A new agreement between the Church of Greece and the Greek State was announced on Tuesday by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the Archbishop of Athens Ieronymos.

Tsipras and Ieronymos issued a joint statement following the meeting, where the prime minister said that the two sides reached an agreement of “historic proportions”.

He revealed that according to the agreement, the priests will no longer be considered public servants but instead, the Greek State will provide an annual amount equivalent to the wages of the priests to the Church of Greece which will be responsible for the distribution of wages to the clergy.

Tsipras added that a new joint fund will be established by the Greek State and the Greek Orthodox Church which will own that part of the Church property that is being disputed by the state.

The agreement, however, does not clarify what will happen will the pensions of the priests among other issues.

There have been already serious reactions on behalf of the clergy while it is still unknown whether the agreement will be approved by the Church’s hierarchy.