Priest David McCready, a recent alumnus of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, has penned a reflection on a term that “came to dominate in the west, the dread word transubstantiation.” Father David’s article, “Reflections on the Eucharist,” was published on the blog of The Orthodox West website in October 2020.
In the reflection, Fr. David asks, “Was transubstantiation a point of controversy between east and west?” He explores the writings of Scripture and several ancient and contemporary theologians in addressing the question.
Father David, a native of Belfast, was raised in the Church of Ireland and served as an Anglican priest before coming to St. Vladimir’s Seminary as a student of the Antiochian Archdiocese. He holds a number of degrees, including a Ph.D. from Trinity College in Dublin. He completed a non-degree track at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in 2019 and was ordained to the Holy Priesthood a few months later, in August 2019, by the hand of hand His Grace JOHN, Auxiliary of the Diocese of Worcester and New England. Since the ordination, Fr. David has served as pastor of St. Columba Orthodox Church in Lafeyette, CO, a parish under the Western Rite Vicariate of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (AOCANA).
