The ”freezing” method for ordinary differential equations is extended to the Volterra integral equations in a Banach space of the type x(t)− ∫ t 0 K(t, t− s)x(s)ds = f(t) (t ≥ 0), where K(t, s) is an operator valued function ”slowly” varying in the first argument. Besides, sharp explicit stability conditions are derived. Subject Classification: 45M10, 45N05