The icon of the “Good Shepherd” may be considered a symbolic illustration to the Gospel where the Savior is described as a shepherd guiding His flock (Christians). The text of the Gospel of John reads,

In the center of the icon, there is a full-length image of Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd dressed in a red chiton and a green himation. There is a halo with shining golden rays around His head. The background is dark brown. The cover of the icon is made of a solid plate with holes for the faces, hands, and feet. The figure of Christ occupies the majority of the image. At the bottom, He is depicted carrying a cross through the streets of Jerusalem after his trial in praetorium before Pontius Pilate. The composition features the Instruments of the Passion including nails, a column, a rope, and whips and twigs. Some of these instruments are directly mentioned in the Gospel text, while others are only mentioned in apocryphal writings.

This iconography is not widely used and is not considered canon. It can be found in Russian icons since the 18th century, and it seems to have come through Western Ukrainian and Belarusian territories. By this time, a trend for sentimental and naive paintings with pastoral motifs had spread in European secular art, and the Good Shepherd seemed to fit this style. The most popular images were often reproduced in the form of prints. These arrived in Russia and were copied because printing was not as well-developed in Russia at that time as it was in the West.

Preserved icons of the Good Shepherd from the 19th and early 20th centuries show that the image was not universally revered, but it did find a following, and iconographers and painters were occasionally commissioned to paint such images.

The Good Shepherd is a specific iconographic type of depicting Christ as a beardless young shepherd with a staff, surrounded by grazing sheep, or, according to a Parable from the Gospels, carrying a lost sheep on His shoulders.