The point of reference of this paper is the rhetoric surrounding a recent case of six deceased members of a Buddhist community in Bulgaria. In the weeks that followed, strong public opinions were voiced condemning the victims for choosing an unorthodox spiritual path, with some even claiming that such a tragedy would never have occurred had they remained within the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith. The prevailing attitude was epitomised by Sofia Mayer's claim, made in response to allegations of his involvement in the group's activities, that he is "a perfectly normal person who goes to church", thus reinforcing a notion of normalcy that explicitly ties social legitimacy to adherence to the traditional religion. Against this backdrop, the paper investigates the lived experiences of members of selected minority religious communities, focusing on how they construct and maintain a sense of normalcy in a context often prone to hostility toward non-traditional beliefs. Particular attention is given to respondents' narratives of kairotic moments of religious realisation and experiences of sacred time. The analysis asks whether these moments can serve as interpretive anchors for reconciling or temporarily suspending the tension between dominant social expectations and personal religious commitments.