Is about to study religious figures (5)
I believe the answer is:
icons
'religious figures' is the definition.
'icons' can be an answer for 'figures' (I've seen this before). I also know that 'religious' relates to this answer.
'is about to study' is the wordplay.
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'to study' becomes 'con' (con can informally mean to study).
'is' going around 'con' is 'ICONS'.
(Other definitions for icons that I've seen before include "Sonic (anag)" , "Holy paintings" , "representative figures?" , "Coins forming pointers on computer screens" , "Computer displays" .)