Holy figure I left in study (3)
I believe the answer is:
con
'study' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'holy figure i left' is the wordplay.
'holy figure' becomes 'icon'.
'left' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'icon' with 'i' removed is 'CON'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for con that I've seen before include "Deceive; disadvantage" , "Deception; disadvantage" , "Not in favour" , "Opposed" , "Deceive (someone)" .)