JACOBITES, in Ecclesiastical History, a sect of Christians in Syria and Mesopotamia, and so called, either from Jacob a Syrian, who lived in the reign of the Emperor Mauritius, or from one Jacob, a monk, who flourished in the year 550. The Jacobites were of two sects, some following the rites of the Latin church, and others continuing separated from that church. There is also a division amongst the latter, who have two rival patriarchs. As to their belief, they hold but one nature in Jesus Christ; with respect to purgatory and prayers for the dead, they are of the same opinion with the Greeks and other eastern Christians; they consecrate unleavened bread at the eucharist, and are against confession, believing that it is not of divine institution.