ordained a priest in 1963.{{cite web | title = John Main's Monastic Adventure | work = Fr. Laurence Freeman, O.S.B. | url = http://www.wccm.org/images/JMMonasticAdvent3.htm | accessdate = 16 November 2006 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070108070456/http://www.wccm.org/images/JMMonasticAdvent3.htm | archivedate = 8 January 2007 | df = dmy-all }} Following his ordination he taught at [St Benedict's School](/source/St_Benedict's_School%2C_Ealing), Ealing, which is governed by the monastic community of Ealing Abbey.{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} In 1970, Main was appointed the headmaster of [St. Anselm's Abbey School](/source/St._Anselm's_Abbey_School) in Washington, D.C., where he began to study seriously the writings of the [desert father](/source/Desert_Fathers) [John Cassian](/source/John_Cassian) for the first time. Main saw parallels between the spiritual practice taught by Cassian and the meditative practice he had been taught by the swami in Kuala Lumpur. In 1974, Main left [Saint Anselm's Abbey](/source/Saint_Anselm's_Abbey) in Washington and returned to Ealing Abbey in London, where he began Christian meditation groups at an old house on the monastery grounds. He was assisted in this work by [Laurence Freeman](/source/Laurence_Freeman), also a monk of Ealing Abbey.{{cite web|title=Laurence Freeman, O.S.B.|work=The World Community for Christian Meditation|url=http://www.wccm.org/item.asp?recordid=freeman&pagestyle=default|accessdate=16 November 2006|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061019010625/http://www.wccm.org/item.asp?recordid=freeman&pagestyle=default|archivedate=19 October 2006|df=dmy-all}} In 1977, Main and Freeman were sent to establish a new Benedictine monastery in [Montreal, Quebec](/source/Montreal%2C_Quebec). There too, they taught Christian meditation groups.{{cite web|title=John Main, O.S.B. profile|work=The World Community for Christian Meditation|url=http://www.wccm.org/item.asp?recordid=johnmain&pagestyle=default|accessdate=16 November 2006|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061014225424/http://www.wccm.org/item.asp?recordid=johnmain&pagestyle=default|archivedate=14 October 2006|df=dmy-all}} Main died of cancer, at the Benedictine monastery in Montreal in 1982 and is buried at [Mount Saviour Monastery](/source/Mount_Saviour_Monastery), Elmira, NY. He was succeeded by Laurence Freeman.{{Cite web |date=2020-10-12 |title=John Main OSB |url=https://wccm.org/people/john-main-osb/ |access-date=2024-01-23 |website=WCCM |language=en-GB}} Freeman continued Main's work, travelling widely to establish Christian meditation groups across the world. In 1991, these Christian meditation groups were networked together into the [World Community for Christian Meditation](/source/World_Community_for_Christian_Meditation) (WCCM). Each year the WCCM hosts the John Main Seminar, which has been led by [Mary McAleese](/source/Mary_McAleese), [Huston Smith](/source/Huston_Smith), [Charles Taylor](/source/Charles_Taylor_(philosopher)), Father William Johnston, Father [Richard Rohr](/source/Richard_Rohr) [OFM](/source/Franciscan), Sister [Joan Chittister](/source/Joan_Chittister) OSB, [Anglican](/source/Anglican) [archbishop](/source/archbishop) [Rowan Williams](/source/Rowan_Williams), [Greek Orthodox](/source/Greek_Orthodox) bishop [Kallistos Ware](/source/Kallistos_Ware), [Abbot](/source/Abbot) [Thomas Keating](/source/Thomas_Keating), Dom [Bede Griffiths](/source/Bede_Griffiths) and the [14th Dalai Lama](/source/14th_Dalai_Lama), among others.{{cite web|title=John Main Seminar|work=The World Community for Christian Meditation|url=http://wccm.org/jmsdatelist.asp?pagestyle=jmsdatelist|accessdate=21 June 2006|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507180140/http://www.wccm.org/jmsdatelist.asp?pagestyle=jmsdatelist|archivedate=7 May 2006|df=dmy-all}} ==Books== * John Main: ''Word into Silence''. (1980) * John Main: ''Moment of Christ: The Path of Meditation''. (2000) * John Main: ''Essential Writings''. * John Main: ''Door to silence, An Anthology for Meditation.'' * John Main: ''The Way of Unknowing: Expanding Spiritual Horizons Through Meditation.'' * John Main: ''Silence and Stillness in Every Season: Daily Readings with John Main.'' For full list of books about and from John Main, consult the web pages of the WCCM (The World Community For Christian Meditation): https://wccm.org/content/works-by-and-about-john-main/ ==References== {{reflist|30em}} ==External links== * [https://johnmaincenter.org/ John Main Center, Georgetown University] *{{findagrave|129057973}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Main, John}} Category:1926 births Category:1982 deaths Category:20th-century English Roman Catholic priests Category:English Benedictines Category:English Christian monks Main OSB, John Category:Deaths from cancer in Quebec Category:Roman Catholic clergy from London Category:Christian mantra meditation --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [John Main](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Main) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Main?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.