Ecumenism Day (May 5) was established in Germany in 2003 to bring together divided German Christians of various denominations and churches who believe in the Holy Trinity to symbolically celebrate their mutual cooperation. This year on Ecumenism Day thousands of pilgrims gathered in Trier to venerate an alleged robe of Christ, probably of medieval origin, which is seamless and came to symbolize on this day the seamless unity of Christians which is desired. However when the various Christian representatives, among whom was Metropolitan Augoustinos of Germany, gathered at the Basilica of Constantine, things went a little too far and the representatives got ahead of themselves with a symbolic baptism of each member by another member. They dipped their hand in water and symbolically baptized each other on the forehead with an open hand, saying: "You are baptized in the Name of the Triune God". Then, as a reminder of the theme of the pilgrimage, a white baptismal stole with the theme written on it was put on each representative. This was done to Metropolitan Augoustinos by Bishop Karl Heinz Wiesemann of the Catholic Church. Such are the unfortunate situations an Orthodox participant can get into when Ecumenism goes too far and the program is beyond their control and not properly evaluated beforehand to avoid a scandalous incident.
Many photos can be seen here and here.
