The long-range fluctuations in the phase of the order parameter are derived for a long thin superconducting specimen using thermodynamic fluctuation theory. Only states with constant phase gradients contribute to the above calculation. The fluctuations are viewed as being of two distinct kinds: (a) fluctuations of the phase difference along a small part of the specimen with a constant overall phase change; (b) fluctuations between (discrete) states with different phase changes over the whole sample. It is argued that the fluctuations of the type (a) are a very short time phenomenon, not related to the destruction of superconductive properties, while the fluctuations (b) relate to and have the same time scale as the decay of metastable currents. The equilibrium superconducting properties are still possible, at given time regimes, in spite of the large phase fluctuations, and without ODLRO.