This presentation investigates how Orthodox Christian ritual, embodiment, and moral formation intersect with the ethical frameworks of contemporary sport, with particular attention to the Bulgarian context. It argues that the ascetical and embodied practices central to Orthodox spirituality—self‑control, ritual gesture, and communal participation—parallel the ethical demands of high‑intensity sports (such as rugby), where respect, solidarity, and endurance shape athletic identity. Drawing on Bulgarian examples, the paper examines how athletes integrate Orthodox theological perspectives, symbols, and embodied practices into training and competition, and how sporting environments become arenas in which religious identity is enacted, negotiated, and made visible. A central concern is the question of inclusion: the participation of women in contact sports traditionally perceived as male domains, and the broader recognition of religious difference within athletic communities. The focus will be on examples that illuminate how gender, embodiment, and religious identity intersect in contemporary Bulgarian sport. Further insight is provided by the emerging collaboration between the National Sports Academy and the Sofia Seminary and their joint initiative. This partnership reflects an institutional recognition that the cultivation of physical strength and spiritual formation can reinforce one another, challenging assumptions about the separation of religious and athletic domains. Ultimately, the presentation demonstrates that, in the Bulgarian context, the movement from ritual to performance reveals a shared logic of embodied ethics across faith and sport, while also foregrounding the importance of inclusion, gender equity, and the plural ways individuals inhabit both religious and athletic identities. The author acknowledges the support from the Project: 'Society, Sport and Integration', funded by Bulgarian National Science Fund of the Ministry of Education and Science (contract agreement No. КП-06-Н75/14 from December 15, 2023).