He was born in the village of Katafygi, Pieria, West Macedonia, (now part of Velventos municipality), in what was then the Ottoman Empire in around 1867. He was the son of Fotios Zorbas, a wealthy landowner and sheep-owner and had three siblings, Katerina, Ioannis, and Xenophon.
He worked in his fields and flocks at Katafygi, became a woodcutter, and later left for Palaiochori, Chalkidiki, where he spent the most decisive years of his life, 1889–1911. He worked as a miner for a French company in Gisvoro (Γήσβορο) and became friends with the foreman, Giannis Kalkounis (Γιάννης Καλκούνης). He eloped with Kalkounis"s daughter Eleni and eventually had eight children.
In 1915, he decided to become a monk and left for Mount Athos.
They went to Mani together, where they worked as miners in Prastova. His eventful life ended in a village near present-day Skopje, where he settled, remarried, and had more children.
He died in 1941 and is buried in the Butel cemetery (P-17), Skopje, Kingdom of Bulgaria (today"s Republic of Macedonia). His great-grandson was Pavlos Sidiropoulos.
