The article examines the attitude of the Russian Zemstvo movement of the second half of the 19th century to the reform of the Orthodox parish. Dmitry Samarin’s paper «The Parish» (1867-1868) is studied in detail. It shows that Slavophile oriented members of Zemstvo were critical towards the actual status of the parish and wanted to see it as an independent unit though a subject to the power of Bishop. They saw it as a public institution with property and an elected priest. Understanding of the parish as a public institution led to the constant attention of the Zemstvo to its fate and the regular appearance of projects of its transformation. These projects included providing clergy with regular salary and converting the parish into a small regional unit. The author comes to the conclusion that obstacles to the implementation of these projects were not only the negative reaction of the Spiritual Department, but deep fragmentation of Russian society, which created mistrust between the clergy and active laymen — members of Zemstvo.