Extreme Pilgrim - The last journey

18 January 2008 @ 9-10pm on BBC ONE

Peter Owen Jones, a vicar in the Church of England for 14 years, has three parishes in the beautiful Sussex Downs and is happy with his rural ministry. But Peter feels that spirituality, a closeness to God, is absent from religious life in the UK. In this series of three tough, physical journeys to the extremes of world religions he seeks to discover and experience spiritual enlightenment for himself.

In Egypt, on the last of his three journeys, Peter follows St Antony, the founder of Christian monasticism, who believed that closeness to God was to be found in complete separation from society in a life of constant prayer. Peter tests these beliefs by crossing the desert with a group of Bedouin to the monastery that St Antony founded.

There he meets Father Lazarus, a living embodiment of St Antony's beliefs, who assures him that he will achieve enlightenment – but not before being assaulted by the Devil and his demons at every opportunity. With this in mind, Peter embarks on a life of complete isolation for three weeks, in a cave high in the mountains above the monastery; it's a life devoid of comfort, company and any form of luxury.