It took 45 years but the State and Church have finally clinched the deal on the maximum number of priests who will have a portion of their salary funded by the government in exchange of land.

The issue had remained unresolved since 1971, when the state had rights to use land belonging to the church while paying salaries for priests.

But the Finance House committee held a meeting on Monday and decided that the state will fund half the salaries of 700 priests for a decade on the A5 pay grade, which comes to €674.82 every month.

According to Yiannos Harilaou, Director of the Central Ecclesiastical Fund of the Church of Cyprus, there are a total of 719 priests on the A5 pay grade, but the salaries of 19 priests will be fully funded by the church when the House votes this bill into law. Currently the state pays full salary for these priests.

According to the terms of the deal, the Church will hand over the titles to 15,000 acres of land, estimated currently to be worth over €200 million. About 73% is located in the north, bringing the total value of land just in the south to about €80 million.

Harilaou also said that the state will not wire the money directly to priests every month but instead will deposit large sums on a regular basis into the Fund and the church administration will take care of disbursing the money.

The Fund director also pointed out that the agreement between Church and State was arranged during the time of Archbishop Makarios III.

The deal back then was not struck to fund priests but to allow the state to get land Harilaou said.