Gold-plated iPhone 6 edition released featuring Andrei Rublev’s Holy Trinity

A line of special edition iPhone 6 handsets bearing the gilded image of 15th-century painter Andrei Rublev’s Holy Trinity is now on sale in Russia. The phones, made by luxury phone company Caviar, are on sale from 157,000 roubles ($3,128), and should be treated as a traditional icon, according to experts, who have advised users against swearing in the presence of the image.

“For Orthodox representatives, the image of the Holy Trinity … could be something that mystically protects owners of the phone,” experts from the guild of experts on religion said. “From a Christian point of view, believing owners can pray before the icon, and realising the need to lead a Christian way of life, will refrain from using swear words, committing evil and speaking about evil things.”

Designers at Caviar began work on the design by studying the history of Rublev’s original image, consulting experts on rules about the admissibility and ethics of using iconographic images in design accessories. The experts decided that “the image of the Holy Trinity icon on the back of the smartphone with the word ‘Trinity. Andrey Rublev’ cannot by itself be an insult to the religious feelings of the representatives of a Christian denomination.”

The gold-plated phones follow Caviar’s successful release of limited edition, gold-plated and titanium iPhones bearing the image of Russian President Vladimir Putin.