two swords

English
A depiction of the two swords being conferred by Jesus to the pope and the emperor

Etymology

Allegorical interpretation of Luke 22:38, “Behold, here are two swords”.

Noun

the two swords pl (plural only)

  1. (chiefly historical, Roman Catholicism) Spiritual and temporal power, church and state.
    • 1952, C. W. Previté-Orton, The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History, volume 2, page 943:
      The most clear-cut definition of the Pope's possession of the two swords was given in Boniface VIII’s famous bull Unam Sanctam, which stressed the unity of Christendom under its single head.
    • 2004, Matthew Butler, Popular Piety and Political Identity in Mexico's Cristero Rebellion: Michoacán, 1927–29, →ISBN, page 3:
      […] the dispute between the two swords cut deep into the countryside in ways that the authors of ecclesiastical and revolutionary policy neither intended nor anticipated.
    • 2009, Peter Lodberg, Religion, Politics, and Law, →ISBN, page 146:
      In the crusader theology, the two swords were totally united and not divided as Bernard would have it.
  2. Used other than with a figurative or idiomatic meaning: see two,‎ sword.

See also
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