In my presentation, I refer to those moments of my ethnographic fieldwork that proved epistemologically groundbreaking and led to the reconceptualization of "the religious" in my research findings. The fieldwork I conducted in Christian and Muslim communities in Bulgaria between 2005 and 2017 focused on non-western ontological beliefs, particularly regarding the materiality and agency of sacred objects, such as icons, relics, eulogies, and saints' tombs. I elaborate particularly on the problem of the interactions between the faithful and those objects. I conflate the emic (local) ontological beliefs expressed by the faithful with the visual representations and theological texts of the religious traditions they belong to. I elaborate on how various emic understandings of divine grace and power reveal specific ontological beliefs on immanence, transcendence and their relationships. I indicate the cultural background of these convictions, and I reflect on how they problematize the anthropological theory of religion. I also engage in a dialogue with the works of historians (especially Byzantinists and Ottomanists) on similar issues. I situate my findings within the so-called ontological turn in anthropological theory.