Kosta, that quote is one fabulous explanation of the Eucharist!
” Orthodox Christians point out that both sides of this argument rest upon a common assumption; namely, that for anything to be real, it must be physical.
Conversely, if a thing is not physically real, it must be metaphorical or symbolic. This assumption, frankly, is unvarnished materialism.”
This is the product of Aristolian logic having crept into Western theology in the Middle Ages.
I would say so.
No, because St. Thomas Aquinas has not difficulty explaining the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist using Aristotelian logic; in fact that is the only coherent explanation ever offered. The "unvarnished materialism" is the product of the desperation that gripped Europe after the Black Death, excesses of absolute monarchies, and the growing merchant class.