The Groaning of Creation: An Eastern Christian Mystical Response to Animal Suffering and Factory Farming Within the framework of the Eastern Christian tradition, this presentation explores the distinctive theological framework for understanding animals and their suffering posed by contemporary factory farming. Rooted in a cosmology that views all creation as permeated by divine presence, this mystical branch of Eastern Christianity affirms that animals are not merely resources for human use but fellow creatures participating in the divine economy. Mystics and saints throughout the ages emphasize that every living being possesses intrinsic value and is an expression of God's love. This branch of Christianity cultivates compassion towards all living beings, teaching that the purification of the heart expands one's heart, resulting in increased capacity to perceive and to respond to the suffering of animals. In this theological context, the system of industrialized factory farming represents a profound rupture of humanity's vocation of love and compassion towards creation. The commodification of animal life, the infliction of systemic suffering, and the ecological devastation associated with industrial agriculture contradict the Eastern Christian mystical vision of creation as a loving interconnected communion. The tradition calls for union with God and metanoia which is expressed through restraint, spiritual discernment, and practices that honor the dignity of all creatures. By recovering its cosmological consciousness, Eastern Christianity offers a prophetic critique of factory farming and a constructive spiritual vision rooted in compassion, relationality, and the transfiguration of creation. This worldview invites a renewed spiritual imagination capable of addressing the intertwined crises of animal suffering, environmental degradation, and human alienation.