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Don't curse and dial

The Art Newspaper
21 April 2015
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An icon as a gold-plated iPhone cover is probably not what Andrei Rublev had in mind in the 15th century when he created his sublime tempera on wood Trinity icon, which now hangs in Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery. Yet, Caviar Luxury Phone—an Italian-Russian brand known for its Caviar Supremo Putin iPhone made for worshipers of Russia’s president—is banking on deep-pocketed Russian Orthodox Christians ready to shell out 157,000 rubles for the Credo Trinita Troitsa, which was launched just after Orthodox churches celebrated Easter on 12 April. Caviar’s website provides analysis from Russia’s Guild of Experts on Religion and Law, who conclude that the Trinity iPhone is not offensive to believers and can be used for prayer, but advise users not to curse when using it as a phone. Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the controversial Russian Orthodox Church spokesman known for denouncing Pussy Riot, told the Interfax news agency that the phone is offensive, although he does not think it is intentionally blasphemous. Ironically, it was when a gold cover (or oklad), which had covered Rublev’s Trinity for centuries, was removed in the early 20th century that Rublev’s mastery was revealed and inspired the Russian avant-garde.

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