Yeah, I would agree with that Nicholas, and I'm sure our extreme eccleisology friends here could point out similar lapses/lack in my own arguments and discussion.
Breaking away from World Orthodoxy over Heresies
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Justin Kissel
We keep barely missing each other! hehe
One point that comes to mind is how the Eastern Churches maintained communion with many in the west even when they had fallen into numerous errors (many listed by Photius, for instance, especially the filioque; the developing of the doctrine of papal supremacy; etc.) I think this is a good, applicable example because the east knew about these errors, and they knew that they were quite severe, but they still, at times, were in communion with western churches which held to them.
Edit responding to your edit 
I think we both talk past each other sometimes.. that's one example. 
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OrthodoxyOrDeath
This conversation is moving fairly quick so I doubt I will express myself correctly.
I believe in almost every situation throughout the history of the Church, even today within my own Synod, there are many examples of error and poor judgement.
In light of this, I think it is important to recognize these situations for what they are, and not hold them up high as an example to follow. We are not the sum of the least common denominators, we are the sum of the accepted examples to follow. And the acccepted examples to follow are primarily the Saints - and even then, not always just one Saint, but sometimes their collective conscience.
With regard to the point about when a group is completly gone, I hope you don't mind if I hit that tonight...
Don't know enough to know better
Then you have people like me who really are "babes in the woods". We don't know which is right, and do not have the time to read all the different opinions/history to make the correct decision.
Protestantism was so much easier! Just do whatever you want!
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They say that I am bad news. They say "Stay Away."
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Justin Kissel
OOD,
What do you make of this quote by Bishop Auxentios?
...aside from those who separate from the Church in willing defiance, the best test in determining who is and who is not a heretic—who is properly so called—is once more the passage of time, a kind historical counterpart to that personal intransigence which defines heresy at the individual level. - source
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OrthodoxyOrDeath
Justin,
I still plan on responding later this evening...
My take on your above qoute, and I could be wrong, is this: It seems Bishop Auxentios is saying that individual heretics can be identified by their persistence in their heresy, and that an entire group such as the Monophysites, can be identified as heretics by their persistence, which is gauged also by time, only on a grander scale.