Antonios Zois was born in 1869 in Monastir. On 17 April 1903, the Bulgarian anarchist group "Boatmen of Thessaloniki" blew up the French-flagged steamboat "Guadalquivir". The event provoked retaliation by the Ottoman authorities against all Christians. The events of Thessaloniki caused similar situations in Monastir, where on 23 April (Saint George's feast day) assaults against the Christians were recorded. Antonios Zois was being hunted by Turkish soldiers and others, who were chasing him with knives. He managed to escape them taking refuge in the house of a Jew who hid him. Later the same year, he took part in the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising which was organised by Bulgarians and was active in the general area of Mariovo. At the end of December 1903, he withdrew from Mariovo disagreeing with the actions of the Bulgarians against the Greeks. When he was leaving he told the local leaders that he took part in the uprising to fight the Turks, and not force others to become Bulgarians.